Color Palette Generator
Generate harmonious color palettes from any base color using color theory. Choose analogous, complementary, triadic, split-complementary, tetradic, or monochromatic harmony.
Colors adjacent on the wheel (±30°, ±60°). Creates harmonious, natural-looking palettes.
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How to use
- 1 Pick a base color using the color picker or type a HEX value.
- 2 Select a harmony type: Analogous, Complementary, Triadic, Split-Complementary, Tetradic, or Monochromatic.
- 3 The palette generates instantly — toggle between HEX, RGB, or HSL using the format switcher above the swatches.
- 4 Click any swatch to copy its color code, or use "Copy all" to copy the full palette in your chosen format.
Key features
- Six harmony types: Analogous, Complementary, Triadic, Split-Complementary, Tetradic, Monochromatic
- Toggle between HEX, RGB, and HSL display with a single click — copy in any format
- One-click copy per swatch or "Copy all" for the full palette in your active format
- All calculations run in the browser using HSL color space — no server round-trips
Color Harmony & Palette Generation
A color palette generator takes a single base color and uses color harmony rules — mathematical relationships on the HSL color wheel — to produce a set of colors that look pleasing together. These rules have been used by artists and designers for centuries, and they translate directly into digital palettes for user interfaces, branding, and data visualizations.
Color harmonies work by rotating the hue of the base color by fixed angles. The HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) color space makes this trivial — you keep your base saturation and lightness constant and only vary the hue angle to generate related colors. The monochromatic harmony is the exception: it keeps the hue fixed and varies the lightness instead.
All palette generation in this tool happens entirely in your browser using client-side JavaScript. No color data is sent to a server.
Color Harmonies Explained
Each harmony type produces a different visual feel. Choose the one that matches your design goal.
| Harmony | Hue Rotations | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Analogous | −60°, −30°, 0°, +30°, +60° | Branding, backgrounds, nature-inspired palettes — serene and cohesive |
| Complementary | 0°, +180° | CTAs, emphasis, alert states — maximum contrast draws attention |
| Triadic | 0°, +120°, +240° | Vibrant interfaces, game UIs, playful branding — bold yet balanced |
| Split-Complementary | 0°, +150°, +210° | High contrast with lower tension — more forgiving than pure complementary |
| Tetradic | 0°, +90°, +180°, +270° | Rich, multi-color designs — great for dashboards and data viz (use one color as dominant) |
| Monochromatic | Same hue, lightness: 20% → 80% | Clean, professional UIs, dark mode theming, accessible color scales |
Common Use Cases
Brand identity & design systems
Generate a cohesive set of brand colors from a single primary color. Analogous or complementary harmonies work well for logos and brand guidelines.
UI theme generation
Use a monochromatic palette for a clean, professional interface. Adjust lightness values to create text, background, and border variants.
Dark mode color scales
Generate darker variants of your brand colors by lowering the lightness in HSL. Monochromatic harmony is ideal for building dark mode themes.
Tailwind / utility-first workflows
Copy the HEX codes from a generated palette directly into your Tailwind config or CSS custom properties for a custom design system.
Accessible color contrast
Use the monochromatic harmony to find lighter and darker variants of a color that meet WCAG contrast requirements for text on backgrounds.
Data visualization palettes
Triadic and tetradic harmonies produce well-separated colors for charts and graphs. Use one dominant color and let the others highlight data points.
Tips for Choosing Palettes
Start with your brand primary
Choose a base color that already represents your brand or project. Generate harmonies around it rather than picking unrelated colors — this keeps your palette cohesive.
Use monochromatic for safety
When in doubt, a monochromatic palette always looks polished. It's nearly impossible to create an ugly monochromatic palette because every color shares the same hue.
Complementary = high impact, use sparingly
A complementary pair creates maximum visual tension. Use it for one hero element (like a CTA button) against a more neutral background — not for every element on the page.
60-30-10 rule
In UI design, use your dominant color for 60% of the layout (backgrounds), a secondary color for 30% (headers, sidebars), and an accent color for 10% (buttons, links, highlights).
Tetradic palettes need a dominant color
Tetradic harmonies produce four equally-spaced colors, but using all four in equal amounts looks chaotic. Pick one color as primary and use the others as accents.