Top 5 Amazing Tools for Better Color Palettes

Color defines everything. I remember how, among many soaps, my hand reached for the one with the best color combination, without having the slightest idea of how it smelled.

Most of our life decisions are made based on color: what to wear, accessorize, or buy for the kitchen. And even though it seems like every single color combo has already been used, every day you see new websites or packaging that make you go “whoa!” Today, we will talk about how designers do that and where to take inspiration from.

Stuff you know (why is it important?)

If put simply, colors trigger feelings. Your brain thinks it protects you from dangers or leads you to happiness. For example, I associate yellow with joy. And you got scared of the screaming of a certain yellow character in your childhood. We will perceive yellow differently because our brain “knows” (or thinks it knows) the reaction we are going to have.

A designer knows the fundamental reactions and uses them to spread messages. Here’s where understanding color theory comes into play. Because even the prettiest and most joyful color loses its appeal in a distasteful palette, while the weirdest color can be well integrated into a design when it has a function.

Stuff you don’t know (how are they doing that?)

With more than a billion websites and god knows how many packaging designs, is it really possible to be new, cool, and great at your colors?

Let’s do some math here. Imagine you are a web designer creating a website. A computer can display around 16.8 million colors (from 000000 to FFFFFF). A typical website color palette contains six colors. To calculate the number of all combinations, we have to multiply 6 by 16.8 million. That is more than 100 million different color combinations. However, people don’t use their colors in the same way. One color palette can create many artworks, based on what color is primary, accent, background, etc.

Here’s an example of a harmonious color palette in design.

Same palette, different accents.

There are infinite ways you can create with the colors at our disposal. All you have to do is know how to use them. So, here are five tools to help you with that.

Color palette tools for you to try

Coolors

I had to start with Coolors, as it is the most iconic color palette generator.

You press space, and the whole world around you changes with its mood, vibe, and appearance. Then, you start customizing: shades, replacing some of the colors, and creating what works best for you.

However, recently, developers added a mock-up generator. You create a palette, click a button, and get a visual representation of what it can be. Then, you can shift around with the colors to look for better combinations.

Color Hunt

Color Hunt is similar to coolors; however, it values community more than anything.

It focuses more on “searching” than “creating”. This makes it useful for people looking for quick solutions, rather than a creative burst for their project.

The best feature of Color Hunt is its Chrome extension that gives a random color palette every time a new tab opens.

Paletton

Meet Paletton, a free, professional website that will change how you work with colors.

It looks simple: a color wheel with a few dots that help you control the color and the shade of your palette. And a few presets for creating monochromatic, adjacent, triad, and tetrad palettes.

And a little sweet treat at the end is a preview of a palette in one of the available mockups.

Happy Hues

Happy Hues is a side project made by Mackenzie Child that helps show colors in context.

Mackenzie created 17 different color palettes with different main, accent, background, highlight, etc. While they are fun to look at, they are also a great source of inspiration and learning about how to really 6 colors into one, coherent page.

The biggest (and only) disadvantage of the website is that it’s not made for creating and trying out your own palettes like Paletton or Coolors. However, if you take it as a reference, this website can take you far in your newest projects.

Khroma

You cannot really avoid AI now, can you? So let it help your work! Khroma is exactly the tool you would consider when choosing AI that does well today.

Upon entering, you have to get through a little survey, choosing the colors you like (or colors that fit the “vibe” of your new project). And voila! Khroma gives you a tailored collection of color palettes and combinations for different projects. I can tell you it definitely worked for me, as most color combinations were something I would use in a design.

Among the coolest features I can name is a “Never fail WCAG” toggle. It combines colors in a way that complies with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, saving you some work.

Final words

Whatever you might need the color palettes for, it’s important to understand that they are the most crucial part of every project. There can not be too much thinking on it, or double-checking the accessibility.

And if you are ever unsure, just ask someone to check out your design and leave a few comments in Approval Studio on how it feels and whether you have to come back to polishing the color palette.