When I started out as a designer all those years ago, digital printing didn't exist. Most of the projects I designed for the first ten years of my career were printed in two colors of ink.

One of the colors was almost always black. This meant I only had one real "color" to work with.

It's different now, of course. Digital technology puts full color printing within the means of the smallest client with the lowest-quantity print job. And then there's that publishing platform called the Internet.

On the web, we can go crazy with color at no additional cost. But I believe there is a "cost" to this practice, even though you can't measure it in dollars.

When you use color randomly and don't have a cohesive color palette, you lose the opportunity to build trust in your business by presenting a standard graphic style across all of your marketing materials. 

Sticking to a reduced color palette of two main colors (not including black) will help your materials to be recognizable and consistent across everything you do.

Sometimes I miss those two color days, but I'd never go back. It's great to have all these wonderful colors available to work with! If you choose wisely and use them consistently, your color style will support your marketing efforts, build trust and grow your business.