15 Tools to Create Colour Palettes for Your Designs

15 Tools to Create Colour Palettes for Your Designs

Let's be honest: the colour palette determines the mood, message and entire aesthetics of a graphic design project.

Are you developing a brand identity, building a website, or working on marketing materials? Well, the colours you choose will be critical.

Many tools help designers create colour palettes in the digital era. They not only simplify the process but also stimulate productivity and creativity.

Understanding colour theory is the key to effective design. However, the task can be daunting when you have a galaxy of colours and endless combinations available.

This is where tools with colour palettes come in handy. They offer a systematic approach to choosing and organising colours to make the design harmonious and balanced.

Both beginners and experienced professionals will be amazed by the selection of fundamental colour wheels and more advanced software.

In this article, we analyse the best tools to create colour palettes. We will study their features, how they can help optimise processes and why they are necessary for beautiful visuals.

Here, you will find inspiration for colour matching and ease of use. They will become part of your design toolkit.

However, before we begin, here's some advice for graphic design students. You will need time to try these solutions, but the academic load is still growing daily.

Academic experts can make your life easier by providing excellent writing services. And while writers are busy researching and editing, student designers can focus on their creative projects.

By using essay writers online, you will meet all academic requirements and get the time to experiment and improve your design skills. Thus, outsourcing is a magic wand for those who want to manage everything in their hectic academic life. 

In this hectic world, we all need a little help. These 15 colour palette tools are what you've been looking for. 

1 – Picular

Picular is also called Google for colours, and it uses the power of search to create palettes based on keywords you enter. Simple words in the search will become special colour schemes that no one can pass by. Therefore, we have placed this platform at the top of the list.

A great feature is that Picular pulls colours from images from the internet that are relevant to your search. For example, enter “sunrise” in the search, and you will receive a palette consisting of actual photos of dawn that show the essence of warm, golden rays.

For “macarons,” you'll get your perfect collection of pastel colour palettes. Such contextually accurate detail will become a strong foundation for your design work.

Next, Picular is easy to use and quickly generates inspiring palettes close to works of art. Just enter a keyword — you will get a vast selection of colour options and save time on manual colour selection.

Lastly, Picular offers direct hex codes for each colour, ensuring seamless integration into your design software.

2 – Colorspire

This is another powerful tool for those who want to create stunning colour palettes. Here, everyone will find excellent hues for the most complex projects.

The interface is user-friendly and has many advanced features, so colourinspire.io is a necessary platform for everyone who works in visual design.

You will be amazed by the extensive library of pre-made colour palettes. It is created from real photos, trends, and works of art, ideally expanding your design horizons. Browse these palettes, filter them by categories, and see how they look on printed materials or websites.

Moreover, you can create custom palettes. For example, input some colours and ask the program to generate additional shades to maintain balance. You will also find data about each colour: its name, RGB values, or hex codes. 

We also can't help but mention the intuitive interface, fantastic customisation options, and vast palette library. By streamlining the colour selection process, colorspire allows designers to focus more on creativity and less on technical details. This tool enhances the aesthetic quality of designs and boosts efficiency.

When choosing a supporting colour palette, start with a dual approach that combines creativity and science.

1. Artistic Inspiration

First, immerse yourself in a world of inspiration. Look at other art forms, design elements, and even films from different eras to identify colour trends that align with your vision. For example, if you're aiming for a mid-century rustic aesthetic, you might explore textures and colours prevalent in 1970s design. That era is known for warm, golden hues that create a nostalgic feel. By researching past colour palettes, you can find shades that complement your selected primary colour and resonate emotionally with your audience.

2. Colour Theory Fundamentals

Next, apply the principles of colour theory to create harmony. Understand how colours interact on the colour wheel to find the perfect complements. Familiarise yourself with concepts like:

• Monochromatic: Variations in lightness and saturation of a single colour.
• Complementary: Colors opposite each other on the colour wheel, creating vibrant contrast.
• Analogous: Colors adjacent to the colour wheel, offering a more harmonious and cohesive look.
• Triadic and Tetradic: Using three or four colours evenly spaced around the colour wheel for balance and contrast.

By blending your creative instincts with the structured logic of colour harmonies, you can craft a supporting colour palette that enhances your primary colour and elevates the overall design.

3 – Muzli colours

Muzli color is a user-friendly instrument for those who lead a dynamic lifestyle and want to save time. This platform is part of the famous Muzli suite of design resources, and it was created to streamline the colour selection process, making it an invaluable asset for specialists of all levels.

First, you need to know that the platform generates palettes based on current design trends. With Muzli's extensive database of design inspiration, Muzli colors allow you to get acquainted with the most popular colours and use them.

So, if you want to embrace the new while creating something equally modern and visually appealing, this program is for you. Additionally, if you're saying, “Write my literature review for me” within the context of design trends, this tool provides rich information and inspiration.

The simple interface allows you to adjust hue, saturation, and brightness sliders. You will also be fascinated by the trend-based approach, comprehensive customisation options and ease of use.

Due to automated suggestions and manual adjustments, Muzli Colors is a top option for spontaneous, creative souls and seasoned professionals.

And since the tool is synchronised with the Muzli platform, your experience will be unforgettable because the tool is very versatile.

4 – Cohesive colors

Cohesive Colors differ from the mass of similar programs thanks to generating cohesive colour schemes. It guarantees that each palette is designed in the same style and is pleasing to the eye; in a word — harmonious.

When you enter one base colour, complementary ones will be created automatically, and the overall picture will be balanced. This feature is handy for branding projects where cohesion and consistency are necessary.

As for the cohesion slider, it helps you adjust the level of unity within the palette. By fine-tuning this slider, check how closely the colours are related.

This flexibility ensures that every project is genuinely superb. The tool offers hex codes and RGB values for each colour, so you can integrate these palettes into any software quickly.

The key benefits of Cohesive colours are:

• Its user-friendly interface.
• The incredible speed of generating the best colour palettes.
• The cohesion slider has this fantastic flexibility.

This tool is life-saving; you won't sit on colour selection for hours. And the palette will be both functional and appealing, of course.

5 – Colorsandfonts

The name speaks for itself: the program concentrates on typography and colours, covering any project's needs.

Here, you will find a vast palette of colours — carefully selected and divided into categories depending on your mood, trends and themes.

Browse them to choose colour combinations for your project and get inspired to the fullest. Each palette has data like hex codes and RGB values.

Next, you can generate custom palettes. As with other instruments, enter a base colour, and the program will select harmonies such as complementary, analogous, and triadic schemes. This feature is tailored to your needs, ensuring the palette is balanced.

Another aspect worth mentioning is the ability to analyse how selected colours and fonts interact. This is needed to visualise your designs' overall aesthetic, ensuring the chosen colours and fonts work amazingly together.

Plus, the interface is very user-friendly, the palette library is extensive, and customisation options are advanced. This tool simplifies the colour selection process and makes your workflow much better.

6 – ColorSlurp

As a macOS application, ColorSlurp streamlines any colour selection process and ensures consistency across all your design projects.

It's a must-have if you are working on several ideas simultaneously, like your school assignments, personal projects and freelance design gigs. 

The colour picker allows designers to select colours from anywhere on their screen quickly and accurately. Willing to match specific colours from images, websites, or other design elements?

Here, you can do this. Once the colour is picked, ColorSlurp provides detailed information about it.

As for managing colour palettes, designers can save their selected colours into cohesive palettes, organising everything by the theme of a project and easily sharing them with others, be they customers or team members.

ColorSlurp has a harmoniser tool that suggests complementary, analogous, and triadic colours based on the selected hue.

ColorSlurp is valuable for its precise colour picking, user-friendly interface and colossal palette management features. Thanks to this program, any work process will be a pleasure for any designer. 

7 – Palette Maker

Palette Maker simplifies the difficult task of colour picking, allowing you to find the perfect combination of hues for projects. You can use it to complement your Procreate colour palettes.

First, the Palette Maker can produce colour palettes from a single base colour. You can generate a range of complementary shades by choosing a primary colour. This feature is irreplaceable for all branding projects, as they usually require a unified and consistent colour scheme.

Traditionally, you can explore analogous, complementary and triadic colour harmonies. Experimenting with combinations helps you find the most suitable palette for your needs. 

Palette Maker saves you from stress because of its simplicity. With an intuitive interface, designers can quickly generate and refine colour palettes. This sounds ideal for urgent projects.

The tool also supports collaboration because it offers the option of saving and sharing palettes. Overall, rely on Palette Maker to empower your designs with quick, aesthetically pleasing colour palettes. 

8 – ColorHunt

ColorHunt is a vast collection of pre-made colour schemes where everyone can find something outstanding in their collection of pretty colour palettes.

They are categorised by topics such as trending, popular, and random. Feel free to browse these collections to find palettes that suit your project's mood and style. You will discover four palettes in each category.

The process of exploring and choosing palettes is enjoyable, all thanks to the intuitive interface. Search for palettes using keywords or explore ready-made collections to pinpoint suitable colour combinations. 

Next, save the palettes you've liked and share them with others. This undoubtedly facilitates feedback from your clients and collaboration with team members. 

As for creativity and inspiration, ColorHunt inspires them both. It exposes designers to various colour combinations to encourage experiments and invention.

You can use the tool as a starting point for new projects or to improve the existing ones. ColorHunt provides practical instruments to create visually appealing and cohesive colour schemes.

So, take some time to enjoy a rich repository of ready-to-use palettes and an easy-to-navigate platform.

9 – ColourSpark

ColourSpark makes the colour selection process fun, structured, and well-organised, making it an excellent option for novice designers and more skilled professionals.

Let's start with a random colour palette generator. You can create a new, original palette composed of absolutely harmonious colours with a simple click.

This feature is handy for specialists seeking inspiration or needing a brilliant solution for a project. As always, hex codes for each colour are provided.

СolorSpark's excellent customisation option allows you to adjust generated palettes to suit your needs. Designers stop on specific colours to create new complementary shades.

Then, the whole picture looks spontaneous and fresh. As a result, each palette is customised according to your aesthetic and functional requirements. 

Simplify the colour creation process and take advantage of endless possibilities for unique palettes. colourSpark will help you elevate your project with professional and visually captivating colour schemes.  

10 – Sip

Sip is an app for macOS and iOS, and designers mention it's user-friendly.

First and foremost, it has a powerful colour picker. This feature allows specialists to capture colours from anywhere, no matter which screen they work on.

If you are to match your specific hues from website colour palettes, images or other design elements, this function will be helpful.

Additionally, you can export palettes in various formats. This facilitates overall collaboration and sharing with anyone involved in the project.

With Sip, teams of designers get a collaborative environment where everyone's contributions remain consistent with the work of other people. Besides, the tools can be easily integrated into any other design platform or instrument.

As a result, you'll get a cohesive and straightforward design to manage.

Another feature you should know about is Sip's integration with widely known design instruments like Adobe Photoshop, Sketch and Illustrator.

This extraordinary compatibility ensures designers can efficiently incorporate their colour palettes into their workflow without disruptions. Sip's precise colour picking, intuitive interface and palette management features will impress you. 

11 – ColorSpace

The main point of ColorSpace is that users can create a palette here thanks to one input colour. Choose a colour and get complementary, analogous, triadic, and tetradic harmonies. This balances each palette, which is very important for every project.

One of the primary features of ColorSpace is its ability to create gradient palettes. This means that designers can work on smooth transitions between colours. This is particularly handy for backgrounds and UI elements that require seamless colour blending. 

Users can lock specific colours they like and shuffle the rest to find the perfect match. This provides a blend of control and spontaneity in the design process.

Moreover, ColorSpace includes a library of pre-made palettes, giving designers a wealth of inspiration from popular colour trends and themes. This feature is handy when starting a new project or seeking a fresh perspective on colour combinations.

Strategies for Maintaining Colour Consistency Across Mediums

Achieving colour consistency across digital and print mediums can be challenging, often akin to a chicken-and-egg conundrum. However, there are established strategies that can help streamline the process and ensure fidelity in colour representation.

Understand Colour Models

Start by understanding the differences between RGB and CMYK. RGB offers a broader gamut of colours, making it ideal for digital designs with vibrant display needs. Conversely, CMYK is better suited for print, which may not accurately replicate RGB colours without adjustments. Deciding which model to use initially depends on your primary medium focus: digital for RGB and print for CMYK.

Utilise Colour Swatches

For print accuracy, invest in physical colour swatches, such as those Pantone offers. These swatches provide a reliable reference for colour matching, helping to ensure that the colours you see on the screen are well-replicated in print. Consistently use these as your guide when translating digital designs to physical prints.

Design with Both Mediums in Mind

When designing, keep both digital and print outcomes in mind. Consider how specific colours, incredibly vibrant hues like neon greens, might appear differently across mediums. This foresight aids in creating a flexible palette to maintain its integrity regardless of the medium.

Leverage Professional Printing Services

Partner with professional printing services that have experience with colour matching. These providers often use specialised inks or processes to reproduce better unique colours that standard printing might struggle with.

Keep Consistent Colour References

Determine the closest matching colour using your swatches and consistently use this as a reference for all print materials. This consistency ensures that your brand’s colour palette remains uniform across different projects and marketing collateral.

Adjust and Verify on Screen and In Print

Before finalising any design, test prints are performed to compare them against the digital display. Adjust colours as necessary to ensure they look consistent in both formats.

By incorporating these strategies, you can create a seamless transition of colour across various mediums, ensuring that your brand identity remains strong and consistent whether viewed on screen or in print.

12 – Eva Colours

Eva colours are trendy because of their intuitive colour palette generator. It allows users to input a base colour, generating fantastic palettes through algorithms considering colour theory principles such as complementary, analogous, and triadic schemes. 

Open Eva colours to find a vast library of pre-made palettes categorised by different colour palettes, themes and moods. This library is undoubtedly a source of inspiration, enabling you to explore and pick up palettes that resonate with your project's aesthetic. 

The platform has customisation possibilities that allow specialists to tweak generated palettes. Users can adjust saturation, hues and brightness. This flexibility is essential for tailoring palettes to specific design requirements.

Developing a colour palette in context with design elements rather than in isolation is crucial. Here's why:

The Importance of Context

1. Inherent Variability: Color can appear dramatically different based on surrounding elements and lighting conditions. Seeing a colour within the context of your design helps you understand its true potential.
2. Dynamic Adjustments: Colors might need tweaks once they're part of larger compositions. Being open to adjustments ensures harmony across your designs.
3. Testing Grounds: Testing it in various scenarios ensures versatility before finalising a colour palette. Think of how colours appear on different mediums, such as print versus digital, which can show discrepancies.

Making the Commitment

• Style Guides as a Foundation: Once a colour palette is tied to a project, especially in style guides, it becomes a foundational element that influences future design decisions. Therefore, confirming that each colour works effectively across all intended uses is essential.
• Resilience and Flexibility: A well-tested palette provides the reassurance that colours are not only appealing but also functional. They need to have the versatility to support diverse design needs.

Practical Steps

• Prototype and Iterate: Use prototypes to see how your palette interacts with different components. This allows you to iterate quickly and refine your choices.
• Gather Feedback: Collaboration and feedback from other designers can provide new perspectives, helping ensure the palette is robust.

In conclusion, developing a colour palette in context with the design elements ensures its effectiveness and adaptability, making it an essential practice for any successful design project.

13 – Adobe Color CC

Adobe Color CC offers a sophisticated platform for creating, exploring, and sharing good colour palettes. It is part of Adobe's suite of creative tools, so it integrates with other Adobe applications such as InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop.

All this ensures you have all the necessary things for consistency and efficiency in their design workflow.

One of the best features of Adobe Color CC is its colour wheel. Use it to generate harmonious colour schemes based on colour harmony rules, including analogous, complementary, triadic, tetradic, and monochromatic. 

Next, Adobe Color CC has a feature for extracting colour themes from images. Upload a photo, and the instrument will automatically generate a colour palette based on the dominant colours within the image. This is useful for designs that must be visually cohesive with branding materials or other images. 

Adobe Color CC also includes a vast library of user-generated colour themes, providing a considerable source of inspiration. Designers go through, save, and modify these palettes, making it easy to find the perfect colour scheme for any project.

The Impact of Colour Psychology and Cultural Perceptions on Colour Choices

Colour psychology is a fascinating field that delves into how colours influence human emotions and behaviours. Our perception of colour can significantly affect decision-making and is often deeply intertwined with cultural norms. For example, in many Western cultures, blue is traditionally seen as masculine, while pink is associated with femininity. However, this wasn't always the case; a century ago, pink was considered manly.

Cultural Variability

Cultural context can significantly sway how colours are interpreted. For instance, in China, red is often seen as the colour of luck, prosperity, and happiness, making it a popular choice for festive occasions. Conversely, in some African countries, red might represent mourning or violence. This variability demonstrates that colour perception is not universal but instead dictated by cultural history and societal changes.

Evolving Trends

Over time, societal beliefs about colours can change, influencing consumer behaviour dramatically. For instance, the gender-color association has evolved considerably in the West. As consumer awareness grows around these shifts, brands must adapt their colour strategies to align with current preferences and cultural sensitivities.

Practical Application

For businesses, understanding these cultural nuances is crucial. It means selecting colours that reinforce their brand identity and resonate with the target audience's beliefs and emotions. Whether decorating a store, designing a logo, or choosing an advertising campaign's colour scheme, recognising the potent blend of psychology and culture ensures that your choices effectively communicate your intended message.

In summary, colour psychology and cultural perceptions are pivotal in influencing colour choices. By appreciating these elements, individuals and businesses can make more informed decisions that resonate well with their audience.

14 – Khroma

Relying on AI, Khroma studies your colour preferences and creates personalised palettes, making it a standout choice for designers looking for unique colour combinations. 

Another feature it offers is the generation of endless cool colour palettes based on your preferred colours. When you first use Khroma, choose a set of your favourite colours.

The AI explores your choices and generates palettes that align with your aesthetic preferences. This personalised approach ensures that the colour schemes resonate with your style. 

Khroma has various modes for typography, custom images, and exploring colours. This flexibility allows you to check how colours coexist in multiple contexts, offering a comprehensive review of potential applications. 

By the way, Khroma is easy to use. The interface is simple. And it indeed facilitates quick exploration and palette creation. This makes it accessible to both novice and experienced designers. 

Khroma's principal assets include its AI-driven personalisation and versatility in colour exploration. By analysing your choices, Khroma ensures that the palettes it generates are uniquely suited to your projects.

This personalised, efficient approach to colour selection makes Khroma an essential resource for any graphic designer looking to improve their creative process with harmonious colour schemes that are also customised. 

15 – SchemeColor

The program has more extensive functionality than other tools on our list. For example, here, you will get all the popular types of colour palettes and be able to adjust saturation, brightness and contrast.

A simulator also lets you see how people with different eye diseases (tritanopia, deuteranopia and others) see shades. The resulting palette can be immediately saved in PNG, CSS, etc.

Another feature of SchemeColor is that you can see how the site will look in the selected colour scheme – with or without Night Mode.

It uses colour theory principles and algorithms to generate colour combinations based on your needs. Features like HEX and RGB code outputs, colour wheel adjustments, and palette-saving options make the tool diverse.

Open SchemeColor to experiment with palettes, find inspiration, and maintain consistency across your projects.

Is There a General Rule for the Number of Colours in a Brand's Palette?

When choosing colours for a brand's palette, the rules are more guidelines than hard-and-fast limits. Here are a few principles to consider:

1. Flexibility in Rules: Color rules are meant to be flexible. They're open to interpretation and can be adjusted to fit specific design needs. This fluidity encourages creativity and innovation.
2. Balance Over Quantity: It's about more than the sheer number of colours but how they're balanced and integrated. While a brand might have multiple colours, emphasising different hues creates harmony.
3. Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Colours: Typically, brands use a hierarchy—one dominant colour followed by secondary and tertiary shades. This helps maintain clarity and visual impact.
4. Visual Guidelines: Many brands illustrate this balance through visual style guides, often using colour blocks to show proportions. For example, a primary colour could occupy most space, with others filling in smaller segments.
5. Purpose-Driven Usage: Each colour should have a designated role. Primary colours are often used for the most vital brand elements, while tertiary colours may serve functional roles, such as metadata or less critical text.

Ultimately, the effectiveness of a colour palette depends on how well it aligns with the brand's identity and message. A brand can create a visually appealing and cohesive look by focusing on balance and purpose rather than quantity.

To Wrap It Up

When crafting a design, understanding colour associations can be a powerful tool. Colour can evoke specific emotions and messages, so choosing the right palette can significantly enhance the impact of your design.

For instance, red often conveys energy and urgency. This is why brands like Coca-Cola and Netflix use it to grab attention and stimulate excitement. Meanwhile, blue is typically associated with trust and reliability, so you'll find it in the logos of companies like IBM and Ford.

However, it's crucial to remember that colour interpretation can be highly subjective. Cultural differences and personal experiences can influence how a colour is perceived. While green may suggest growth and tranquillity in some contexts, signifying environmental friendliness as with the Body Shop, it might not evoke the same feeling for everyone.

To leverage these associations effectively, consider the specific message you want to convey and choose colours that align with that message. Test your designs across different audiences to ensure the intended emotion is universally received. This strategic use of colour can enhance communication and create a stronger connection with your audience.

Creating a colour palette is one of the most critical tasks in visual design. Successful combinations of hues attract users' attention and motivate them to take specific actions, psychologically impacting people.

In conclusion, tools for creating colour palettes, such as Adobe Color CC, Khroma, ColorHunt, Eva colours, and others, have revolutionised how graphic designers approach colour selection. These instruments offer a blend of inspiration, precision, and efficiency.

Whether leveraging AI-driven personalisation, exploring vast libraries of colour analysis palettes, or generating harmonies from a single base colour, these tools cater to novice and experienced designers.

Integrating them into your workflow can significantly enhance your design process, ensuring professional and captivating results every time.