Brand colour palette generator
Build a five-colour brand palette from colour theory or from a sentence about your business. Every colour comes with HEX, RGB, CMYK and a contrast score, and one click puts it on your logo.
Start from the colour wheel
Opposite hues (180° apart). Maximum tension: great for one call-to-action colour against a dominant brand colour. Use one as the lead and the other sparingly.
…or describe the brand
Contrast checker: will people be able to read it?
Contrast is a ratio between the lighter and darker colour's luminance, from 1:1 (identical) to 21:1 (black on white). Try your brand colour on white and on your dark colour.
Aa 24px heading
Body text at 16px has to clear 4.5:1 so people with low vision, or anyone reading a phone in sunlight, can still read it.
4.29:1
(1.000 + 0.05) ÷ (0.195 + 0.05) = 4.29
- Logo symbol & icons needs 3:1passes
- Large text (24px+) needs 3:1passes
- Body text needs 4.5:1fails
- Enhanced (AAA) needs 7:1fails
Starter palettes
How to pick brand colours that work
Colour does two jobs for a small business: it makes you recognisable, and it tells people what kind of business you are before they read a word. A few rules keep a palette working everywhere:
- Own one colour. Recognition comes from repetition. One lead hue used consistently beats five used equally.
- Check your competitors. If every accountant in town is navy, a deep green or plum makes you easy to spot.
- Plan for dark and light. Your logo will sit on photos, dark social headers and white paper. You need a dark text colour and a light neutral that both work with the primary.
- Test contrast early. WCAG 2.2 asks for 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text and graphics. Bright yellows and light greens often fail on white.
- Meaning is cultural. Colour associations vary by culture and context. See logo colour psychology for what research does and doesn't support.
Questions people ask
How many colours should a brand palette have?
Most small brands work well with one primary colour, one accent, a dark text colour and one or two light neutrals: four or five in total. More than that becomes hard to apply consistently.
How do I choose brand colours?
Start from what the business should feel like (calm, bold, premium, playful), pick one primary hue that fits and differs from your closest competitors, then add an accent for buttons and highlights. Check that text colours reach at least 4.5:1 contrast on your backgrounds.
What is the 60-30-10 rule?
An interior-design rule of thumb used in branding: about 60% of a layout in a neutral, 30% in a secondary colour and 10% in the accent. It keeps the accent special and the page calm.
What are HEX, RGB and CMYK?
HEX and RGB describe screen colours (red, green and blue light). CMYK describes print ink (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). Screens can show colours that ink cannot, so bright on-screen colours may print duller. Ask your printer for a proof.
Why does this tool use OKLCH?
OKLCH is a colour space designed to match human perception. Changing only the lightness keeps a colour looking like the same hue, which makes tints and shades far more even than HSL.