About Color Palette Generator
Color palette generator with complementary, analogous, triadic, and monochromatic schemes. Pick a base color, explore harmonies, and export hex, RGB, and HSL values free.
How to use
- Pick a base color using the visual color picker, or type a hex code directly into the input field. The base color is the foundation of your entire palette — all harmony calculations start from this color's position on the color wheel. If you already have a brand color, enter it here to build a cohesive system around it.
- Choose a harmony type from the available options: complementary (opposite on the color wheel), analogous (adjacent colors), triadic (three evenly spaced colors), split-complementary, or monochromatic (shades and tints of one hue). Each harmony follows established color theory principles used in graphic design, interior design, and UI/UX work.
- Browse the generated palette and fine-tune individual swatches if needed. The generator shows you 5-7 colors depending on the harmony type, each with its exact color values displayed. Pay attention to contrast ratios between colors — a palette that looks beautiful may still fail accessibility checks if text colors don't have sufficient contrast against backgrounds.
- Click any swatch to copy its value in your preferred format: hex for CSS, RGB for design tools, or HSL for programmatic color manipulation. HSL is particularly useful when you need to create hover states or disabled variants — you can simply adjust the lightness value while keeping the hue and saturation consistent.
Frequently asked questions
What is a complementary color palette?
A complementary palette pairs colors that sit directly opposite each other on the color wheel — for example, blue and orange, or red and green. This creates maximum contrast and visual tension, making it ideal for call-to-action buttons, accent elements, and designs that need to grab attention. The tradeoff is that complementary colors can clash if used in equal amounts, so most designers use one as the dominant color (60-70% of the design) and the other sparingly as an accent (10-20%).
Analogous vs triadic palettes?
Analogous palettes use 2-4 colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel (within about 30-60 degrees), creating a harmonious, low-contrast feel. They work well for backgrounds, gradients, and designs that should feel calm and unified. Triadic palettes use three colors spaced exactly 120 degrees apart on the color wheel, offering more variety and visual energy while maintaining mathematical balance. Triadic palettes are common in children's branding, sports teams, and playful UI designs.
How do I export my palette?
Click any color swatch to copy its value to your clipboard. You can switch between hex (e.g., #3B82F6), RGB (e.g., rgb(59, 130, 246)), and HSL (e.g., hsl(217, 91%, 60%)) formats depending on where you need to use the color. Hex is the most common format for CSS stylesheets. RGB is the standard in design tools like Figma and Sketch. HSL is preferred when you need to programmatically generate lighter or darker variants of a color.
How many colors for a UI palette?
Most effective UI palettes use 3-5 core colors: a primary brand color for buttons and key actions, a secondary accent for supporting elements, and a neutral gray scale for text, backgrounds, and borders. On top of these, add 2-3 semantic colors — green for success states, red for errors and destructive actions, and amber/yellow for warnings. Design systems like Material Design and Tailwind CSS follow this exact pattern, each with a primary color extended into 9-10 shade levels from lightest to darkest.
What is the 60-30-10 color rule?
The 60-30-10 rule is a classic design principle borrowed from interior design. Apply your dominant/neutral color to 60% of the design (backgrounds, large surfaces), your secondary color to 30% (cards, navigation, headers), and your accent color to just 10% (buttons, links, highlights). This ratio creates visual hierarchy and prevents any single color from overwhelming the layout. Use this generator to pick your three colors, then apply the ratio in your CSS using the
Color Picker to fine-tune shades.
How do I check color contrast for accessibility?
WCAG 2.1 requires a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text (18px+ bold or 24px+ regular). When building a palette, always test your foreground/background color pairs against these thresholds. A beautiful palette is useless if users with low vision cannot read the text. Tools like our
Color Picker can help you evaluate contrast ratios between any two colors in your palette.
What is a monochromatic palette?
A monochromatic palette uses a single hue and creates variation through different levels of saturation and lightness — essentially, tints (adding white), shades (adding black), and tones (adding gray) of one color. Monochromatic palettes are the easiest to get right because there is zero risk of color clashing. They are popular for minimalist designs, professional dashboards, and any interface where content should take priority over visual decoration.
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