Features
A color design system. Not a swatch generator.
Three ways to build a palette
Image extraction
Photograph a book cover, upload it, get a curated 5-color palette in under 5 seconds (8 with Pro). Auto-crop with Canny edge detection. Manual fallback when you need it.
Color theory engine
4 harmony modes — complementary, analogous, triadic, split-complementary. Temperature controls from warm to cool. Spacebar randomise with seed memory. Real color science, not random hex codes.
Style presets
Swiss. Bauhaus. Japanese. Brutalist. Generate palettes rooted in real design traditions. Or use "Like this" mode to clone the feel of any inspiration palette.
Every color gets a job
Other tools hand you five hex codes and wish you luck. Paletter assigns every color a semantic role — Background, Ink, Accent, Support, Neutral — so your palette works as a system from the start.
Roles map directly to design tokens. Export once, use everywhere. No translation layer, no guesswork.
- + Background — Primary surface. The canvas everything sits on.
- + Text — Headings, body text, icons, borders. Maximum readability.
- + Accent — CTAs, highlights, focus rings. The signal color.
- + Support — Secondary surfaces, subheads, dividers.
- + Neutral — Panels, disabled states, subtle chips.
Ship palettes that pass
WCAG contrast checking
Every palette ships with AA and AAA contrast scores. Grayscale and complementary text colors auto-generated for every background. No guessing, no separate tools.
Color blindness simulation
Preview your palette through protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia filters. See what your users see before you ship.
Tokens, configs, and formats that ship
Semantic CSS
Semantic custom properties — --color-bg, --color-text, --color-primary. Role-mapped and ready to ship.
Design system README
Auto-generated COLOUR-SYSTEM.md with palette table, contrast ratios, usage rules, and do/don't examples.
Copy entire design system
One button. CSS + Tailwind + SCSS + tokens + usage rules. Clipboard. Done.
Mockup previews
App, website, business card — see your palette in context before you commit.
API access
POST an image, get palette JSON. Automate your pipeline.
Stolen from the greats
42+ inspiration palettes
Palettes derived from Rams, Albers, Muller-Brockmann, Kandinsky, Hara, Vignelli, Carson. Browse, remix, or use "Like this" mode to generate new palettes with the same feel. Organize into collections.
Share your colors with everyone
Wedding Palette
Pick five colors, name them, get a shareable page. Guests see the palette on any device. Vendors get hex codes. No account needed. Free.
Your colors, in every prompt
AI Palette
Export a COLORS.md for Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and Copilot. Roles, contrast ratios, CSS vars, Tailwind tokens, explicit rules — all in one file. One click, drop in your project root. Your AI stops defaulting to Tailwind blue.
Deep dive into every feature
Image extraction
Upload a photo, get a curated 5-color palette in under 5 seconds.
Color generator
4 harmony modes, temperature controls, spacebar randomize.
Style presets
Swiss. Bauhaus. Japanese. Brutalist. Real design traditions.
"Like this" mode
Clone the feel of any inspiration palette. Infinite variations.
Color roles
Background, Ink, Accent, Support, Neutral. Every color gets a job.
Contrast checker
WCAG AA and AAA scores for every meaningful color pair.
Color blindness sim
Protanopia, deuteranopia, tritanopia. See what your users see.
Text colors
Grayscale and complementary text colors for every background.
CSS export
Semantic custom properties. Role-mapped and ready to ship.
Tailwind export
Tailwind v4 @theme config. Drop in and go.
Design tokens
JSON tokens for any design system pipeline.
AI palette
COLORS.md for Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and Copilot.
Multi-format export
CSS + Tailwind + SCSS + tokens + usage rules. One click.
Inspiration library
42+ palettes from Rams, Albers, Vignelli, and the design canon.
Palette diff
Delta-E scoring. Side-by-side swatches. Perception labels.
Mockup preview
See your palette on a mobile app, website, and business card.
Wedding palette
Pick 5 colors, name them, share a page with your guests.