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Color Palette Generator
Generate a harmonious colour palette from one base colour — analogous, complementary, triadic or monochromatic — using classic colour-wheel relationships. Runs in your browser.
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Quick Answer
Pick a base colour and a scheme — analogous, complementary, triadic or monochromatic — and the tool builds a matching palette by rotating around the colour wheel and adjusting lightness. Each swatch shows its hex code and copies on click. The schemes are the classic colour-theory relationships: neighbours, opposites, evenly spaced thirds, or one hue in several shades. It is a starting point for a palette, not a finished brand set. It runs entirely in your browser.
What the Color Palette Generator Does
Choose a colour and a harmony, and you get a row of coordinated swatches built from it. Analogous gives neighbouring hues for a calm, unified look; complementary pairs opposites for contrast; triadic spaces three hues evenly; and monochromatic varies the lightness of a single hue. A random-base button shuffles the starting colour.
Each colour comes with its hex code, ready to copy into your design. It is the fast way to turn one colour you like into a workable set.
How It Works
The tool reads your base colour in HSL — hue, saturation and lightness — and then applies the rule for your chosen scheme. Analogous shifts the hue a little each way; complementary jumps to the opposite hue; triadic steps the hue by a third of the wheel twice; and monochromatic keeps the hue and saturation while stepping the lightness.
Working in HSL is what makes this possible: the hue is a position on the colour wheel, so rotating it by a set number of degrees lands on the harmonious colours that colour theory describes. The results are converted back to hex for you.
Generation algorithm
- Read the base in HSL. Convert the base colour to hue, saturation and lightness.
- Apply the scheme. Rotate the hue (analogous, complementary, triadic) or step the lightness (monochromatic).
- Convert back to hex. Turn each resulting colour back into a hex code.
- Show the swatches. Display the palette, each swatch copyable by click.
How each scheme moves the hue
analogous — base hue, plus and minus about 15 and 30 degrees
complementary — base hue and the opposite (plus 180 degrees)
triadic — base hue, plus 120 and plus 240 degrees
monochromatic — one hue, lightness stepped from dark to lightHue is measured in degrees around the colour wheel; these are the classic colour-harmony relationships.
Technical Details
| Schemes | analogous, complementary, triadic, monochromatic |
|---|---|
| Input | one base colour |
| Colours | three to five, depending on scheme |
| Works in | HSL (hue rotation) |
| Output | hex codes, copy on click |
| Where it runs | In your browser — nothing uploaded |
Standards & references
- Colour harmonies — complementary (opposite on the wheel), analogous (neighbours), triadic (evenly spaced thirds) and monochromatic (one hue, varied lightness) are the standard colour-theory relationships designers use.
- The colour wheel — arranging hues in a circle — an idea dating to Newton — lets these relationships be defined by an angle, which is exactly how the tool computes them in HSL.
- A starting point — the palettes are algorithmic suggestions from one base colour; they give a coordinated set to begin with, not a finished, hand-tuned brand palette.
Accuracy & Limitations
The palettes are algorithmic starting points, not finished brand sets. They give you a coordinated group from one colour, but real palettes are usually tuned by eye for the exact saturation and lightness a design needs.
It rotates the hue in HSL, where equal degree steps are not perceptually equal. Two hues the same number of degrees apart can look more or less different depending on where they are on the wheel; a perceptual model (such as OKLCH) would space them more evenly.
The number of colours depends on the scheme — triadic gives three, analogous and monochromatic give five, complementary gives four. Pick the scheme for the size and feel of palette you want.
Saturation is mostly carried over from the base. If your base is very pale or very grey, the derived colours will be too; start from a fairly saturated colour for a more vivid palette.
Harmony is a guide, not a rule. These relationships tend to look pleasing, but context, proportion and the specific shades matter; treat the output as a well-founded suggestion to refine.
Real-World Use Cases
Starting a colour scheme
Turn one brand or favourite colour into a coordinated set.
Web and UI design
Get accent and supporting colours that work with a primary.
Illustration and slides
Pick a harmonious palette for artwork or a presentation.
Learning colour theory
See how analogous, complementary and triadic schemes look.
When to use it — and when not to
Good for
- Building a palette from one base colour
- Exploring colour-harmony schemes
- Coordinated accent colours for a design
- Learning colour-wheel relationships
Not the best choice for
- A finished, hand-tuned brand palette
- Perceptually even colour steps
- Extracting colours from an image
- Guaranteed-accessible colour pairs
Need a palette from an image? Use a colour-extraction tool. Want perceptually even shades? An OKLCH-based palette tool spaces them better. Checking a pair is readable? Use a contrast checker.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do the schemes mean?
Analogous uses neighbouring hues for a unified look; complementary pairs opposite hues for contrast; triadic uses three evenly spaced hues; and monochromatic keeps one hue and varies its lightness. They are the classic colour-harmony relationships.
How does it pick the colours?
It reads your base colour in HSL and rotates the hue around the colour wheel by the amount each scheme calls for — or, for monochromatic, steps the lightness — then converts the results back to hex.
How many colours do I get?
It depends on the scheme: triadic gives three, complementary four, and analogous and monochromatic five. Choose the one that fits the palette size you need.
Is this a finished palette?
It is a coordinated starting point. Designers usually fine-tune the saturation and lightness by eye, but the harmony relationships give you a sound base to build on.
Why do some hues look more different than others?
Because HSL hue steps are not perceptually even — the same number of degrees can look like a bigger or smaller jump in different parts of the wheel. A perceptual model like OKLCH spaces colours more evenly.
What is the best scheme to use?
It depends on the mood. Analogous and monochromatic feel calm and unified; complementary and triadic are more vibrant and high-contrast. Try a few and see what suits.
Why is my palette dull?
The derived colours inherit the base's saturation. A pale or greyish base gives muted results; start from a more saturated colour for a livelier palette.
Can I copy the colours?
Yes. Each swatch shows its hex code and copies when you click it, so you can paste it straight into your design tool or CSS.
Will these colours be accessible together?
Not necessarily. Harmony is about looking pleasing, not about contrast. Check any text-and-background pair with a contrast checker before relying on it.
What is the random-base button for?
It picks a random starting colour, so you can explore palettes quickly when you do not have a specific colour in mind.
Can it pull colours from an image?
No — it builds from a single base colour using colour theory. For colours taken from a photo, you would use a palette-extraction tool.
Is anything uploaded?
No. The palette is generated in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.
References
Builds palettes by rotating the base colour's hue around the wheel in HSL (analogous, complementary, triadic) or stepping its lightness (monochromatic); it is explicit that these are algorithmic colour-theory starting points (not a finished brand palette), that HSL hue steps are not perceptually even, and that harmony does not guarantee accessible contrast.
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Ready to try the Color Palette Generator?
It is free, private and runs entirely in your browser — no sign-up, no uploads, no limits.