Color Palette Generator

Picking a base color is the easy part of building a palette. Deciding what complements it without clashing is where most people default to guessing. This generates complementary, analogous, and triadic palettes from color theory rules based on any color you start with, plus a fully custom mode if you want to build a palette manually.

How to use the Color Palette Generator

  1. Choose a base color using the color picker or type a hex value.
  2. Browse the six generated palette types: complementary, analogous, triadic, split-complementary, tetradic, and monochromatic.
  3. Click any color swatch to copy its hex value to your clipboard.
  4. Use the export options to copy the full palette as CSS custom properties or a JSON array.

What complementary, analogous, and triadic actually mean

These terms describe where colors sit relative to each other on the color wheel. Complementary colors sit directly opposite each other (like blue and orange) and create high contrast, good for a single accent color against a calmer palette. Analogous colors sit next to each other (like blue, teal, green) and naturally harmonize, good for palettes that need to feel cohesive without much contrast. Triadic colors are spaced evenly around the wheel (three colors, 120 degrees apart) and offer more variety than analogous while staying more balanced than a random complementary combination, a common choice for palettes that need several distinct-but-related colors, like a data visualization or brand system.

Frequently asked questions

What if my base color's automatic palette doesn't look right for my brand?

Use the palette as a strong starting point, then manually nudge lightness or saturation on individual colors. Color-theory rules produce mathematically valid harmonies, but "looks right" depends on context the algorithm can't see, like your logo or existing brand assets.

Can I lock one color and regenerate the rest?

Yes. Lock any color you want to keep and regenerate just the remaining slots, useful when one color in the palette is already fixed by an existing brand guideline.

Does it check contrast/accessibility between the generated colors?

Not automatically within this tool. Pair any two colors you're planning to use together (especially text and background) with the Contrast Checker to confirm they meet accessibility standards before finalizing.

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