Website color palettes

Twelve sets that survive a real layout: enough range for a background, a surface, a body text and one accent, without any two colours fighting for the same job.

Using these on a site

  • Assign roles before you assign colours: background, surface, border, body text, accent. A palette that cannot fill all five needs a neutral added, not a rethink.
  • Use the lightest colour for large areas and the darkest for text. The middle tones belong on borders, hover states and secondary text.
  • Keep the accent for things people click. If everything is accented, nothing is.

The text colour under each palette is whichever of near-black or white reaches the higher contrast ratio against its first colour — check any other pairing before using it for body text.

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