Sunburst Ochre sets the weight of the palette in optimism and clarity, and Tomato Red is the swatch that breaks rank: a single red that stops the set reading as one note. Sunburst Ochre and Teal Ink sit on opposite sides of the temperature line, which is the tension the palette runs on and the pair to hold apart. Teal Ink and Paper Cream sit 60 points of lightness apart, enough to separate a foreground from a background without forcing it.
Sunburst Ochre an electric, high-visibility yellow: caution and euphoria share the same wavelength here.
Tomato Red carries urgency and appetite, the color the eye finds first.
Teal Ink blends green's calm with blue's clarity, a color that reads as clean, modern, and trustworthy.
Avocado a soft moss-yellow, novelty settled into something more natural.
Paper Cream a peach or apricot tint, all the friendliness of orange with none of the volume.
Postwar optimism translated into flat gouache shapes, atomic motifs, expressive linework and the tactile grain of ink on paper
Explore the full Mid-Century Illustration style guideIts decade on the timeline · 1940s