From the sprint planning call: editors pick from the brand guide's colors only, and the colors left over from the old site come out of the picker. Most of those leftover colors were never editor choices anyway. The old theme applies them itself, to headings, links, buttons, divider lines, and the header and footer. That means we can go further than the picker: as part of the migration, every legacy color can be mapped to a brand color, and the site conforms fully to the current brand guide. Below is that mapping. The two items that needed a decision were settled on July 7; they are marked below and the page stays as the record.
Decided, July 7
Links: Darden red #8B0E04 at rest, Savory #D2342E on hover. Question 1
Dark divider lines: two styles adopted, Subtle (Delicate) and Strong (Smoky). Question 2
All other mappings approved as proposed. The sections below are kept as the record of what was reviewed.
The decision from the call
What was agreed
Keep
Primary brand colors from the current Darden Brand Style Guide.
Keep
Secondary brand colors as defined in the same guide.
Remove
Legacy colors as editor options. Colors from the old build that aren't in the current guide don't appear in the picker.
Replace
Legacy grays standardize to grays that are already in the brand guide.
What editors see
The palette
Eleven options: white plus the five primary and five secondary colors from the brand book, using the book's own names.
Primary
Base#FFFFFFPage background
Darden#8B0E04Brand red, headers, active states
Smoky#4B4F54Body text and headings
Rich#070710Near-black
Delicate#E7E9EASurfaces, gray boxes, rules
Nourishing#BBA8A5Warm taupe neutral
Secondary
Fresh#90A454Green accent
Decadent#D0B669Gold accent
Delightful#DE6335Orange accent
Savory#D2342EBright red, primary button fill
Exquisite#38839EBlue, link color
The proposal
Where each legacy color's job goes
None of these were picked by editors. The old theme applies them itself: the dark red to section titles and component headings, teal to links, the mid gray to the header and footer, and the lighter grays to divider lines. Removing a legacy color just means the rebuilt theme uses a brand color for the same job. Role by role:
Clear wins
Old web red#8B1109
Darden#8B0E04
The red heading and section-title treatment, active states, bullets and quotes. Visually identical; the current guide's value takes over everywhere.
Button red#BF2E38
Savory#D2342E
The main button color becomes a real brand color. White button text still passes the contrast requirement (4.92, the old fill was 5.73).
Salmon#FF968F
Removed outrightno replacement needed
Not found anywhere in the production database. Its only uses were hover states in the old theme's stylesheets, so nothing depends on it.
Header and footer gray#757C84
Smoky#4B4F54
The old header and footer gray is not in the brand guide; Smoky is the brand's own dark neutral. It also repairs a long-standing issue: white footer text on the old slate fell short of AA (4.22), on Smoky it passes comfortably (8.25).
Surface gray#F6F6F6
Delicate#E7E9EA
Light box fill to light box fill; the brand neutral takes over cleanly.
Light divider lines#D7DADD
Delicate#E7E9EA
A hairline stays a hairline; the difference is invisible in practice.
Decided July 7
Teal links#58ADAF
Darden#8B0E04
Question 1 Decided: links are Darden red at rest with Savory on hover. Exquisite stays a palette accent for large text.
Dark divider lines#979797
Smoky#4B4F54
Question 2 Decided: two separator styles, Subtle (Delicate) and Strong (Smoky), so section structure survives the standardization.
Question 1
What should links be?
Links are the highest-traffic color decision on the site. The old teal failed contrast badly (2.62 against a 4.5 requirement), which is part of why it's going. Exquisite is the natural brand replacement, but as-is it lands at 4.28, just under the line. The brand guide gives us two ways out: it allows secondary colors to be darkened by 40 percent, or we can use a primary color instead. Rendered on white:
Link candidates, shown on the site's white background
Read the 2025 Annual Report#38839E · Exquisite as proposedfails 4.28
Read the 2025 Annual Report#8B0E04 · Darden, the primary redAA 9.71
The trade-off weighed: the darker Exquisite keeps links clearly distinct from the red used on headings and buttons; the brand red is the strongest brand statement.
Decided The brand red. Links are Darden #8B0E04 at rest and Savory #D2342E on hover, both palette colors, both passing the contrast requirement on white (9.71 and 4.92). The underline stays in both states, keyboard focus gets the same treatment as hover, and inside gray boxes the hover stays Darden since Savory dips just under the bar there.
Question 2
Dividers: one gray or two?
The current site uses two kinds of divider lines: a clearly visible gray between major sections, and a faint one inside menus and lists. The straightforward standardization sends both to Delicate, but that effectively deletes the stronger tier. Side by side:
Today's site
Leadership
Rick Cardenas, President and CEO. Darden's leadership team guides eleven brands.
#979797 (strong)
Our Purpose
To nourish and delight everyone we serve.
#D7DADD (hairline)
Careers, investor relations and press contacts.
Everything Delicate
Leadership
Rick Cardenas, President and CEO. Darden's leadership team guides eleven brands.
#E7E9EA (was #979797)
Our Purpose
To nourish and delight everyone we serve.
#E7E9EA (was #D7DADD)
Careers, investor relations and press contacts.
Proposed: two styles
Leadership
Rick Cardenas, President and CEO. Darden's leadership team guides eleven brands.
Smoky #4B4F54 ("strong")
Our Purpose
To nourish and delight everyone we serve.
Delicate #E7E9EA ("subtle")
Careers, investor relations and press contacts.
The proposal: give the separator two styles, Subtle (Delicate) and Strong (Smoky), both brand grays, and long pages keep their section structure. Smoky is deliberately darker than the old gray; a divider doesn't need to match the old color, it needs to separate sections, and staying inside the brand palette is the point of this exercise. If Smoky reads too heavy in practice, Nourishing (the warm taupe) is the softer brand-approved fallback.
Decided Adopted as proposed: Subtle (Delicate) as the default, Strong (Smoky) as the second style.