The framework in one sentence
A system built around an orange that occupies territory, with warm neutrals that reject laboratory white, and editorial secondaries that open registers without diluting the identity.
Color philosophy
Orange is a signature, not an accent. Most B2B tech brands use color as an accent over light backgrounds. Zaga elevates orange to a full block and occupies it as territory. It is the opposite reading to the category at large, and it preserves the emotional equity of the brand’s historic color.
The neutrals are warm, not laboratory. The system rejects pure white and pure black. Every neutral carries a deliberate warm temperature: cream, warm white, warm black. Laboratory white betrays the personality; cream sustains it.
The secondaries open registers, they don’t compete. The secondaries are auxiliary territories for editorial cards, context sections and specific environments. All of them work as a frame for the orange, never as a substitute.
Primary palette
Primary orange · #ff4e00 (RGB 255, 78, 0 · CMYK 0, 69, 100, 0 · Pantone 165 C approx.). The signature. Full-block backgrounds, the wordmark over dark neutrals, elements that occupy visual territory. It is the color the brand thinks in.
Accent orange · #ff6100 (RGB 255, 97, 0 · CMYK 0, 62, 100, 0 · Pantone 1655 C approx.). The typographic hue. Slightly warmer. It exists for large headlines over cream when the word needs presence without a full color block.
Neutral palette
Cream · #f9f8f5 (RGB 249, 248, 245 · CMYK 0, 0, 2, 2). The system’s light background. It replaces pure white in every application.
Warm white · #fdf9f5 (RGB 253, 249, 245 · CMYK 0, 2, 3, 1). Text over color blocks. The wordmark over orange. A white tinted toward beige that breaks with laboratory white without turning pink.
Warm black · #0d0d10 (RGB 13, 13, 16 · CMYK 60, 40, 40, 100 · rich black). The default dark neutral. Alternate backgrounds and high-hierarchy text.
High-legibility black · #090304 (RGB 9, 3, 4 · CMYK 60, 50, 50, 100 · rich black). Body copy over light backgrounds. Reserved for extended text.
Secondary palette
Navy · #211b51 (RGB 33, 27, 81 · CMYK 59, 67, 0, 68). The dramatic secondary. High-contrast editorial cards. Testimonial backgrounds and moments of emphasis.
Muted lavender · #e6e0ea (RGB 230, 224, 234 · CMYK 2, 4, 0, 8). The soft secondary. Editorial cards and warm environments.
Olive beige · #ecebdf (RGB 236, 235, 223 · CMYK 0, 0, 6, 7). The natural secondary. Editorial cards with an earth tone.
The secondaries are not combined with each other in a single composition. Each one lives in its own card or in a separate section.
Semantic palette
Semantic colors communicate state, not identity. They live in interfaces, forms, notifications and system messages. Never in editorial pieces, never as a full block, never as a brand color.
The rule that governs them is containment: primary orange means nothing. It is not success, not warning, not error. It is signature. If orange starts communicating state, it stops communicating brand.
Success · #1f6f4a (RGB 31, 111, 74 · CMYK 82, 27, 76, 12). Warm forest green. Confirmations, completed processes, successful validations. Soft surface: #e8f1ec.
Error · #b3261e (RGB 179, 38, 30 · CMYK 20, 96, 96, 11). Terracotta red, dark and desaturated so it separates from the brand orange by luminosity. Validation errors, destructive actions, system failures. Soft surface: #f9e9e7.
Warning · #8a6108 (RGB 138, 97, 8 · CMYK 30, 52, 100, 20). Dark mustard, derived from the mustard register the art direction already recognizes. Warnings and states that need attention without blocking. Soft surface: #f5eedb.
Information · #211b51 (RGB 33, 27, 81 · CMYK 59, 67, 0, 68). The system navy, no new color introduced. Informational messages, contextual help, neutral states. Soft surface: #eae8f2.
Usage rules
Color never communicates alone. Every semantic state is paired with an icon and text. A red border with no label is not an error message: it is a red border.
Never as a full block. Semantics operate at interface scale: icons, borders, labels and soft notification backgrounds. Occupying territory is the exclusive role of orange.
Outside the dosage calculation. The 60/30/10 proportion governs the brand system. Semantics are functional signage and do not enter into it.
Base for text, soft for background. The four base tones are calculated to carry text over cream. The soft surfaces are backgrounds: text on them is set in high-legibility black, never in the base tone of the same semantic.
Dosage rules
The system operates under a proportion that preserves visual hierarchy and avoids chromatic saturation.
Base (~60%). Cream and warm blacks. Backgrounds, text, large surfaces. This is the system’s air.
Identity (~30%). Primary orange. Signature blocks, the wordmark, elements that occupy territory.
Context (~10%). Navy, lavender, beige. Editorial cards, context sections, moments of variety.
The proportion guides the feel of the system, not every individual layout. What cannot happen is the secondaries occupying more space than the orange: the moment that occurs, the brand loses its visual signature.
Print considerations
Primary orange in CMYK shifts perceptibly against its RGB rendering: it loses saturation and reads warmer. For significant merchandise runs, specify Pantone 165 C on the production order instead of CMYK. It guarantees consistency across batches and suppliers.
The two oranges are the only colors in the system with a defined Pantone equivalent, because they are the only ones printed as a spot ink. Navy accepts an equivalent for pieces that require it, specified against a physical guide with the supplier.
The light neutrals carry no Pantone by design. Cream and warm white are resolved through the substrate — warm-toned stock — or through a spot ink specified by the supplier, not through a color reference. The blacks are specified as rich black with the given build, never as a direct conversion from RGB: a K100 black only reads as gray across large surfaces.
The CMYK conversions on this page are starting values calculated from RGB. They are not colorimetrically exact. Before a print run, validate them against the supplier’s color profile and a physical proof.
Accessibility
Every color combination in the system meets WCAG 2.1 level AA at minimum. The approved pairs and the specific contrast rules for each combination are documented in the operational design system.