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Reference study / 2026

Color with a memory.

The visual system pulls from painted clay, bright fabric, handwritten marks, blue sky, and the electric pattern of a butterfly wing.

Ancestral color study board showing Ember Archive, Lagoon Letter, and Night Garden palettes with exact hex values
Three website-ready palettes extracted from the supplied reference imagery.
Source material

Texture, handwriting, saturated color.

The references feel handmade and alive. The web expression keeps their warmth while making space for the family photographs themselves.

Painted reference with handwritten notes
Collage portrait reference
Butterfly wing color reference
01

Selected direction

Ember Archive

Warm, expressive, and grounded. Clay and ember carry the art references; paper and ink keep the archive calm.

Ember#E52318
Clay#B6532B
Marigold#F5BE2E
Paper#F4EBDD
Ink#18211D
Ember Archive website concept with a red and ochre scrapbook-inspired family timeline
Ember Archive Desktop homepage concept
02

Gentle alternative

Lagoon Letter

Airier and reflective, drawn from the blue lettering fragment. A good direction for a quieter documentary tone.

Lagoon#8EC9DE
Sun#F1CF4A
River#176B72
Shell#F7F1E7
Deep#16332F
Lagoon Letter website concept with blue paper, handwritten annotations, and family story cards
Lagoon Letter Desktop homepage concept
03

High-contrast alternative

Night Garden

Bold and celebratory, inspired by the butterfly wing and saturated collage. Best for events and shared collections.

Night#111713
Wing#F3D112
Cobalt#2535B7
Leaf#08765F
Signal#F01813
Night Garden website concept with a dark gallery, butterfly pattern, and saturated family portrait collage
Night Garden Desktop homepage concept

Applied concept

An archive, not an app.

Ember Archive is used across the current experience: warm paper, intimate editorial type, and small hand-drawn moments around a restrained photo grid.

Experience Ancestral