color-palette

Color Palette

Overview

This skill helps you create purposeful, accessible, and cohesive color palettes for digital products and brands. Color is one of the highest-leverage design decisions you can make—it communicates brand personality, guides user attention, conveys meaning, and determines whether your product is usable by people with visual impairments. This skill covers brand palette creation, semantic color systems (primary, secondary, neutral, semantic), accessibility validation against WCAG standards, and design token documentation. The output is a structured, ready-to-use color system, not a mood board.

When to Use

• Creating a color palette for a new brand, product, or design system
• Extending an existing brand palette for digital use
• Auditing an existing palette for accessibility issues
• Defining semantic color roles (primary, danger, success, warning, neutral)
• Generating color token documentation for developer handoff
• Choosing colors for a specific context (dark mode, data visualization, illustration)

When NOT to Use

• Photo editing or color grading (use dedicated image editing tools)
• Print production color matching (CMYK and Pantone matching requires specialized tools)
• Interior design or physical product color specification
• Fashion or textile color selection

Quick Reference

Task	Approach
Brand palette	Start with 1 primary hue, add 1–2 accent hues, build neutrals
Accessibility	Text on background must meet 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA) contrast ratio
Semantic colors	Map roles: primary, secondary, success (#22c55e range), warning (#f59e0b range), danger (#ef4444 range)
Neutral scale	Generate 9–11 shades (50–950) from near-white to near-black
Dark mode	Don't invert; remap semantic roles to dark-optimized values
Data viz	Use categorical (distinct hues) or sequential (single hue, varying lightness) palettes
Token naming	Use semantic names: color.brand.primary, color.feedback.error, not hex values
Tints and shades	Generate 9 steps per color; 500 = base, 100 = lightest, 900 = darkest

Instructions

1. Gather brand context before choosing any color. Identify: industry, audience, competitors, brand personality keywords (e.g., "trustworthy, modern, approachable"), any existing brand colors that must be retained, and primary use case (web app, marketing site, mobile app). Color choices must serve the brand, not just look nice in isolation.

2. Choose the primary hue strategically. One hue anchors the entire system. Consider industry conventions (blue for trust/tech, green for health/finance, orange for energy/creativity), then differentiate. Generate a full 9-step scale for the primary hue (50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900). The 500 step is typically the base brand color; 600–700 are used for hover and interactive states.

3. Add secondary and accent colors with intention. Secondary colors extend the palette for components, illustrations, and charts. Use color theory to select harmonious relationships: analogous (adjacent hues), complementary (opposite hues), or triadic (three evenly spaced hues). Limit to 1–2 secondary hues to avoid visual noise.

4. Build the neutral scale. Neutrals carry the most visual weight in a digital product (backgrounds, text, borders, dividers). Generate 9–11 steps from near-white to near-black. Slightly warm or cool the neutrals to complement your primary hue — pure gray often feels sterile.

5. Define semantic color roles. Map functional meaning to colors: primary (brand actions), secondary (alternative actions), success (completion, positive), warning (caution, needs attention), danger/error (destructive actions, failures), info (neutral information). Each semantic role needs a background, text, and border value at minimum.

6. Validate all combinations against WCAG accessibility standards. Every color combination used for text must meet WCAG 2.1 AA (4.5:1 contrast ratio for normal text, 3:1 for large text ≥18pt or 14pt bold). UI components and focus indicators must meet 3:1 against adjacent colors. Document the passing and failing combinations explicitly.

7. Plan for dark mode if required. Dark mode is not an inversion of the light palette. Remap your semantic tokens to dark-optimized values: reduce saturation on large surfaces, use lighter neutrals for text, and ensure the same contrast ratios hold. Background levels in dark mode typically use 900, 800, 700 steps rather than white.

8. Document as design tokens. Name every color using semantic, role-based names rather than descriptive names. color.brand.primary.500 is better than blue-medium. Provide hex, RGB, and HSL values. Group tokens by category: brand, semantic/feedback, neutral, data visualization.

Examples

Example 1: SaaS Product Color Palette — FinTech App

Input: "Create a color palette for a fintech budgeting app called 'Vault'. Brand personality: trustworthy, calm, modern. Target users: millennials managing personal finances. Must be accessible."

Output:

Brand Strategy

Vault needs to signal financial trustworthiness (blue family) while feeling modern and approachable rather than cold and corporate. Primary: a confident teal-blue. Neutrals: cool-gray with a slight blue cast. Accents: a muted green for positive financial states, a warm amber for warnings.

Primary Palette — Vault Blue

Token	Hex	Use
brand.primary.50	#eff6ff	Light backgrounds, hover states
brand.primary.100	#dbeafe	Tinted surface backgrounds
brand.primary.200	#bfdbfe	Borders, dividers on tinted surfaces
brand.primary.400	#60a5fa	Icons, secondary interactive
brand.primary.500	#2563eb	Base brand color
brand.primary.600	#1d4ed8	Button hover, active states
brand.primary.700	#1e40af	Pressed states, emphasis
brand.primary.900	#1e3a8a	Dark text on light backgrounds

Semantic Colors

Role	Hex	Contrast on white	Use
Success	#16a34a	5.1:1 ✅ AA	Positive balance, completed goals
Warning	#d97706	4.6:1 ✅ AA	Upcoming bills, low balance
Danger	#dc2626	5.8:1 ✅ AA	Overspent, failed transaction
Info	#0284c7	4.7:1 ✅ AA	Tips, informational messages

Neutral Scale — Cool Gray

Token	Hex	Use
neutral.50	#f8fafc	App background
neutral.100	#f1f5f9	Card backgrounds
neutral.200	#e2e8f0	Borders, dividers
neutral.400	#94a3b8	Placeholder text, icons
neutral.600	#475569	Secondary body text
neutral.800	#1e293b	Primary body text — 16.7:1 on white ✅ AAA
neutral.900	#0f172a	Headings, high-emphasis text

Accessibility Validation

Combination	Contrast	WCAG
neutral.800 on neutral.50	16.7:1	✅ AAA
brand.primary.500 on white	5.1:1	✅ AA
brand.primary.600 on white	6.4:1	✅ AA
White on brand.primary.500	5.1:1	✅ AA (large text)
neutral.400 on white	2.5:1	❌ Fail — use only for decorative, non-essential elements

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Example 2: Accessible Color Scheme Audit — Existing Palette

Input: "Audit this color palette for accessibility. Primary: #7c3aed (purple), Secondary: #f472b6 (pink), Text: #6b7280 (gray), Background: #ffffff (white), Error: #ef4444 (red). Fix any failures."

Output:

Audit Results

Combination	Contrast	Result	Fix Required?
Text #6b7280 on white	4.1:1	❌ Fails AA (needs 4.5:1)	Yes
Primary #7c3aed on white	5.9:1	✅ AA Pass	No
White on Primary #7c3aed	5.9:1	✅ AA Pass	No
Secondary #f472b6 on white	2.5:1	❌ Fails AA	Yes
White on Error #ef4444	4.1:1	❌ Fails AA	Yes
Error #ef4444 on white	4.1:1	❌ Fails AA	Yes

Fixes

Body text: Change #6b7280 → #4b5563

• New contrast on white: 7.0:1 ✅ AAA
• Still matches the cool-gray family

Secondary (pink): #f472b6 is too light for text use. Reserve for decorative elements only. For text or interactive use, use #be185d (5.0:1 ✅ AA) instead.

Error color: Change #ef4444 → #dc2626

• White text on #dc2626: 5.8:1 ✅ AA
• #dc2626 on white: 5.8:1 ✅ AA
• Visually imperceptible change; functionally significant improvement

Updated Palette Summary

Role	Old	New	Status
Primary	#7c3aed	#7c3aed	✅ No change
Secondary (interactive)	#f472b6	#be185d	🔄 Updated
Body text	#6b7280	#4b5563	🔄 Updated
Error	#ef4444	#dc2626	🔄 Updated

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Best Practices

• Always validate colors in context — a color that passes in isolation may fail on a colored background
• Generate the full neutral scale before choosing accent colors; neutrals set the tone for everything
• Use HSL to build scales: keep hue and saturation constant, vary lightness systematically
• Reserve your brightest, most saturated colors for the smallest, most important elements (primary buttons, alerts)
• Test your palette in grayscale — if the hierarchy disappears, you're relying too much on hue alone
• Document every token with its use case, not just its value

Common Mistakes

• Using brand colors for body text without checking contrast: Brand blue looks great in logos; it often fails WCAG on white backgrounds
• Too many accent colors: More than 3–4 distinct hues creates visual chaos; reduce and consolidate
• Building dark mode by inverting the light palette: Dark surfaces need desaturated, warm-shifted colors — pure inverted colors look harsh
• Naming colors descriptively: "light-blue-2" is meaningless to a developer. Use semantic names: color.brand.primary.200
• Forgetting color-blind users: ~8% of men have color vision deficiency; never use red/green alone to convey pass/fail
• One shade per color: A single brand blue with no scale means designers invent ad-hoc variations — always build the full scale

Tips & Tricks

• Start with the neutral scale — it's the unsung hero of every great product palette
• Use Oklch or HSLuv color spaces for perceptually uniform scales (same lightness = same perceived brightness)
• The 500 step is your base; 400 is for hover, 600 is for pressed, 700 is for text — this pattern works reliably
• When in doubt about contrast, use the WebAIM Contrast Checker or Figma's built-in accessibility tools
• Color temperature affects mood: warm neutrals (slight yellow/red cast) feel friendly; cool neutrals (slight blue cast) feel precise and professional
• For data visualization palettes, use ColorBrewer's schemes — they're designed and tested for perceptual distinctiveness

Related Skills

• design-critiquer
• frontend-design
• ux-writer