A palette generator can suggest colors, but it cannot know which colors your product needs. Start with one brand color and make a small role map before generating variations. This keeps the result tied to the interface instead of producing a row of unrelated swatches.
Make a role map
- Brand action: the color used for the most important action.
- Supporting accent: a second emphasis color used less often.
- Surfaces: page, card, and input backgrounds.
- Content: primary and muted text colors.
- Status: success, warning, and error colors when your product needs them.
Generate variations, then test the assignments
Create lighter and darker options around the brand color. Use the lighter values for subtle surfaces only when the text remains clear; use darker values for small labels only after testing the pair. Color models such as OKLCH can make lightness adjustments easier to reason about, but the final appearance still needs review.
Preview the palette in context
Apply the colors to a button, card, navigation element, and form field. Check whether the primary action stands out without making every screen feel like a button. Test normal text and large text separately, and include hover, focus, and error states.
Use the free UI color palette generator for a draft, then run the actual text pairs through the contrast checker. Keep or change each swatch based on the job it has to do.