Color Palette Generator

Generate cohesive color palettes and export HEX values as CSS variables, JSON, or a simple list.

Color Palette Generator

Generate cohesive palettes and export them as CSS, JSON, or a list.

Settings Prefilled examples
Accepted: #RRGGBB, RRGGBB, or shorthand #RGB.
Choose 3–12 swatches for export and preview.
Result Copy-ready
No output yet
Configure settings and click Generate.
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About Color Palette Generator

Color Palette Generator for UI and Brand Design

Create harmonious color palettes from a single base color in seconds. This Color Palette Generator helps you explore proven color relationships, preview swatches, and export ready-to-use values for websites, apps, presentations, and brand systems.

How the Color Palette Generator Works

You start with a base color (HEX). The tool converts it into a perceptual color space (HSL) so it can rotate hue, adjust saturation, and shift lightness in predictable ways. Then it builds a palette using your chosen scheme and exports the results in the format you need.

Step-by-Step

  • 1) Enter a base color: Paste a HEX value like #3B82F6 or pick a color from the selector.
  • 2) Choose a scheme: Select Complementary, Analogous, Triadic, Tetradic, Monochrome, or Shades.
  • 3) Set the number of colors: Decide how many swatches you want for your palette export.
  • 4) Generate: The tool calculates the palette and shows preview swatches.
  • 5) Copy or download: Export as a clean list, CSS variables, or JSON for design/dev handoff.

Key Features

Multiple palette schemes

Build palettes using classic color theory relationships. Complementary palettes increase contrast, analogous palettes feel cohesive, triadic palettes add balance and energy, and tetradic palettes offer broad coverage for complex UI systems.

Developer-friendly export formats

Export as CSS variables for quick styling, JSON for tooling and design tokens, or a simple list for pasting into design tools. Each format is structured to reduce friction when moving from concept to implementation.

Automatic normalization and validation

The generator cleans up common HEX inputs (with or without #, 3-digit shorthand, mixed casing) and rejects invalid values. This keeps results consistent and prevents accidental “almost-hex” strings from slipping into a codebase.

Preview swatches for fast decisions

Seeing the colors matters. Swatch previews help you judge contrast, temperature, and balance before you export. Use them to quickly pick accent colors, hover states, or chart series colors.

Practical defaults that work on first load

The tool opens with a realistic base color and settings so you can immediately generate a usable palette. This is ideal when you want inspiration or need to prototype a theme quickly.

Use Cases

  • UI theming: Create primary, secondary, and accent colors for dashboards, SaaS apps, and mobile interfaces.
  • Brand exploration: Generate alternative accents around a brand’s core color without losing identity.
  • Design tokens: Produce structured values that can become tokens for CSS variables, JSON token files, or component libraries.
  • Marketing assets: Build coordinated palettes for landing pages, ads, and social media templates.
  • Data visualization: Create evenly spaced hues for charts while keeping a consistent saturation/lightness profile.
  • Accessibility iteration: Quickly test darker/lighter variants to improve contrast for text, buttons, and links.

A good palette reduces decision fatigue. Instead of guessing, you begin with a clear relationship (like complementary or analogous) and fine-tune from there.

Optimization Tips

Start with the role, not the color

Decide what the color is meant to do: a primary action, a warning state, a subtle surface, or an informational accent. Once the role is clear, choose a scheme that supports it. For example, complementary palettes are great for call-to-action contrast, while analogous palettes create calm, unified themes.

Reserve saturation for emphasis

Highly saturated colors pull attention. If everything is saturated, nothing stands out. Use a few strong accents and keep supporting colors slightly softer. This improves hierarchy and makes UI components easier to scan.

Check contrast early

After generating, test key pairings: text on primary, icons on surfaces, borders, and hover states. If contrast is weak, use darker shades for foreground elements or increase lightness separation between background and text.

FAQ

Enter a HEX value like #3B82F6, 3B82F6, or shorthand like #3BF. The generator normalizes valid inputs into 6-digit HEX before building the palette.

Analogous is a safe default for cohesive themes, while complementary works well when you need a strong call-to-action accent. Triadic is a good balance when you need multiple distinct accents.

The tool generates harmonious colors, but accessibility depends on how you pair foreground and background colors. Use generated darker shades for text on light surfaces and verify contrast in your design workflow.

Monochrome keeps the same hue while varying saturation and lightness to create variety. Shades primarily varies lightness to produce lighter and darker steps that are useful for surfaces and states.

Paste the variables into a :root block or your theme file, then reference them throughout your CSS (for example, var(--cp-1)). This keeps colors consistent and makes future theme changes easier.

Why Choose This Color Palette Generator?

When you need a palette quickly, you want predictable relationships and clean exports—not a complicated workflow. This tool focuses on practical schemes used in real UI and brand design, with outputs you can drop into a codebase or a design system immediately.

Use it to prototype themes, explore accents, or build design tokens. With clear previews and flexible export formats, you can iterate faster and keep your visuals consistent across product, marketing, and documentation.