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Color Scheme Generator

Pick a base color and get a full palette, complementary, analogous, triadic, tetradic or monochromatic. Copy any swatch as HEX, RGB or HSL. Nothing leaves your browser.

How Color Scheme Generator works

Color Scheme Generator builds complete color palettes from a single base color you choose: complementary (opposite on the hue wheel), analogous (adjacent hues), triadic (three evenly spaced), tetradic (four hues in two complementary pairs), and monochromatic (varying lightness and saturation of the same hue). All palette logic runs in the browser; nothing you enter leaves your device.

Each generated palette shows swatches with their HEX and RGB values ready to copy. This gives designers a starting point grounded in color theory rather than guesswork. Because the generator is offline-capable after the initial page load, you can experiment freely with brand colors during a client meeting without needing a network connection. Enter your base color in whichever notation you have, HEX, RGB or HSL, and every generated swatch is given back in all three so you can copy the one your design tool expects.

Written by Bastien Sulyan

How to use Color Scheme Generator, step by step

  1. Pick a base color using the color picker or by typing a HEX value.
  2. Choose a harmony type from the tabs: complementary, analogous, triadic, tetradic, or monochromatic.
  3. The palette swatches appear instantly with their HEX and RGB values.
  4. Click any swatch to copy its HEX value to your clipboard.
  5. Adjust the base color to explore variations and watch the whole palette update.

Common use cases

  • A designer starting a new brand identity picks their primary color and generates a triadic palette to propose three-color combinations to a client.
  • A developer building a dark-mode theme uses the monochromatic palette to generate a range of tints and shades from a single brand color.
  • A content creator chooses an analogous palette to pick accent colors for a presentation that feel cohesive without harsh contrast.
  • A UI designer uses the complementary palette to identify a high-contrast accent color that stands out against the primary brand color.

Frequently asked questions

How does the complementary palette work?

A complementary color is the hue directly opposite the base color on the HSL color wheel, 180 degrees away. Placing complementary colors next to each other creates maximum contrast. The tool shows the base color and its complement, plus lighter and darker variants of each.

What is the difference between triadic and tetradic palettes?

A triadic palette uses three hues evenly spaced at 120 degrees apart on the color wheel. A tetradic palette uses four hues at 90 degrees apart, forming two complementary pairs (also called a double complementary or square palette). Tetradic palettes are more complex and require careful balancing of proportions to avoid visual noise.

Are the colors I choose stored or sent anywhere?

No. Palette generation is arithmetic on the base color's HSL representation: rotating the hue angle by fixed amounts, shifting lightness and saturation. Every calculation runs locally in the browser; nothing is sent to any server.

Can I export the palette as a CSS file or design token file?

The tool currently shows swatches with copyable HEX and RGB values. For a full CSS custom properties export or a design token JSON, copy the values manually into your project's token file or CSS. A dedicated export button may be added in a future update.

Does this generator follow any formal color theory standard?

The palette calculations use standard hue-rotation formulas in the HSL color space, which is the convention in most web design tools. The exact perceptual uniformity of HSL has limitations compared to LAB or OKLCH, but HSL rotations produce palettes that match the color wheel conventions designers typically expect.

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