Key takeaways:
- Designing visually appealing projects is easy with a color palette generator.
- Consistent color palettes make branding more effective.
- Web.com’s LogoBuilder simplifies branding and design by offering AI-powered tools to create logos and custom color palettes.
Creating the perfect color palette isn’t always easy. With countless shades and hues, you might find yourself second-guessing your choices. If you’ve ever struggled to find colors that work well together, take a breather. Learning how to create a color palette doesn’t have to take hours of trial and error.
With the right color palette generators, you can take the hassle out of the process. These tools help you explore, combine, and fine-tune colors quickly and effectively, saving you time while bringing your fresh ideas to life.
If you’re curious to know more, this article will help you uncover the best color palette generator that will change the way you work with colors.
But first, let’s learn the basics.
What is a color palette?
A color palette is a curated set of colors used in a piece of visual media. It brings together complementary colors — which are colors facing each other on the color wheel — creating a visually appealing contrast.
Color palettes are part of a color scheme, which is a specific combination of colors chosen for their aesthetic value and harmony. Color schemes typically include three or more colors that create a cohesive look.
Types of color palette tools
Colors affect the way your design is perceived. They stir emotions, drive decisions, and even highlight accessibility concerns like color blindness or visual impairments. If you choose them well, you can transform a basic design into something remarkable.
To help you build a consistent and visually engaging project, a color palette generator is the way to go. This tool helps you put together aesthetically compatible color combinations, regardless of the branding or website elements you’re trying to achieve.
Understanding color theory concepts is very important before selecting tools to create color palettes. These concepts include analogous colors and RGB values, representing the primary colors (red, green, and blue) using color codes.
Here are the types of tools suited for your level of expertise:
Beginner-friendly tools
These tools focus on simplicity and ease of use. They offer straightforward features to help you create color palettes without feeling overwhelmed. Coolors and Color Hunt are great examples of versatile color palette generators. We’ll discuss these tools in more detail later.
Professional-grade tools
These tools are aimed at experienced designers. They offer advanced features and greater control over color selection. With professional-grade color palette generators, it’s easy to make precise adjustments or create complex color schemes. Platforms like Adobe Color and Paletton fall under this category.
AI-powered tools
AI-backed tools are capable of analyzing images or inputs to suggest harmonious color palettes. They simplify the process by generating color schemes. These color schemes work well together and are often based on the content of an image or specific design requirements.
Reflect on where you are at with your design skills and your branding needs. Familiarity with these categories leads to better choices of tools to create effective and engaging color schemes for your projects.
Top color palette generators overview
Here’s a breakdown of the top color palette generators, organized by categories:
Beginner-friendly tools
- Coolors
Coolors is a versatile and user-friendly tool to save and generate color palettes. Its intuitive interface is perfect for beginners exploring color combinations or uncovering how many colors can work well together in a design. Coolors offers a range of features for creating color palettes. These include random palette generation, detailed color adjustments, and advanced tools like its Gradient Maker.
- Color Hunt
This community-driven platform features daily curated palettes from contributors around the globe. It offers a vast collection of ready-made schemes and themed categories like neon, vintage, and skin. It’s an excellent choice for quick inspiration and trendy designs where accessibility knows no boundaries.
Professional-grade tools
- Adobe Color
Adobe Color, previously known as Adobe Kuler, before it was rebranded to Adobe Color CC. This tool is designed for advanced users and offers features like harmony rules, accessibility checks, and a customizable color wheel. The platform is seamlessly integrated with other Adobe tools and has the ability to extract palettes from images. Adobe Color is a popular choice among professional designers. It offers features like easy color tweaking and flexible export options. This makes it suitable for various projects, including branding and web design.
- Paletton
Paletton provides a versatile platform to create color schemes based on the color wheel. It includes a randomize button for quick inspiration, advanced customization options, and interactive previews. That’s why it’s often a go-to for experienced graphic creators, especially for those with inclusive projects.
AI-powered tools
- Web.com
While Web.com isn’t a dedicated color palette generator, it offers useful features for beginners, such as pre-built templates and a logo creator that includes AI-powered color palette suggestions. This makes it a great tool for those who want to build a cohesive brand without advanced design skills.
- Khroma
Khroma uses AI to learn from your preferences and generate personalized palettes. It features a system that pairs your preferred colors with complementary ones and has Pinterest-like scrolling for easy exploration. It’s ideal for visual layout experts who want specific suggestions and a unique creative experience.
- ColorSpace
ColorSpace is a straightforward and efficient tool for building color palettes around a specific base color. You can input your preferred shade using various methods. These include HEX (hexadecimal) color code, RGB, or the color wheel. The tool will instantly generate different palettes or color combinations based on your input. Its AI-driven approach is a great option if you want to experiment with creative and unexpected color schemes.
Comparison highlights
All these tools mentioned not only help you pick colors to develop a design that tells a story. They can help you craft an experience that connects perfectly with your audience. To make a deliberate choice, study this comparison table to gain deeper insights into their key differences in features and usability.
| Tool | Features | Usability | Best For |
| Coolors | Quick palette generation, export options | Beginner-friendly | Quick exploration of palettes |
| Color Hunt | Community-curated palettes, daily updates | Simple and inspirational | Trendy and ready-made palettes |
| Adobe Color | Advanced harmony rules, accessibility checks | Professional-grade | Designers needing detailed control |
| Paletton | Interactive previews, custom schemes | Flexible for all levels | Creating balanced, harmonious schemes |
| Khroma | AI-powered, personalized palette generation | Tailored to individual tastes | Designers seeking unique suggestions |
| ColorSpace | Single hue-based palette suggestions | AI-assisted | Creative exploration of color combos |
Tip: Web.com has built-in branding tools like color palette suggestions and logo creation as part of its website-building platform.
How-to tutorials
If you’re not sure how to begin your color palette design journey, we’ve prepared a step-by-step guide for three top tools from each category.
For beginners
Using Coolors
- Visit the Coolors website and press the spacebar to generate random palettes.
- Lock a color by clicking on it, then keep pressing the spacebar to adjust other colors.
- Edit individual colors by clicking on them to adjust hue, saturation, and brightness.
- Save your palette to your account or export it in formats like PNG or PDF.
Tip: For harmonious palettes, lock a key color and let Coolors suggest combinations that naturally complement it.
For professional designers
Using Adobe Color
- Open Adobe Color and start with the color wheel.
- Choose a base color by clicking on the wheel or entering a hex code.
- Select a harmony rule (e.g., complementary, triad, analogous) to generate a palette.
- Adjust the sliders to fine-tune hues, saturation, and brightness.
- Save your palette to your Adobe account or download it for future use.
Tip: To create complementary palettes, select contrasting colors directly across each other on the color wheel for high contrast and balance.
For those relying on AI support
Web.com AI Website Builder users have access to its LogoBuilder feature:
- Access the tool.
Log in to your Web.com account and open LogoBuilder in the Branding section.
- Start your logo.
Click Create Logo and enter your brand name and optional slogan.
- Choose a design
Select from the AI-generated logo options that best fit your brand.
- Customize the details.
Adjust fonts, icons, and colors to align with your brand identity.
- Preview your logo.
Check how your logo looks on various platforms like websites and business cards.
- Save and download.
Save your logo and download it in multiple formats for different uses.
Tips:
- Use colors and fonts that reflect your brand personality for a consistent look.
- Before finalizing your AI-generated logo, check first that it does not infringe any copyrights or trademarks.
Practical applications of color palette generators
Color palette generators are vital for the creation of designs that feel cohesive and intentional. Make sure your visuals communicate effectively, and don’t just randomly pick what your eyes find attractive. Consider the vibrancy of shades but always keep color theory in mind. This is important when developing color palettes.
Branding
A consistent color palette helps your brand look unified across materials like websites and marketing collateral. Color palette generators match your brand’s style easily, but they also offer accessibility options and color extraction from images. This consistent approach helps your audience relate to your message and identify your brand quickly.
UI/UX design
In UI design, color palette generators enhance the user experience by streamlining the process of selecting and refining palettes. User-friendly tools offer a hassle-free approach to playing around with color palettes and finding a look you love. You can easily save and share your palettes. This enables you to collaborate with your team and effectively use your colors in other design projects.
Social media visuals
Color palette generators allow you to craft consistent and attention-worthy visuals for social media. They let you experiment with color combinations to match your brand while retaining visual harmony. Well-matched color palettes not only enhance brand recognition but also make your content more engaging and meaningful.
Design smarter and let your color palette speak volumes
The colors you choose impact your designs and how you present your brand’s voice. It’s like bringing your audience and your goals together into one kaleidoscopic blend that gives your brand a perfect tone.
If you want to simplify the process, Web.com offers professional services to handle it for you. Whether you’re short of time or not confident in your skills, Web.com integrates key tools to bring a polished and practical touch to your project. Yes, these tips can help you start, but with Web.com, you can take your ideas further.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
The 60-30-10 rule in branding is a simple way to balance colors in design. It means using 60% for the main color, 30% for secondary colors, and 10% for accents to create color harmony and add depth.
While the 60-30-10 rule is widely known, the 80-20 rule offers a different approach. It employs the rule of using 80% of a dominant color along with 20% of a complementary one for contrast. Another option is the 50/50 rule, which balances two colors equally for a neutral and cohesive look. These principles help you produce designs that are engaging and harmonious.
Colors have the power to send impactful messages to your audience. For example, red often represents excitement or urgency, while blue conveys trust and professionalism. Should you have the colors that match your brand’s tone, you’re likely to create a deeper emotional connection with your audience.
