The Color Wheel Fundamentals
The color wheel organises hues in a circular arrangement. Complementary colors sit opposite each other and create maximum contrast. Analogous colors sit adjacent and create harmonious, cohesive palettes. Triadic colors are evenly spaced at 120° intervals and create vibrant combinations.
Color Models in Digital Design
RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is additive color for screens. HEX is simply RGB expressed in hexadecimal. HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) is more intuitive for designers — you can adjust lightness to create tints and shades without changing the hue.
Contrast Ratios for Accessibility
WCAG 2.1 requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. Use our HEX to RGB converter to check values, and verify contrast using online calculators before finalising your palette.
Building a Design System Palette
Create a 9-shade scale (50 to 900) for your primary colour. Our Color Palette Generator does this automatically from any hex input, exporting the result as CSS custom properties ready for your design system.
Try the free tools mentioned in this article: Color Palette Generator — no signup required.
