Colors

Color Palette from Base Color

A color palette generator built around a single base hue removes the guesswork from color harmony. By distributing hues at equal intervals around the color wheel, this tool ensures every color in your set relates to the next — no clashing, no second-guessing. Dial in your starting hue (0 = red, 60 = yellow, 120 = green, 180 = cyan, 240 = blue, 300 = magenta) and choose how many colors you need, and the generator does the math. The underlying approach is rooted in color theory: equal-interval hue rotation produces analogous-to-split-complementary schemes depending on how many colors you request. Ask for 2 colors and you get complements. Ask for 3 and you get a triad. Five colors spread 72 degrees apart. The math scales cleanly, which is why designers reach for this method when building systematic UI color tokens or brand guidelines. Practical applications go beyond aesthetics. Data visualization, for instance, demands colors that are perceptually distinct but tonally related — exactly what even hue spacing delivers. Illustration and icon sets benefit from palettes where every color feels like it belongs to the same family without being monotonous. Once you generate a palette, the hex codes are ready to drop into CSS variables, Figma styles, or your illustration software's swatches. Regenerate as many times as you like — each click shuffles the lightness and saturation slightly while preserving the hue relationships, so you can iterate quickly until the palette matches your project's tone.

How to Use

  1. Set the Base Hue slider to the hue angle closest to your brand or target color (use 0=red, 120=green, 240=blue as landmarks).
  2. Set the Number of Colors field to match your project need — 3 for a simple brand palette, 5 for a UI token set, 6–8 for data visualization.
  3. Click Generate to produce the palette and review the evenly spaced swatches in the output grid.
  4. Click any individual swatch to copy its hex code, then paste it into your design tool, CSS file, or brand guidelines document.
  5. Regenerate repeatedly to explore slight saturation and lightness variations while keeping your hue relationships intact.

Use Cases

  • •Building a 5-token UI color system for a web app
  • •Selecting a brand palette starting from a specific logo hue
  • •Generating distinct category colors for a chart or dashboard
  • •Creating a cohesive icon set with a shared color family
  • •Picking a triadic palette for a poster or editorial layout
  • •Sourcing accent and background colors for a landing page redesign
  • •Developing a consistent color palette for a social media content series
  • •Prototyping dark-mode and light-mode color relationships quickly

Tips

  • →Anchor your base hue to your primary brand color's HSL hue value — most design tools display this in their color picker.
  • →For UI systems, generate a 5-color palette then assign roles before building: primary, secondary, accent, surface, and error.
  • →When building data charts, choose an odd count (5 or 7) — even distributions sometimes pair visually similar hues at opposite ends of the set.
  • →If generated colors feel too saturated for background use, reduce saturation by 20–30% in your design tool while keeping the hue relationships intact.
  • →Combine this generator with a shade/tint tool: generate the hue palette here, then create 3–5 lightness steps for each color to build a full design system.
  • →Test your palette on a gray background before committing — gray reveals how colors interact with neutrals, which is the most common real-world pairing in UI design.

FAQ

How does the generator spread colors from a single hue?

It divides 360 degrees by your chosen color count and steps that interval forward from the base hue. So 5 colors starting at hue 210 land at 210, 282, 354, 66, and 138 — evenly spaced around the wheel. This guarantees perceptual separation between every swatch regardless of which hue you start on.

What base hue should I use for a calm, professional palette?

Blues (hue 200–240) and blue-greens (hue 170–200) consistently read as calm and trustworthy in user research. For a warmer professional feel, try muted oranges around hue 30–40. Avoid highly saturated base hues if the output colors will appear in large UI regions — they tend to fatigue readers.

How many colors should I generate for a UI color system?

Five is a strong default: it gives you a primary, two supporting colors, and two accents while keeping the system manageable. For data visualization with many categories, 6–8 colors improves distinction. For simple branding (logo, heading, link), 3 colors is often cleaner and easier to apply consistently.

Are the generated colors accessible for web use?

The palette provides a starting point, but contrast ratios depend on how you pair colors with text or backgrounds. After generating, run your chosen combinations through a WCAG contrast checker. As a rule, avoid using two mid-lightness colors from the palette against each other — pair light and dark values instead.

What is the difference between a complementary and a triadic palette?

Complementary palettes use 2 colors at opposite ends of the wheel (180 degrees apart) — high contrast, visually punchy. Triadic palettes use 3 colors spaced 120 degrees apart — more balanced and versatile. This generator handles both automatically: set count to 2 for complementary, 3 for triadic.

Can I use these colors for print as well as screen?

The generator outputs colors in screen-optimized formats (RGB/hex). For print, convert your chosen hex values to CMYK using a tool like Adobe Color or Photoshop before sending to a printer. Colors can shift noticeably in CMYK — request a proof before a large print run.

Why do my generated colors sometimes look too similar?

This happens when you request many colors with a low count — say, 3 colors from hue 210 — and the 120-degree spacing lands multiple hues in the blue-green-cyan range, which appears perceptually similar to human vision. Try shifting your base hue by 30–40 degrees, or increase the count to 6+ to force wider separation.

How do I copy the hex codes from the generated palette?

Each color swatch in the output grid displays its hex code. Click any swatch or the hex label to copy the value to your clipboard. You can then paste directly into CSS, Figma's color picker, Illustrator's color panel, or any design tool that accepts hex input.