Color Palette Generator from HEX
Generate complete color palettes from any HEX code instantly. Create tints, shades, tones, and harmonious color schemes with mathematical precision for your design projects.
🎨 Enter HEX Color Code
Base Color
☀️ Tints (Add White)
Lighter variations created by mixing with white. Formula: \(\text{Tint} = \text{Color} + (255 - \text{Color}) \times \text{percentage}\)
🌙 Shades (Add Black)
Darker variations created by mixing with black. Formula: \(\text{Shade} = \text{Color} \times (1 - \text{percentage})\)
🎭 Tones (Add Gray)
Muted variations created by reducing saturation. Formula: \(\text{Tone} = \text{HSL}(h, s \times (1 - \text{percentage}), l)\)
🎨 Color Harmonies
Complementary (180°)
Analogous (±30°)
Triadic (120°)
📋 Export Palette
Understanding HEX Color Codes
HEX color codes are six-digit hexadecimal representations of RGB colors, providing a compact and web-standard method for defining colors in digital design. Each pair of digits represents the intensity of red, green, and blue components, ranging from 00 (minimum) to FF (maximum, or 255 in decimal).
HEX Code Structure
A HEX color code follows the format #RRGGBB, where:
• RR represents red intensity (00-FF or 0-255)
• GG represents green intensity (00-FF or 0-255)
• BB represents blue intensity (00-FF or 0-255)
For example, #3498DB breaks down to Red=52, Green=152, Blue=219 in decimal, creating a vibrant blue color.
RGB to HEX Conversion
Converting RGB to HEX requires transforming decimal values (0-255) to hexadecimal (00-FF). The conversion formula for each component is:
\(\text{HEX} = \text{Int}(\text{RGB} / 16) \times 16^1 + (\text{RGB} \bmod 16) \times 16^0\)
This converts each RGB component to its two-digit hexadecimal equivalent, which are then concatenated to form the complete six-digit HEX code.
HSL Color Space Relationship
HEX colors can be converted to HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) for easier color manipulation. The conversion involves:
Lightness: \(L = \frac{\max(R,G,B) + \min(R,G,B)}{2}\)
Hue is calculated based on which RGB component is dominant, while saturation depends on the difference between maximum and minimum RGB values. HSL makes creating tints, shades, and tones mathematically straightforward.
Common HEX Color Patterns
Pure colors use maximum intensity (FF) for one or two components:
• #FF0000 = Pure Red (255,0,0)
• #00FF00 = Pure Green (0,255,0)
• #0000FF = Pure Blue (0,0,255)
Grayscale colors have equal RGB values (#808080 = medium gray), while white is #FFFFFF and black is #000000.
Color Manipulation: Tints, Shades, and Tones
Tints - Adding White
Tints are lighter versions of a color created by mathematically adding white. In RGB space, this means increasing each component toward 255. The formula for creating a tint is:
\(\text{Tint}_{RGB} = \text{Color}_{RGB} + (255 - \text{Color}_{RGB}) \times t\)
Where \(t\) is the tinting percentage (0 to 1). Tints create softer, more delicate color variations perfect for backgrounds and subtle highlights.
Shades - Adding Black
Shades are darker versions created by mathematically adding black, which decreases RGB values toward zero. The shading formula is:
\(\text{Shade}_{RGB} = \text{Color}_{RGB} \times (1 - s)\)
Where \(s\) is the shading percentage (0 to 1). Shades add depth and sophistication, ideal for text, shadows, and creating visual hierarchy.
Tones - Adding Gray
Tones are muted versions created by reducing saturation, adding gray without changing lightness. Working in HSL space, the formula is:
\(\text{Tone}_{HSL} = (H, S \times (1 - g), L)\)
Where \(g\) is the graying percentage. Tones create sophisticated, muted palettes that appear more natural and professional than pure saturated colors.
Color Harmony Mathematics
Color harmonies are calculated by rotating hue values in HSL color space:
• Complementary: \(H_{comp} = (H + 180°) \bmod 360°\)
• Analogous: \(H_{ana} = (H \pm 30°) \bmod 360°\)
• Triadic: \(H_{tri} = (H + 120°n) \bmod 360°\) where \(n = 1,2\)
Applications of HEX Color Palettes
Web Design and Development
HEX codes are the standard for web colors in CSS, HTML, and design tools. Generating complete palettes from a single brand HEX code ensures consistent color usage across websites, maintaining visual coherence while providing sufficient variation for different UI elements like buttons, backgrounds, and text.
Brand Identity Systems
Companies with established brand colors need systematic variations for different contexts. From a primary brand HEX code, designers generate tints for light backgrounds, shades for dark themes, and tones for sophisticated applications, creating comprehensive brand color systems documented in style guides.
UI/UX Design Systems
Modern design systems require semantic color scales (primary-100 through primary-900) for consistent component styling. HEX palette generators create these scales mathematically, ensuring predictable lightness progression and maintaining color relationships across the entire interface design system.
Digital Art and Illustration
Digital artists use HEX palette generators to establish limited color palettes from reference colors. By generating tints for highlights, shades for shadows, and harmonies for complementary elements, artists maintain color cohesion while having enough variation for complex illustrations and digital paintings.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many tints and shades should I generate?
Most design systems use 5-9 variations per color, including the base. Generating 3-4 tints (lighter) and 3-4 shades (darker) provides sufficient range for most design needs, from subtle backgrounds to deep shadows, while maintaining visual consistency and predictable color relationships.
Can I generate palettes from any HEX code?
Yes, any valid six-digit HEX code produces complete palettes. However, highly saturated colors generate more vibrant variations, while desaturated colors produce more subtle palettes. Very light or dark base colors have natural limitations in generating extreme tints or shades respectively.
What's better: manipulating RGB or HSL values?
For tints and shades, RGB manipulation provides mathematical precision. For tones and harmonies, HSL is superior because it separates hue, saturation, and lightness, making it easier to adjust specific color properties independently. Professional tools often convert between color spaces for optimal results.
How do I ensure accessibility with generated colors?
After generating your palette, test text-background combinations for WCAG contrast ratios (4.5:1 minimum). Typically, darker shades work for text on light backgrounds, while lighter tints work on dark backgrounds. Always verify contrast before using colors in production interfaces.
Can I use shortened three-digit HEX codes?
Three-digit HEX codes (#RGB) are shorthand where each digit is doubled (#RRGGBB). For example, #F3A becomes #FF33AA. While valid in CSS, this tool requires six-digit codes for precise palette generation. Convert three-digit codes to six digits by doubling each character before inputting.