WORKING WITH CUSTOM COLORS IN PRESENTATION STUDIO
Because colors are easy for people to remember and identify, the colors used on your presentations, in your
logo, and for your brand can be a very important component of the branding of your firm. For presentations,
you have the option to assign colors to categories and benchmarks that correspond or coordinate with the
color palette of your logo or other printed materials.
PortfolioCenter® provides you with several theme options that have an array of colors available, but it might
not exactly match your branded colors. The good news is that you have options to match your branded colors.
With so many ways to customize colors in PortfolioCenter, though, how do you coordinate them all? This
document explains the three areas where you can customize colors on your client presentations and how to
set them properly.
WHAT ARE RGB AND HEX CODES?
RGB and Hex codes are two ways of identifying colors in a palette. Think of it as mixing colors of paint: you
have a little bit of two colors to make a completely different color. The idea is the same with electronic media,
only you have a level of precision that is harder to achieve with paint because you can dictate exact levels of
a specific color. The difference between RGB and Hex codes are really minor - while they mean the same
things, the way they are represented are different.
RGB CODES
RGB codes indicate the amount of
red, blue and green present in a
particular color, on scale of 0 (not
at all present) to 255 (fully
saturated) and the colors are
additive, meaning that the higher
the number, the closer you are to
black, just like paint.
You have settings for each of the
three color “channels” – one for
red, one for blue and one for green.
So, in the instance when you have
the RGB code 0-0-0, there are no
colors present at all, and the code
255-255-255 means that all colors
are present, which is the color black.
HEX CODES
Hex codes, or Hexadecimal codes, work in much of the same way as the RGB codes, only they use alphanumeric codes to identify colors from a palette library and usually used in web development. In most cases,
the Hex codes are a six or eight digit code, similar to the example above.
With a six digit code, the first two digits represent the red channel, then the blue channel, then the green. An
eight-digit Hex code uses the first two as the transparency color, then the red, then blue, then green.
PortfolioCenter and Presentation Studio use both RGB and Hex codes, as well as standard color names in
the color picker. The sections below describe where to see the codes and how to use them in each of the
color selection dialogs.
DocumentID: SPT011790
Last Updated: January 30, 2014
CATEGORY COLOR ASSIGNMENTS
One place you can
assign colors is to the
categories – asset
class, sector and
subsector.
The easiest option is to
select the colors
directly from the palette
in the theme styles, so
that if you change the
theme for a
presentation the
category colors will
automatically update to
the theme selection.
However, if your color
scheme was developed
by a graphic designer,
it is more likely that the
color palette they
developed for you is far
more diverse. If you do
not find your firm’s
brand colors on the fixed color palette and you know the RGB color code or the Hex code, leave the Use
Color Palette box checked, and then assign a color identifier (1 – 50) for that category. You can then make a
copy of the theme you want to use and then assign the desired category colors in the Color Palette Entry
1 – 50 theme styles.
Online
 For more information about categories and editing their colors, see Tips and Best Practices for
Selecting Category Colors for Client Presentations.
 For more information on theme styles and how to assign a theme to a presentation, see Editing
Theme Styles in Presentation Studio and Working with Themes in Presentation Studio.
Important
Since PortfolioCenter uses either the RGB code or the Hex codes, make sure to ask for both codes
when talking to the graphic designer that created the colors found in your firm’s brand. You can also use
a free RGB to Hex code, or vice-versa, converter tool online to determine the appropriate codes.
Working with Custom Colors in Presentation Studio
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BENCHMARK COLLECTION COLOR ASSIGNMENTS
Another area with a
color selector tool is the
Benchmark Collections.
This tool gives you
options to select from a
theme style or enter the
RGB codes, similar to
the example to the right.
If you have the RGB
color codes, enter the
Red, Green and Blue
settings and the color
will appear in the Select
Color tool.
This tool also gives you
options for hue,
saturation and
luminosity. Hue is the
actual color family, such
as red, yellow, green,
indigo, and so on – as
though you’re picking
from a rainbow.
Saturation is the amount
of color included and the luminosity is the brightness of the color – is it muted or vibrant?
Although these settings are available, you should not need to enter them individually. If you enter the RGB
code, the hue, saturation and luminosity settings should be entered for you automatically.
Similar to assigning colors to categories, if you have a hard time finding your firm’s brand colors or only have
a Hex code, leave the Use Color Palette box checked, and then assign a color identifier (1 – 50) for that
category. You can then make a copy of the theme you want to use and then assign the desired category
colors in the Color Palette Entry 1 – 50 theme styles.
Online
 For more information on working with benchmark collections, see Creating and Assigning Benchmark
Collections.
 For more information on theme styles and how to assign a theme to a presentation, see Editing
Theme Styles in Presentation Studio and Working with Themes in Presentation Studio.
For institutional audiences only.
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PortfolioCenter® is a product of Schwab Performance Technologies® (“SPT”). SPT is a subsidiary of The Charles Schwab Corporation
separate from its affiliate Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“CS&Co”). CS&Co is a registered broker-dealer and member SIPC that provides
brokerage services, while SPT licenses software and provides related technology products and services.
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individuals. Both real and fictional securities are listed in the document. Securities and strategies reflected in the document are for
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Working with Custom Colors in Presentation Studio
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