space colour palette calculator and converter. Generate beautiful color palettes instantly. Create harmonious color schemes for design, web development, and ...
Create beautiful, harmonious color schemes for your designs
Color palettes create visual harmony and brand consistency
A color palette is a carefully curated collection of colors that work harmoniously together. Designers, artists, and brands use color palettes to create visual consistency, evoke specific emotions, and establish recognizable identities. Understanding color theory and palette creation is fundamental to effective visual design.
Color palettes serve as the foundation of visual communication. They guide design decisions across websites, apps, marketing materials, and brand assets. A well-chosen palette creates cohesion, while a poorly selected one can create visual discord and confusion. According to research from the Institute for Color Research, people make subconscious judgments about products within 90 seconds, and up to 90% of that assessment is based on color alone.
The dominant colors that appear most frequently in your design. These establish the overall mood and are typically limited to one or two colors for maximum impact.
Supporting colors that complement the primary palette. These provide variety while maintaining harmony and are used for accents and supporting elements.
Bold colors used sparingly to draw attention to specific elements like calls-to-action, highlights, or interactive components.
Background colors, text colors, and subtle tones that provide visual breathing room. Neutrals include whites, grays, blacks, and muted earth tones.
Color theory has evolved over centuries. Isaac Newton's experiments with prisms in the 1660s established the foundation, identifying the visible spectrum. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1810 work "Theory of Colours" explored psychological effects. The modern color wheel, attributed to Johannes Itten at the Bauhaus school, remains the primary tool for understanding color relationships.
The color wheel is the foundation of color theory
Color theory provides the scientific and artistic framework for understanding how colors interact. Mastering these principles enables you to create effective, emotionally resonant color palettes.
Red, yellow, and blue form the foundation of traditional color theory. These colors cannot be created by mixing other colors and serve as the basis for all other hues.
Orange, green, and purple result from mixing two primary colors. Orange combines red and yellow, green combines yellow and blue, and purple combines blue and red.
Six colors created by mixing primary and secondary colors: red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-purple, and red-purple. These provide nuanced options for sophisticated palettes.
The pure color itself—red, blue, green, etc. Hue is what we typically mean when we say "color" and represents the color's position on the spectrum.
The intensity or purity of a color. Highly saturated colors appear vivid and bold, while desaturated colors appear muted or grayish. Saturation affects a color's energy and attention-grabbing quality.
How light or dark a color appears. Adding white creates tints (lighter values), while adding black creates shades (darker values). Value contrast is crucial for readability and visual hierarchy.
Colors are perceived as warm (reds, oranges, yellows) or cool (blues, greens, purples). Temperature affects emotional response and spatial perception—warm colors advance while cool colors recede.
The additive color model used for digital screens. Colors are created by combining red, green, and blue light. Values range from 0-255 for each channel, creating over 16 million possible colors.
The subtractive color model used for print. Inks absorb light wavelengths to create colors. CMYK produces different results than RGB, requiring conversion for print projects.
A human-intuitive model that separates color (hue), intensity (saturation), and brightness (lightness). HSL makes it easier to create variations and maintain harmony.
Hexadecimal representation of RGB values used in web development. Six characters (e.g., #FF5733) represent red, green, and blue values in base-16 notation.
Color harmonies are predefined relationships between colors on the color wheel. These mathematical relationships create aesthetically pleasing combinations with predictable emotional effects.
Complementary colors sit directly opposite each other on the color wheel. This 180-degree relationship creates maximum contrast and visual tension. Examples include red/green, blue/orange, and yellow/purple.
Use complementary colors in unequal proportions to avoid visual competition. One color should dominate while the other serves as an accent. Desaturating one color can reduce harshness.
Analogous colors sit adjacent on the color wheel, typically spanning 30-60 degrees. These naturally harmonious combinations are found throughout nature and create serene, comfortable designs.
Choose one dominant color and use adjacent colors as accents. Vary saturation and value to create hierarchy. Analogous palettes can lack contrast, so consider adding a complementary accent.
Triadic colors are evenly spaced around the wheel, forming an equilateral triangle (120 degrees apart). This creates vibrant, balanced palettes with strong visual interest.
Let one color dominate while using the other two as accents. Triadic schemes can be overwhelming at full saturation—consider muting colors for sophistication.
Tetradic schemes use four colors arranged in a rectangle on the color wheel—two complementary pairs. This offers the most variety but requires careful balance.
Choose one dominant color and use others sparingly. Balance warm and cool colors. Tetradic schemes are challenging—start with unequal proportions.
Split-complementary uses a base color plus the two colors adjacent to its complement. This provides contrast similar to complementary schemes but with less tension.
The base color typically dominates. Split-complementary is more forgiving than straight complementary—harder to create visual discord.
Monochromatic palettes use variations of a single hue—different tints, tones, and shades of one color. This creates sophisticated, unified designs with inherent harmony.
Use strong value contrast to maintain visual interest. Monochromatic schemes can feel flat—add texture or consider a single accent color from the complement.
Creating effective color palettes involves both artistic intuition and systematic approaches. Our tool provides multiple generation methods to suit different workflows.
Click "Generate New Palette" to create a completely random five-color combination. While random, the algorithm applies subtle balancing to avoid extremely discordant results.
Random generation excels at discovering unexpected combinations and breaking creative blocks. Use it for inspiration, experimentation, and exploring color spaces you might not consider otherwise.
Lock colors you like and regenerate to replace others. This iterative process helps build palettes combining discovery with intentionality.
Select a harmony type the dropdown to generate palettes following color theory principles. Choose from complementary, analogous, triadic, tetradic, split-complementary, or monochromatic schemes.
Harmony-based generation suits projects requiring predictable, theoretically sound color relationships. Professional designers often start with harmony rules, then adjust individual colors.
After generating a harmony-based palette, adjust saturation and brightness of individual colors while maintaining the harmonic relationship.
Upload an image to extract its dominant colors. Our algorithm analyzes the image and identifies the most prominent and representative colors.
Image extraction is perfect for creating palettes inspired by photography, artwork, nature, or existing designs. It ensures your colors match visual references accurately.
Color palettes unify design across all touchpoints
Color palettes serve diverse applications across digital and physical design. Understanding these contexts helps you create appropriate palettes for your specific needs.
Websites typically require comprehensive color systems including primary brand colors, secondary colors, semantic colors (success, warning, error), and neutral grays for text and backgrounds.
Modern web development uses CSS custom properties or design tokens to manage colors systematically. Our export feature provides ready-to-use code snippets for implementation.
Web color palettes must meet WCAG accessibility standards. Ensure sufficient contrast ratios between text and background colors—4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text.
Most brands use one to three primary colors that become synonymous with the brand. Think Coca-Cola red, Tiffany blue, or UPS brown. Primary brand colors appear in logos, key messaging, and primary touchpoints.
Beyond primary colors, brands need extended palettes for diverse applications. These include secondary colors, gradient options, dark and light modes, and print variations.
Document your color palette in brand guidelines specifying HEX, RGB, CMYK, and Pantone values. Include usage rules, acceptable combinations, and color-on-color specifications.
User interfaces require systematic color approaches. Define colors for interactive elements, disabled states, hover states, focus states, and feedback (success, warning, error).
Modern apps require both light and dark color schemes. Dark mode isn't simply inverting colors—it requires careful palette adjustment for legibility and eye comfort.
Design systems assign colors to specific components and states. Buttons, form elements, cards, and navigation each have defined color treatments within the palette.
Print projects require CMYK color values. Some RGB colors cannot be accurately reproduced in print—check gamut and adjust palettes for print-specific projects.
For consistent brand colors across print materials, specify Pantone spot colors. Pantone matching ensures accurate reproduction regardless of printer or substrate.
Colors appear differently on various papers and materials. Test palettes on intended substrates and adjust for material characteristics.
Colors evoke psychological and emotional responses that influence perception, behavior, and decision-making. Understanding color psychology helps create palettes that communicate effectively.
Red stimulates excitement, passion, urgency, and energy. It increases heart rate and creates a sense of immediacy. Red commands attention and triggers action.
Use red for sale announcements, urgent calls-to-action, food and restaurant brands, and energy or excitement-focused products. Red can increase appetite and encourage impulse decisions.
Red symbolizes luck and prosperity in Chinese culture but danger or warning in Western contexts. Consider your audience's cultural background when using red prominently.
Blue conveys trust, stability, professionalism, and calm. It's the world's most popular color and creates feelings of security and reliability.
Blue dominates corporate branding, technology companies, healthcare, and financial services. Facebook, LinkedIn, IBM, and countless banks use blue to project trustworthiness.
Light blues feel friendly and open. Dark blues suggest authority and formality. Navy conveys tradition while electric blue feels modern and innovative.
Green represents nature, growth, health, and tranquility. It's the easiest color for eyes to process and creates balanced, calming effects.
Green suits environmental organizations, health and wellness brands, organic products, and financial services (money, growth). Darker greens convey wealth and prestige.
Green can also mean "go" in navigation or safety contexts. In medical settings, green indicates sterility. Consider context when choosing green shades.
Yellow radiates optimism, happiness, warmth, and energy. It's highly visible and attention-grabbing, creating feelings of cheerfulness and positivity.
Yellow works for youthful brands, food products, caution/warning elements, and attention-grabbing accents. It's difficult as a dominant color due to eye strain.
Large areas of bright yellow can cause visual fatigue. Muted yellows (gold, mustard) are more versatile. Yellow text on white is nearly illegible—reserve for backgrounds or accents.
Orange combines red's energy with yellow's friendliness. It creates warmth, enthusiasm, creativity, and impulse. Orange is less aggressive than red but still energizing.
Orange suits creative industries, children's products, call-to-action buttons, and entertainment brands. It stimulates appetite (food marketing) and encourages action.
Tech companies increasingly use orange to stand out blue-dominated competitors. Amazon, Firefox, and SoundCloud leverage orange's distinctive, approachable qualities.
Purple evokes luxury, creativity, royalty, and mystery. Historically rare and expensive, purple maintains associations with premium quality and sophistication.
Purple suits beauty and cosmetics, luxury brands, creative services, and products targeting women. Lighter purples (lavender) feel romantic; deeper purples feel regal.
Purple is associated with royalty in many cultures due to the historical expense of purple dye. It's also linked to spirituality and imagination across various traditions.
Black represents sophistication, luxury, power, and elegance. It creates strong contrast and works as both a primary color and a neutral.
White conveys purity, cleanliness, simplicity, and minimalism. It provides visual breathing room and makes other colors appear more vibrant.
Black and white together create timeless, sophisticated designs. Luxury brands, fashion, and minimalist products use black-white-accent schemes effectively.
Different industries have established color conventions and audience expectations. Understanding these norms helps create appropriate, effective palettes.
Tech companies favor blues (trust, reliability), gradients (innovation), and clean neutrals (professionalism). Purple and orange increasingly differentiate from blue-saturated competitors.
Primary blue or purple, clean white/light gray backgrounds, single vibrant accent for CTAs. Dark mode compatibility is essential for software products.
Healthcare traditionally uses blues and greens for trust and calm. White conveys cleanliness. Warm accents add humanity to clinical settings.
Calm blues or teals as primary, plenty of white space, warm accent colors for approachability. Avoid harsh reds except for emergency/urgent contexts.
Red and orange stimulate appetite. Yellow creates warmth and happiness. Green suggests freshness and health. Brown conveys earthiness and coffee/chocolate associations.
Warm colors for traditional restaurants, greens for healthy/organic concepts, earth tones for artisanal brands. Avoid blues which suppress appetite (unless seafood).
Blues dominate for trust and stability. Greens suggest growth and money. Gold/navy combinations convey premium service. Conservative palettes signal reliability.
Navy or royal blue primary, conservative secondary colors, gold or green accents. Fintech startups increasingly use bolder colors to differentiate traditional banks.
Black and white for luxury and elegance. Pink and purple target feminine audiences. Bold colors for youth markets. Pastels for softness and approachability.
Let product photography dominate with neutral backgrounds. Accent colors should complement rather than compete with merchandise. Seasonal palette variations are common.
Blues for trust and intelligence. Greens for growth. Yellows and oranges for energy and creativity. Bright, approachable colors for younger audiences.
Primary blue or green, warm accents for engagement, sufficient contrast for readability. Age-appropriate palette brightness—brighter for children, more muted for adult learning.
Greens are obvious but expected. Earth tones (browns, tans) suggest natural materials. Blues represent water and sky. Avoid artificial-looking neons.
Nature-inspired palettes with organic variation. Desaturated, earthy tones feel authentic. Consider brown paper and recycled aesthetics for packaging.
Follow these principles to create effective, professional color palettes for any project.
Before selecting colors, clarify your objectives. What emotions should the palette evoke? What actions should it encourage? What audience are you targeting? Strategy should drive color selection.
Analyze competitor color usage. You might align with industry norms for familiarity or differentiate for distinction. Understand the landscape before making choices.
Where will these colors appear? Digital, print, or both? Indoor or outdoor viewing? Small screens or large displays? Context affects color perception and selection.
A classic interior design principle that applies to all color work: 60% dominant color, 30% secondary color, 10% accent color. This ratio creates visual balance and hierarchy.
Most effective palettes use three to five colors. More colors create complexity that's difficult to manage consistently. Expand with tints and shades rather than additional hues.
Not all palette colors are equal. Define which color dominates, which supports, and which accents. Clear hierarchy creates intentional, professional designs.
WCAG accessibility guidelines require 4.5:1 contrast ratio for normal text and 3:1 for large text. Test all text/background combinations with contrast checkers.
Approximately 8% of men and 0.5% of women have color vision deficiency. Don't rely solely on color to convey information. Test palettes with color blindness simulators.
Use additional visual cues (icons, patterns, labels) alongside color coding. This ensures information remains accessible regardless of color perception.
Colors look different in different contexts. Test your palette in actual layouts, not just swatches. Monitor calibration, lighting, and materials affect perception.
Test digital palettes across multiple devices and screens. Color rendering varies significantly between monitors, phones, and tablets.
For print projects, always request physical proofs before final production. Screen colors rarely match print exactly—proofing prevents costly surprises.
Understanding different color formats ensures accurate communication and implementation across platforms and applications.
Hexadecimal codes represent RGB values using base-16 notation. The format #RRGGBB uses two characters each for red, green, and blue (00-FF, or 0-255 in decimal).
HEX codes are standard in web development (CSS, HTML) and design software. They're compact and widely supported. Shorthand (#RGB) works for colors with repeated digits.
#000000 is black (no light), #FFFFFF is white (full light), #FF0000 is pure red, #00FF00 is pure green, #0000FF is pure blue.
RGB specifies colors using decimal values (0-255) for red, green, and blue channels. CSS format: rgb(255, 128, 0) or rgba(255, 128, 0, 0.5) with alpha transparency.
RGB is native to digital displays and intuitive for adjusting individual channels. RGBA adds transparency control for overlays and glass effects.
Convert HEX to RGB by separating pairs and converting from base-16: #FF8000 becomes rgb(255, 128, 0).
HSL separates hue (0-360 degrees), saturation (0-100%), and lightness (0-100%). CSS format: hsl(30, 100%, 50%) or hsla with alpha.
HSL is intuitive for creating color variations. Adjust lightness for tints/shades, saturation for vibrancy. Keeping hue constant ensures color family consistency.
HSL makes systematic palette creation easier. Generate harmonies by rotating hue. Create variants by adjusting only saturation or lightness.
CMYK specifies cyan, magenta, yellow, and black percentages (0-100% each). Print-specific format representing ink coverage.
CMYK is required for print production. Always convert RGB palettes to CMYK for print projects. Some RGB colors have no CMYK equivalent (gamut limitations).
RGB-to-CMYK conversion isn't straightforward. Vivid RGB colors often appear duller in CMYK. Professional print work requires careful color management.
Pantone is a standardized color matching system using numbered swatches. It ensures consistent color reproduction across different printers and materials.
Specify Pantone colors for brand guidelines, merchandise, and any application requiring exact color matching. Pantone bridges digital design and physical production.
Pantone spot colors add printing cost compared to CMYK process. Reserve Pantone specification for critical brand colors requiring absolute consistency.