Color styles in Figma - Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

Color styles let you save and reuse colors across your design. This helps keep your visuals consistent and makes it easy to update colors everywhere at once.

When you want all charts in your dashboard to use the same blue for titles and labels.

When you need to change a brand color and want it updated in all visuals automatically.

When you create multiple reports and want to keep the same color theme without manual changes.

When you want to share your color palette with teammates to keep designs uniform.

When you want to quickly apply a saved color to new shapes or text without picking it again.

Steps

Step 1: Select a shape or text with the color you want to save

- Canvas

The color appears in the right sidebar under Fill or Stroke

💡 Use simple shapes or text to pick the exact color you want

Step 2: Click the four dots icon next to the Fill or Stroke color

- Right sidebar color section

A color styles panel opens showing existing styles

💡 This icon opens the color styles menu for managing saved colors

Step 3: Click the '+' button in the color styles panel

- Color styles panel

A new color style is created with the selected color

💡 Name your color style clearly, like 'Brand Blue' or 'Accent Red'

Step 4: Select another shape or text you want to recolor

- Canvas

The shape or text is selected and ready to change color

💡 You can select multiple objects to apply the style at once

Step 5: Click the Fill or Stroke color, then choose your saved color style

- Right sidebar color styles panel

The selected objects update to the saved color style

💡 Using color styles keeps your design consistent and easy to update

Before vs After

Before

Shapes and text use different manual colors like #1A73E8, #1A73E9, #1A73EA scattered across the design

After

All shapes and text use the single saved color style 'Brand Blue' with color #1A73E8, ensuring uniform color

Settings Reference

Create new color style

📍 Right sidebar > Fill or Stroke color > Color styles panel > '+' button

Save a color to reuse it across your design

Default: No color styles saved

Apply color style

📍 Right sidebar > Fill or Stroke color > Color styles panel

Apply a saved color style to selected objects

Default: No style applied

Rename color style

📍 Color styles panel > Right-click on style > Rename

Give a meaningful name to your color style

Default: Original style name

Delete color style

📍 Color styles panel > Right-click on style > Delete

Remove unused or incorrect color styles

Default: Style exists

Common Mistakes

Applying manual colors instead of using color styles

This causes inconsistent colors and makes updates slow and error-prone

Always create and apply color styles for colors used repeatedly

Not naming color styles clearly

It becomes hard to find and reuse the right color later

Use descriptive names like 'Primary Blue' or 'Error Red' for easy identification

Summary

Color styles save and reuse colors to keep your design consistent.

Use color styles to update colors everywhere with one change.

Name styles clearly and apply them instead of manual colors.