How to Choose a Color Palette for Your Website or Brand

A good color palette makes a design feel intentional; a bad one makes it feel amateur. You don't need to be an artist — just a simple, repeatable method. Here it is.

Start with one base color

Pick a single color that fits your brand's personality (blue = trust, green = growth, red = energy). Everything else builds from it. Not sure? Generate options and lock the one that feels right.

Build harmonies with color theory

Use the color wheel to derive companions to your base:

• Complementary — opposite on the wheel; high contrast, energetic.
• Analogous — neighbors on the wheel; calm and cohesive.
• Triadic — three evenly spaced; vibrant but balanced.
• Monochrome — shades and tints of one hue; clean and minimal.

Our color tools generate all of these from any base color in one click.

Apply the 60-30-10 rule

A classic balance: 60% a dominant (usually neutral) color, 30% a secondary color, 10% an accent for buttons and highlights. This keeps designs from feeling chaotic and tells the eye where to look.

Don't forget neutrals

Most of a real interface is neutral — whites, grays, near-blacks for text and backgrounds. Choose a few neutrals alongside your brand colors; they do the heavy lifting.

Check accessibility

A palette only works if people can read it. Verify text/background combos meet WCAG contrast (4.5:1 for body text) using the contrast checker in our color tools. Beautiful but unreadable is still unreadable.

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