Color Generator

Generate random or harmonious color palettes for your designs.

Mode

Base color

How colour generators create harmonious palettes

Colour generators use colour theory — the formal study of colour relationships — to produce palettes that feel visually coherent. By starting from a single colour and applying mathematical relationships on the colour wheel, generators can produce complementary, analogous, triadic, and split-complementary schemes that designers have used for centuries.

Colour harmony types

Complementary

Two colours directly opposite on the colour wheel (e.g. blue & orange). Maximum contrast; high visual energy. Great for calls-to-action and accents.

Analogous

Three colours adjacent on the wheel (e.g. blue, teal, green). Harmonious and calming; found frequently in nature. Used in serene, natural brand aesthetics.

Triadic

Three colours evenly spaced (120° apart) on the wheel. Vibrant and playful. Effective when one colour dominates and the other two serve as accents.

Split-complementary

A base colour plus two colours adjacent to its complement. Softer than complementary; more visually interesting than analogous.

Tetradic / Square

Four colours evenly spaced (90° apart). Rich and complex. Challenging to balance — one colour should dominate.

Monochromatic

Tints, shades, and tones of a single hue. Elegant and cohesive. Creates sophisticated, minimal designs with subtle depth.

Building a practical design colour system

Most design systems use a structured set of colour roles rather than a flat palette. Defining colours by their purpose — primary, secondary, neutral, semantic — makes it easy to apply them consistently and update them globally.

A minimal design colour system:
  Primary:    Brand colour — buttons, links, key UI elements
  Secondary:  Supporting accent — hover states, highlights
  Neutral:    Greys for text, borders, backgrounds (5–10 shades)
  Semantic:
    Success:  Green (#22c55e) — confirmations, positive states
    Warning:  Amber (#f59e0b) — cautions, pending states
    Error:    Red (#ef4444)   — errors, destructive actions
    Info:     Blue (#3b82f6)  — informational messages

Each colour needs 5–9 tints/shades for full UI coverage:
  50 (lightest background) → 100 → 200 → 300 → 400 →
  500 (base) → 600 → 700 → 800 → 900 (darkest text)

Frequently asked questions

What is a color palette?

A color palette is a curated set of colors that work well together, used to give a brand, design or artwork a consistent and harmonious look.

How many colors should a palette have?

A common approach is one dominant color, one or two secondary colors, and an accent — roughly three to five colors that balance variety with cohesion.

What are HEX and RGB values?

They are standard ways to specify a color in digital design. HEX (like #4f8aff) is compact for CSS, while RGB defines red, green and blue channels.

How do I pick colors that work together?

Use color-theory relationships — complementary, analogous or triadic — or generate a palette here and adjust until the combination feels balanced and on-brand.

What this tool does

Generates color palettes in two modes: Harmonious (mathematically balanced colors from the HSL color wheel) and Random (fully random colors). Click any color to expand it, click any result card to copy the hex code.

Input fields explained

Mode

Harmonious generates colors that work together visually by rotating around the color wheel. Random generates six fully random hex colors.

Base color

In Harmonious mode, this is the anchor color. The other five colors are derived by shifting the hue by +30°, +60°, +180°, +210° and +240°.

💡 Tips & context

→Complementary colors are 180° apart on the wheel — they create strong contrast.

→Analogous colors are adjacent (0–60° apart) — they create harmonious, calm designs.

Formula / How it works

Harmonious mode rotates hue on HSL color wheel. Shows HEX, RGB, and HSL values.