How color palette generation works
Color theory uses geometric relationships on the HSL color wheel to create palettes that feel intentional. Pick a base color, and any other color at a specific angle on the wheel will harmonize with it. This generator uses four classic relationships:
Analogous (30° apart)
Three colors next to each other on the wheel. Calm, cohesive, low-contrast. Used by brands like Spotify (greens) and Slack (blue/cyan/teal). Perfect for backgrounds, gradients, and brand systems where you want the colors to feel like one family.
Complementary (180° apart)
Two colors directly opposite. Maximum contrast and energy. Used in sports team brands, action movie posters, and CTAs. Use sparingly — too much complementary color competition can be visually exhausting.
Triadic (120° apart)
Three colors evenly spaced around the wheel. Vibrant but balanced. Used by Mickey Mouse (red/yellow/blue), Burger King, and many superhero brands. Pick one as dominant and use the other two as accents to avoid chaos.
Monochromatic (same hue, varying lightness)
Five tones from a single hue, ranging dark to light. The cleanest, most "professional" palette. Used by enterprise SaaS like Linear, Stripe, and most banking brands. Perfect for UI work where you need clear hierarchy without color noise.
How to use these in your project
Click any swatch to copy its hex code. Use the export panel below to grab the entire palette as CSS variables (works in any framework), Tailwind config (paste into your tailwind.config.js), JSON (for design tokens), or SCSS variables. Every palette also includes WCAG-friendly text colors paired automatically — dark text on light swatches, light text on dark swatches.
FAQ
How do I pick the right base color? Start with your brand's primary color, or use the random shuffle for inspiration. Save the ones you like in a notes app for later refinement.
Are these accessible? The hex codes are color-only — accessibility depends on text-to-background contrast in your specific use. Run pairs through a contrast checker like WebAIM before shipping.
Can I use these commercially? Yes. Color values can't be copyrighted. Use any palette in any project, no attribution needed.