Clarification on handling of colours for independent sites

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The theming documentation is great for being clear on how the colour palette can and can’t be used for the various classification levels. However, the last paragraph on that page introduces some ambiguity:

As core styles and components inherit colours from the base colour theme, changing a brand colour will automatically filter down to all instances where that colour is used. Alternatively, colour instances can be updated on an individual basis as required. Where possible, it is indicated in the guidance on the Components page.

Does this mean that the colours used can be customised on a per-page basis? Do we need to stick to the chosen “two colour sets” for these individual customisations, or can any colour be chosen as long as it meets WCAG 2.1/ 2.2 standards?

Taking the Card component as an example. The demo for this component suggests that we can either use “White”, “Brand light” or “Brand Dark” for the card colouring. Can a masterbrand site use any of these three options? I assume an independent site can. But could an independent site use their chosen “supplementary” colour for the cards? Or how about another colour from the palette all together?

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Hi @JeffersonBledsoe,

Thank you for sending this through.

In terms of the color usage ‘Independant’ theme uses up to two color sets plus grey and has full access to the NSW Government colour palette.

For the cards “White”, “Brand light” or “Brand Dark” still apply as well as the highlight variant which is only available in the “White” card.

Hope that helps.

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Thanks for the quick response! So an independent site can’t use ‘ANY’ colour for the cards, it has to be from their brand light/ brand dark/ supplementary/ accent choices?

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Hi @JeffersonBledsoe,

Technically, unless they are used for highlight cards - where the accent color for the highlight can be used, only the brand light/ brand dark/ and white can be used. Supplementary and accent colors can’t be used. Another rule is to avoid mixing card styles within the same section.

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Thanks for the clarification on this, much appreciated! I’ve opened a documentation follow up to this Clarify Design/Theming documentation around use of colours on an individual component bases · Issue #399 · digitalnsw/nsw-design-system · GitHub

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Thank you for bringing this to our attention @JeffersonBledsoe.

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