Top 15 Retro 80s Color Palettes for Creative Projects With HEX Codes

Retro 80s color palettes tap into neon nostalgia, arcade glow, and sunset synthwave gradients that instantly feel energetic and cinematic. These color combinations often mix hot magentas, cyans, purples, and warm oranges with deep navy or near black tones, creating strong contrast that feels both futuristic and vintage at the same time. Psychologically, they signal fun, speed, nightlife, and a slightly surreal digital world, which is perfect for bold online content.

For video creators, editors, and designers, Retro 80s colors are ideal for eye catching YouTube thumbnails, intros, gaming edits, lyric videos, channel branding, and aesthetic vlogs. Below you will find ready to use Retro 80s color palettes with HEX codes, so you can match titles, overlays, filters, and graphics in Filmora and keep your whole project locked into a cohesive neon inspired look.

Neon & Vaporwave Retro 80s Color Palettes

These Retro 80s color combinations lean into hyper bright neons, mallwave pastels, and deep midnight blues. They are perfect when you want your edits to feel like an arcade cabinet or a vaporwave poster brought to life on screen.

Neon Night Drive

• HEX Codes: #ff2fd4, #05f4ff, #2b2dff, #0b032d, #f9f871
• Mood: Adrenaline fueled, cinematic, and ultra neon with a late night highway feel.
• Use for: Perfect for high energy YouTube intros, gaming highlight reels, and cyberpunk themed title cards.

Neon Night Drive mixes hot magenta, icy cyan, and electric blue against a deep midnight base, with a touch of acid yellow for highlights. It feels like speeding through a neon drenched city at 2 a.m., with billboards and holograms flashing past your window.

Use this palette for aggressive glitch transitions, bold lower thirds, and neon outlines around gameplay or B roll. In YouTube thumbnails, put text in the bright magenta or cyan and use the darkest shade as the background to keep everything readable while still glowing with Retro 80s energy.

Pro Tip: Build a Cinematic Retro 80s Night Look in Filmora

To keep a Neon Night Drive style consistent, pick one dominant neon color for your titles (for example #ff2fd4) and reuse it across your intro, transitions, and end screen in Filmora. Then use the darkest navy (#0b032d) for backgrounds, drop shadows, and overlays so every shot feels like it belongs to the same nighttime world.

In Filmora, create a simple color style guide inside your project: store these HEX values in custom titles, elements, and shapes so you can quickly reuse them when you build shorts, highlight compilations, or teaser clips for social media. This keeps your cyberpunk brand identity strong across every upload.

AI Color Palette

If you already have a Neon Night Drive style thumbnail or poster, you can sample its colors and apply that look to your entire edit. Filmora's AI Color Palette feature lets you grab the mood of a reference frame and match the color vibe across all your clips in a few clicks.

Import your brightest neon shot, run AI Color Palette, and let Filmora push your other clips toward the same magenta, cyan, and deep blue balance. It is a fast way to make your intro, gameplay, and B roll feel like one seamless neon highway, even if they were shot or recorded at different times.

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HSL, Color Wheels & Curves

To perfect a Retro 80s night look, use Filmora's HSL panel to deepen blues and purples while keeping skin tones natural. Push the blue and magenta saturation up slightly, then use color wheels to cool the shadows and add a warmer tint to the midtones for a more cinematic contrast. A gentle S curve will help your neons pop without crushing detail in dark areas.

If you want more guidance on balancing highlights and shadows for stylized edits, check out Filmora's color correction tips in the color grading tutorial series and apply the same ideas to your Neo 80s palette.

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1000+ Video Filters & 3D LUTs

If you want an instant Retro 80s color palette without manual grading, Filmora's video filters and 3D LUTs make it easy to stylize your footage. Combine a neon or cyberpunk LUT with your Neon Night Drive HEX colors in titles and graphics for a complete synthwave package.

Stack glow, blur, or VHS style filters on top of your edit, then fine tune opacity so the neon edges do not overpower your subject. With 1000+ filters and LUTs, you can keep your channel thumbnails, shorts, and full videos all locked into the same late night highway aesthetic.

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Electric Roller Rink

• HEX Codes: #ff6bc1, #ffde59, #5b5bff, #36f1cd, #181425
• Mood: Playful, nostalgic, and flashy like a crowded roller rink under disco lights.
• Use for: Great for lifestyle vlogs, nostalgic dance videos, and fun event promos that need a bright retro punch.

Electric Roller Rink feels like candy colored lights bouncing off a shiny floor. The mix of bubblegum pink, buttery yellow, glowing cyan, and electric blue over a deep plum base creates a fun, bouncy mood that suits dance challenges, party recaps, and retro themed reels.

Use the darkest shade for backgrounds or lower thirds, then reserve the bright yellow and cyan for call to action text in your YouTube thumbnails. This palette is especially strong for vlog intros, animated stickers, and motion graphics titles where you want instant 80s fun without going full cyberpunk.

Mallwave Dreams

• HEX Codes: #ff9ecd, #ffd1ff, #7af9ff, #7c83ff, #1b1b3a
• Mood: Softly nostalgic and dreamy, like wandering an 80s mall in a hazy VHS tape.
• Use for: Ideal for aesthetic montage videos, lo fi background animations, and retro inspired brand story edits.

Mallwave Dreams softens the typical neon look into pastel pinks, cotton candy purples, and airy cyans floating over a deep navy. It evokes quiet escalators, indoor fountains, and glowing store signs captured on VHS.

Use this palette for aesthetic B roll, lo fi music visuals, or gentle brand storytelling. In Filmora, combine these HEX colors with subtle film grain and slow zooms to build dreamy moodboards, channel trailers, and montage sequences that still feel distinctly Retro 80s but more relaxed.

Miami Gridlines

• HEX Codes: #ff5e9f, #ffb86b, #3ae7ff, #1f2cff, #0b1021
• Mood: Sleek, hot, and coastal, like a neon skyline over digital gridlines.
• Use for: Use for tech themed trailers, travel edits in beach cities, and stylish retro title screens.

Miami Gridlines blends tropical corals and peaches with icy cyan and royal blue over an inky night base. The result is a sleek, coastal synthwave look that immediately recalls Miami Vice style intros and glowing grid horizons.

This Retro 80s color palette works brilliantly for travel vlogs in beach cities, product promos with a tech edge, or modern intros that still nod to the 80s. Use the cyan and blue for digital gridlines, HUD elements, and outlines around your text to create a stylish, futuristic beach vibe.

Synthwave Sunset Retro 80s Color Palettes

These palettes capture blazing sunsets, laser streaks, and VHS warmth. They are perfect when you want gradients that move smoothly from hot pinks and oranges into deep purples and night skies.

Sunset Overdrive Horizon

• HEX Codes: #ff006e, #ff5c39, #ffbf69, #ffd670, #240046
• Mood: Epic, cinematic, and dramatic like a synthwave sun dropping behind digital mountains.
• Use for: Perfect for cinematic intros, music visualizers, and dramatic B roll overlays.

Sunset Overdrive Horizon is all about dramatic gradients: hot magenta into fiery orange, then soft golden yellow fading into deep violet night. It feels epic and cinematic, like the last frame of a music video just before the credits roll.

Use these HEX codes in Filmora to build linear or radial gradients behind your titles, then animate them slowly to mimic a sinking synthwave sun. This palette is excellent for lyric videos, dramatic channel intros, and cinematic B roll overlays where the sky becomes a character on its own.

Retro Beach Glow

• HEX Codes: #ff477e, #ff9f68, #ffe66d, #2ec4b6, #1a1b41
• Mood: Warm, relaxed, and nostalgic with a sun on the water vibe.
• Use for: Use for travel vlogs, summer recap videos, and upbeat lifestyle edits that need warmth with an 80s twist.

Retro Beach Glow combines saturated coral, peach, and sunny yellow with teal and deep navy. It feels like a retro postcard from a beach vacation, with soft waves reflecting a neon tinted sunset.

Because it balances warm and cool tones, this palette is great for lifestyle edits and vlogs where you want flattering skin tones plus bold accents. Use the teal and navy for text and frames, and let the corals and yellows dominate skies, light leaks, or animated sun icons in your overlays.

Laser Horizon Fade

• HEX Codes: #ff3f8e, #ff8a3d, #ffd447, #7b2cff, #1a0b2e
• Mood: Intense, radiant, and futuristic with laser streaks across a dusk sky.
• Use for: Great for motion graphics, lyric videos, and logo reveals that lean into synthwave aesthetics.

Laser Horizon Fade pushes intensity with blazing pinks and oranges melting into neon yellow and vivid violet. The near black purple base keeps the colors grounded while letting laser like streaks cut across the frame.

Use this Retro 80s color palette for kinetic typography, logo stings, and animated backgrounds. In Filmora, you can animate simple shapes or gradient bars using these HEX codes, then sync their movement to beats in your music for high impact lyric or promo videos.

Tropical VHS Sunset

• HEX Codes: #ff7aa2, #ffb38a, #ffe4a3, #5ce0d8, #223843
• Mood: Softly glowing and nostalgic, like a paused VHS frame of a beach sunset.
• Use for: Ideal for retro travel edits, lo fi music videos, and soft branded content with a warm throwback feel.

Tropical VHS Sunset tones down neon intensity into muted pinks, peaches, pale yellow, and dusty teal over a moody navy teal base. It looks like a sun soaked scene that has been replayed dozens of times on an old tape.

This palette shines in vlogs, softly branded content, and lo fi edits. Pair it with VHS overlays, mild blur, and film grain in Filmora to lean fully into the nostalgic color palette while still keeping text and logos readable with the darker accent shade.

Arcade & Cyberpunk Retro 80s Color Palettes

These Retro 80s color combinations are built for gamers, tech creators, and high energy edits. Expect neon pinks, electric cyans, and acid yellows clashing over deep navy and near black purples.

Neon Quarter Arcade

• HEX Codes: #ff3cac, #ffdd00, #00f5ff, #2bff88, #15141f
• Mood: High contrast, energetic, and gamey with flashing arcades and pixel sparks.
• Use for: Perfect for gaming channels, esports highlight edits, and bold streaming overlays.

Neon Quarter Arcade feels like the inside of a retro game cabinet: hyper bright magenta, yellow, cyan, and green explode over a deep charcoal base. It is loud and energetic, built to grab attention even on small mobile screens.

Use the dark shade as your primary background for overlays and lower thirds, then pick one accent color for scores, kills, or alerts in your stream graphics. This palette is especially useful for esports montages, countdown timers, and bold Twitch or YouTube gaming branding.

Cyber Alley Rain

• HEX Codes: #08f7fe, #09fbd3, #fe53bb, #f5d300, #050816
• Mood: Moody, electric, and cinematic like neon signs reflecting in wet pavement.
• Use for: Great for tech reviews, city night B roll, and cinematic cyberpunk sequences.

Cyber Alley Rain contrasts cool cyan and teal with hot magenta and yellow on a nearly black navy base. It instantly creates a rainy neon city atmosphere where lights bounce off puddles and metal surfaces.

Use it for tech reviews, unboxings with a dark background, or city night B roll. In thumbnails, keep your subject lit and place UI elements, ratings, or bold keywords in the neon cyan or magenta so they cut through the darkness while staying on brand.

Pixel Racer Turbo

• HEX Codes: #ff246e, #ff9a00, #00e0ff, #00ff85, #111827
• Mood: Fast, competitive, and neon charged with a racing game vibe.
• Use for: Use for car edits, speed ramps, sports highlight reels, and kinetic type animations.

Pixel Racer Turbo brings shock pink and orange into battle with bright cyan and green over a deep blue black background. It feels like racing game checkpoints, turbo boosts, and finish line sparks.

Apply this Retro 80s color palette to speed ramps, sports edits, parkour clips, and racing content. Color code different stats or segments (for example, orange for offense, cyan for defense) and keep your scoreboard, timers, and motion graphics all tied to these HEX codes in Filmora.

Glitch City Nights

• HEX Codes: #ff5db1, #7b61ff, #40fff2, #fffb96, #0a071a
• Mood: Glitchy, surreal, and techy, like broken pixels across a night skyline.
• Use for: Ideal for glitch transitions, experimental edits, and sci fi channel branding.

Glitch City Nights mixes magenta and violet with aqua and soft neon yellow over a deep purple black. The combination feels glitchy and surreal, like corrupted pixels and broken holograms scattered through a city skyline.

Use it for glitch transitions, HUD elements, scan line overlays, or experimental edits with signal noise effects. In Filmora, you can stack RGB split, shake, and distortion effects while locking text and icon colors to this palette for a cohesive sci fi channel identity.

Vintage Pop Retro 80s Color Palettes

These palettes soften the neon into playful, friendly combinations that feel like stationery aisles, diners, and analog TV test cards. They are perfect for approachable branding, lifestyle content, and creators who want a Retro 80s twist without full cyberpunk intensity.

Cassette Pop Candy

• HEX Codes: #ff8fab, #ffb5a7, #ffe5ec, #7cc6fe, #2d3142
• Mood: Sweet, fun, and nostalgic like colorful cassette labels and polka dot notebooks.
• Use for: Great for lifestyle vlogs, unboxings, stationery brands, and cute retro merch promos.

Cassette Pop Candy brings together soft pinks, creams, and powder blue with a grounding slate tone. It feels like school supplies, handwritten mixtape labels, and pastel stickers from the 80s.

This aesthetic color palette is perfect for lifestyle vloggers, stationery brands, and creators promoting cute merch. Design your YouTube channel art, video thumbnails, and end screens around these HEX codes to create a sweet, approachable Retro 80s brand that still reads clearly on mobile.

Retro Diner Glow

• HEX Codes: #ff6b6b, #ffe66d, #f7fff7, #4ecdc4, #1a535c
• Mood: Cheerful, cozy, and inviting like a chrome diner lit by jukebox neon.
• Use for: Use for food content, cafe promos, nostalgic storytelling, and personality driven channels.

Retro Diner Glow pairs cherry red and lemon yellow with mint, white, and deep teal. It captures the feeling of chrome counters, jukebox lights, and checkered floors in a cozy 80s diner.

Use this palette for food videos, cafe promos, and storytelling channels that want a warm, welcoming Retro 80s vibe. In thumbnails and titles, reserve the red and yellow for key phrases or call to action buttons, while using teal and white to keep backgrounds clean and readable.

Analog TV Static

• HEX Codes: #ff7f50, #ffd166, #06d6a0, #118ab2, #22223b
• Mood: Quirky, bold, and slightly chaotic like colorful static and test patterns.
• Use for: Perfect for channel branding, quirky intros, and motion graphics that reference analog TV and VHS aesthetics.

Analog TV Static pulls coral, yellow, teal, and blue together over inky navy, echoing vintage broadcast test cards and colorful static. It feels quirky and energetic, but not as harsh as full neon.

Use this Retro 80s color palette when you want a playful analog mood without heavy glow. Build motion graphics with blocks, stripes, and animated shapes in these HEX colors, then layer in VHS noise or scan line effects in Filmora to complete the throwback TV aesthetic.

Tips for Creating Retro 80s Color Palettes

When you design your own Retro 80s color combinations for video, thumbnails, and branding, think about contrast, readability, and how your palette will look across different devices and formats.

• Always pair bright neons with at least one deep, dark shade (navy, purple, or charcoal) so text and UI elements stay readable.
• Limit your main palette to 3 to 5 colors: one background, one or two accent neons, and one highlight color for call to action buttons or key words.
• Test your HEX codes on a small mobile screen to make sure subtitles, lower thirds, and thumbnail titles still pop against the background.
• Use complementary contrasts (pink vs teal, orange vs cyan, yellow vs violet) to get that classic synthwave and vaporwave energy without overwhelming the viewer.
• Keep skin tones in mind: if your neons are extremely cool, balance them with warmer highlights or neutral backgrounds so faces do not look sickly.
• Build a simple brand style sheet with your Retro 80s color codes and reuse them consistently for intros, end screens, overlays, and social posts.
• In Filmora, save your favorite color combinations inside custom titles and graphics so you can quickly apply the same look to new projects.
• When in doubt, start from a gradient (sunset, night sky, or beach tones) and then add one neon accent color for icons, lines, and small details.

Retro 80s color palettes are powerful tools for setting mood, telling a story, and making your channel or brand instantly recognizable. Neon and synthwave colors say energy, nightlife, and gaming, while softer mallwave and vintage pop palettes feel cozy, nostalgic, and friendly.

Experiment with these 15 Retro 80s HEX color combinations in Filmora and see how they change the vibe of your intros, thumbnails, and full edits. Once you find a palette that fits your style, lock it into your titles, overlays, and filters so every upload feels like part of the same world.

Whether you are building a cyberpunk gaming channel, a dreamy travel vlog, or a cute stationery brand, Filmora gives you the tools to match colors, grade footage, and stylize your videos with filters and LUTs that bring your Retro 80s vision to life.

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