I've been a graphic designer for about seven years now, and for the longest time, my color palette workflow looked like this: start a project, open Coolors, hit the spacebar until something looked decent, screenshot it, lose the screenshot, repeat. Somewhere along the way I tried Adobe Color, then a few iOS palette apps, then Figma plugins. None of them stuck. The problem wasn't the tools — it was that my color inspiration lived in a dozen different places, none of which were physically in front of me when I needed them.
About six months ago, I printed the 100 Color Palettes workbook from 147.zone and taped it to the wall above my monitor. That single piece of paper has changed my entire workflow more than any app ever did.
Here's what I noticed after three years of app-hopping: every digital palette tool is designed for generating colors, not for keeping them. You make a beautiful palette, export it, and then it's buried in a folder somewhere. The next time you need a warm autumn vibe or a cool minimalist scheme, you're starting from scratch again — pressing that spacebar, hoping for inspiration.
Worse, when you're in the middle of a client project and the art director says "can we try something warmer?" you don't have time to browse through apps. You need a reference point right now. That's why the printable workbook won for me.
I printed the 100 Color Palettes sheet on good cardstock (130gsm, if you're curious) and clipped it to a corkboard right above my main monitor. Every time I stumble on a color combination I love — from a photo, a piece of fabric, a sunset — I note the hex codes in the margin of the workbook. Over time, it's become a personal color reference library that's always in my peripheral vision.
The workbook has 100 pre-designed palette grids, but honestly, I've only used about 40 of them as-is. The real value is the structure: it gives you a consistent format to collect, compare, and remix colors. I've started tagging palettes by mood (energetic, calm, luxurious, earthy) with sticky notes, and now I can find the right starting point for any project in about 30 seconds.
Since switching to this system, my client revision cycles on color-related feedback have dropped by about half. When someone says "make it pop," I can point to three printed palettes and ask "which direction?" instead of spending 20 minutes generating options in an app. It's faster, more collaborative, and honestly — it feels more creative. There's something about seeing colors on paper instead of a backlit screen that changes how you evaluate them.
I still use digital tools for the technical stuff — checking contrast ratios, exporting hex codes for developers. But for the messy, exploratory part of color design? Paper wins every time.
Get This Printable →Print on good paper. Cardstock or a heavy matte paper makes the colors pop and holds up to margin notes. Keep a fine-tip pen nearby. I use a 0.3mm Micron for hex codes — it doesn't bleed through the paper. Give it two weeks. The first few days, you'll probably still reach for your phone. After a week, you'll find yourself glancing at the wall instead.
The 100 Color Palettes workbook is only a few dollars, and it's one of those purchases that keeps paying dividends. Every time I look up and see a palette I forgot I had, it sparks something new.