Palette Generator

Shade ramp

An 11-step ramp from near-white to near-black, built from the same seed — handy for building a UI color scale like Tailwind's.

How to use the color palette generator

Start with a seed color — type a hex code, paste one from anywhere else on the site, or click Random seed if you don't have one yet. Choose a palette type from the dropdown, and the board above redraws instantly using that harmony rule against your seed: analogous for a tight, related set, complementary for a single high-contrast accent, triadic or square for three or four evenly-spaced hues, or rainbow for a five-color spread across the whole wheel. Click any swatch to copy its hex code, or hit Export CSS variables to copy the entire palette as ready-to-paste custom properties.

The shade ramp below is a separate, always-on output: eleven steps from near-white to near-black built from the same seed hue and saturation, the same shape as a Tailwind or Material color scale. It's generated independently of the palette type, so you always get both a harmony-based scheme and a tonal ramp from one seed color.

Choosing a color scheme generator that fits the job

A color palette generator is only useful if the output matches what you're actually building. For a marketing site or a single hero section, an analogous palette usually reads as calm and cohesive. For a product UI that needs a primary action color to stand out, a complementary or split-complementary pair gives you a clear accent without fighting the base color. Data visualizations and category tags tend to need more separation, which is where triadic, tetradic or the five-color rainbow mode earn their keep — each hue stays visually distinct even at a glance. Whichever you pick, the 11-step shade ramp underneath gives every scheme the light-to-dark range a real interface needs for backgrounds, borders, hover states and disabled text.

Palette generator use cases

• Design systems — generate a base palette and shade ramp together, then export both as CSS variables in one pass.
• Branding — turn a single logo color into a full, harmonious supporting palette in seconds.
• Data visualization — pull a triadic, tetradic or rainbow set for chart series that stay distinguishable.
• Rapid prototyping — shuffle a random seed until something clicks, then lock it in and export.

Prefer to plan the harmony visually first? Plot the same rules on the color wheel. Need every conversion format for one swatch from the palette? Drop its hex into the color picker or the standalone converter. And before you ship a palette pairing as text and background, confirm it clears WCAG in the contrast checker.

How many colors does a palette need?

Most interfaces run on fewer colors than people expect. A typical product palette is one primary brand color, one neutral (usually a near-gray with a slight temperature), and one accent for warnings or highlights — everything else is a lightness step of those three, which is exactly what the shade ramp gives you. Marketing pages can afford more: a two- or three-color harmony from this generator, each with a couple of tints and shades, covers backgrounds, cards, buttons and illustrations without ever feeling thin. If you find yourself reaching for a fourth or fifth distinct hue, that's usually a sign the layout needs more contrast in size or weight, not more color.

Turning a palette into design tokens

The Export CSS variables button gives you a starting set of custom properties like --palette-1 through --palette-5. In a real design system you'd rename those to roles — --color-primary, --color-surface, --color-danger — and pair each with its shade-ramp steps (--color-primary-100 to --color-primary-900) so components reference an intent rather than a raw hex. Because the ramp is generated in a perceptually-even way, the numbered steps stay visually consistent across every hue, which is what keeps a multi-color system feeling like one system. Drop any single swatch into the color converter if you also need its RGB, HSL or OKLCH form for a token file.

Palette generator FAQ