Color Palette Generator
Generate a harmonious color palette from any base color.
How to use
- Pick a base color.
- Choose shades, analogous or complementary.
- Click any swatch to copy its HEX code.
How the Color Palette Generator works
Generates coordinated colour palettes from a base colour using established harmony rules, so a scheme holds together instead of being assembled by guesswork.
Harmonies are defined by angular relationships on the colour wheel. The base hue is rotated by a fixed number of degrees to produce each companion colour, keeping saturation and lightness aligned.
complementary +180° · triadic ±120° · analogous ±30° · split-complementary ±150° · tetradic ±90°/180°
Worked example
A base hue of 210° (blue) gives 30° (orange) as its complement, or 90° and 330° as its triadic partners.
Things worth knowing
- A widely used starting ratio is 60/30/10: a dominant colour, a secondary, and an accent used sparingly.
- Analogous schemes are calm and low-risk; complementary schemes are high-contrast and energetic but easy to overdo.
- Always check text-on-background pairs against contrast requirements — a harmonious palette can still be unreadable.
Frequently asked questions
What's an analogous palette?
Colors next to each other on the wheel — they feel harmonious and calm.
What is a complementary palette?
Colors from opposite sides of the wheel — high contrast and energetic.
How many colours should a palette have?
Usually one primary, one secondary, an accent, and a neutral range for text and surfaces. More than that becomes hard to apply consistently.
What is the 60/30/10 rule?
Allocate roughly 60% of a design to the dominant colour, 30% to the secondary and 10% to the accent. It keeps a scheme balanced without much effort.