Definition
A color palette (or color scheme) is a limited collection of hues — often three to eight — chosen to work together. Design systems usually include neutrals plus one or more brand accents with lighter and darker variants for hover states, backgrounds, and text.
Why palettes matter
Without a palette, interfaces drift: buttons clash, charts look random, and marketing materials feel unrelated. A shared palette speeds decisions, improves brand recognition, and makes accessibility reviews easier because you already know which pairs meet WCAG contrast requirements.
Common structures
- Primary + secondary accents with a neutral gray scale
- Harmony-based sets: complementary, analogous, triadic, or monochromatic
- Semantic colors for success, warning, and error
Build one free
Use the ChromaNest color palette generator to create schemes from a base hex, lock favorites, and export CSS variables or Tailwind snippets. Prefer pulling colors from a photo? Try palette from image.