Good Colors

Don’t use ugly colors — choose beautiful, carefully selected ones.
Thank you Audrey Dejoux, Laurent Pantanacce and Jérôme Gombert for fruitful discussions! We also drew on the Apple Human Interface Guidelines and Google Material Design.

Tip: click any #FFCC00 (or any colored cell) to copy the code.

Base palette with contrasts

Pairs show a strong readable contrast (click to copy).

Base colors with lighter variants.
Name R G B Hexcode Color
Red 255 59 48 #FF3B30
Light Red 255 216 214 #FFD8D6
Orange 255 149 0 #FF9500
Light Orange 255 234 204 #FFEACC
Yellow 255 204 0 #FFCC00
Light Yellow 255 245 204 #FFF5CC
Green 40 205 65 #28CD41
Light Green 212 245 217 #D4F5D9
Blue 0 122 255 #007AFF
Light Blue 204 228 255 #CCE4FF
Turquoise 121 219 220 #79dbdc
Light Turquoise 0 255 239 #00ffef
Purple 175 82 222 #AF52DE
Light Purple 239 220 248 #EFDCF8
Pink 255 45 85 #FF2D55
Light Pink 255 213 221 #FFD5DD

Emotion palette

One color per emotion (click to copy).

Emotion color palette with RGB and hex values.
Name R G B Hexcode Color
Silence 0 0 0 #000000
Neutral 128 128 128 #808080
Anger 255 59 48 #FF3B30
Surprise 255 149 0 #FF9500
Joy 255 204 0 #FFCC00
Disgust 40 205 65 #28CD41
Happiness 121 219 220 #79dbdc
Sadness 0 122 255 #007AFF
Fear 175 82 222 #AF52DE

Concept palette

One color per concept (click to copy).

Concept color palette with RGB and hex values.
Name R G B Hexcode Color
Balance, Neutral, Calm 128 128 128 #808080
Excitement, Youthful, Bold 255 59 48 #FF3B30
Friendly, Cheerful, Confidence 255 149 0 #FF9500
Optimism, Clarity, Warmth 255 204 0 #FFCC00
Peaceful, Growth, Health 40 205 65 #28CD41
Trust, Dependable, Reliable, Strength 0 122 255 #007AFF
Creative, Imaginative, Wise 175 82 222 #AF52DE

Psychology palette

One color per psychology (click to copy).

Psychology color palette with RGB and hex values.
Name R G B Hexcode Color
➕ Power, Passion, Energy, Fearlessness, Strength, Excitement
➖ Anger, Danger, Warning, Defiance, Aggression, Pain 		255 59 48 #FF3B30
➕ Courage, Confidence, Warmth, Innovation, Friendliness, Energy
➖ Deprivation, Frustration, Frivolity, Immaturity, Ignorance, Sluggishness 		255 149 0 #FF9500
➕ Optimism, Warmth, Happiness, Creativity, Intellect, Extraversion,
➖ Irrationality, Fear, Caution, Anxiety, Frustration, Cowardice 		255 204 0 #FFCC00
➕ Health, Hope, Freshness, Nature, Growth, Prosperity
➖ Boredom, Stagnation, Envy, Blandness, Enervation, Sickness 		40 205 65 #28CD41
➕ Communication, Clarity, Calmness, Inspiration, Self-expression, Healing
➖ Boastfulness, Secrecy, Unreliability, Reticence, Fence-sitting, Aloofness 		121 219 220 #79DBDC
➕ Trust, Loyalty, Dependability, Logic, Serenity, Security
➖ Coldness, Aloofness, Emotionless, Unfriendliness, Uncaring, Unappetizing 		0 122 255 #007AFF
➕ Wisdom, Luxury, Wealth, Spirituality, Imaginative, Sophistication, Introversion
➖ Decadence, Suppression, Inferiority, Extravagance, Moodiness 		175 82 222 #AF52DE
➕ Imaginative, Passion, Transformation, Creative, Innovation, Balance
➖ Outrageousness, Nonconformity, Flippancy, Impulsiveness, Eccentricity, Ephemerality 		255 45 85 #FF2D55
➕ Seriousness, Warmth, Earthiness, Reliability, Support, Authenticity
➖ Humorlessness, Heaviness, Unsophisticated, Sadness, Dirtiness, Conservativeness 		165 42 42 #A52A2A
➕ Sophistication, Security, Power, Elegance, Authority, Substance
➖ Oppression, Coldness, Menace, Heaviness, Evil, Mourning 		0 0 0 #000000
➕ Timelessness, Neutrality, Reliability, Balance, Intelligence, Strength
➖ Unconfident, Dampness, Depression, Hibernation, Lack of energy, Blandness 		128 128 128 #808080
➕ Cleanliness, Clarity, Purity, Simplicity, Sophistication, Freshness
➖ Sterility, Coldness, Unfriendliness, Elitism, Isolation, Emptiness 		248 248 248 #F8F8F8

Resources

References first, downloadable data second, visual guides last.

Coolors

The super-fast color palette generator.

Coolors preview

A Dictionary of Color Combinations

By Sanzo Wada (1883–1967).

A Dictionary of Color Combinations cover

Apple Developer Color Guidelines

macOS system colors used as a practical reference.

Apple Developer Color Guidelines

Tints and Shades

Useful to derive the 80% shade and nearby variants.

Tints and Shades

Adobe Color

Explore palettes and trends from the Adobe community.

Adobe Color Explore

front

Open-source skill packs for Claude Code and OpenCode — vanilla JS + Tailwind UI generation, accessibility lint, palette audit, alt-text drafting. Grew from this page.

front — the color wheel that became a skill set

Downloads

Guides

If you don’t have ideas, start from these two.

Colors guide 1

A compact visual starting point for combinations.

Colors guide 2

Another visual reference for palette exploration.

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