Top 11 Color Palette Generators For Your Design Needs
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Choosing the perfect color palette for your design project can make all the difference in capturing your audience’s attention and conveying your brand message. With countless color palette generators available, finding one that best suits your needs may seem overwhelming.
That’s why we’ve curated a list of the top color palette generators to help you create stunning designs with beautiful shades, hues, and gradients tailored for graphic designers like you.
Be sure to check out our color palette library where you’ll find a huge collection of custom color combinations with hex codes.
Best Color Palette Generators
Numerous color palette generators are available for designers, and here are details on our favorite tools.
1. Coolors
As a graphic designer, discovering the perfect color palette for your projects is essential, and Coolors makes that process remarkably seamless. In fact, it’s our favorite color palette generation.
This free tool provides an intuitive platform to create, save, and share color palettes. The app’s interface lets you quickly generate color palettes via the keyboard or by clicking on the generated combination of colors.
You can have Coolors generate palettes randomly, enter your base color as a starting point, keep or reject suggested colors, and much more. Coolors will also generate palettes from source photos or images. All you need to do is upload the image or enter a URL if the image is available online.
Additionally, you can access their color contrast checker, which comes in handy for ensuring accessibility within your work.
Coolors can be used in your favorite browser, or you can install the mobile app (iOS or Android), or use a plugin for your favorite programs like Figma, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
2. Adobe Color
Adobe Color stands out as a top choice for graphic designers seeking the perfect color palette. As one of the best overall color palette generators, it features an intuitive color wheel and image-based color palette generation options, making it easy to create visually stunning designs.
In addition to its impressive standalone capabilities, Adobe Color enables users to create and save custom palettes within their library, which can be easily accessed in Adobe products like Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. This powerful combination allows designers to find color codes quickly and efficiently while ensuring cohesive design throughout various platforms.
You can also browse current color trends, powered by Behance and Adobe Stock.
3. Paletton
As a graphic designer, finding the perfect color scheme for your projects is essential, and Paletton makes it easy. This versatile color palette generator is particularly useful for designers working with existing brand colors or seeking inspiration for new color combinations.
Paletton’s interface allows you to experiment with various color combinations using its advanced color wheel and AI-powered tools. It may feel a little confusing at first, but the learning curve is pretty small once you jump into it.
You can easily generate harmonious gradients, hues, and hex codes tailored to suit any web design or artwork project. Start with a base color and quickly generate monochromatic, triadic, and tetradic color schemes, or take a freestyle approach.
4. Khroma
Khroma is an AI-based color tool built specifically for designers, making it an excellent option for creating a unique and visually-appealing color palette.
Unlike other generators that rely solely on predetermined combinations, Khroma uses machine learning to create limitless palettes for designers to discover, search, and save.
What sets Khroma apart from other generators is its ability to help designers pinpoint the best color scheme for their projects based on their own preferences. You’ll start by selecting 50 shades you like, and Khroma will use artificial intelligence to create palettes for you.
By analyzing your preferences and previous design choices, Khroma suggests colors and schemes uniquely tailored to your style (or your brand).
5. Colormind
Colormind is another AI-powered color palette generator that simplifies the process of creating beautiful color schemes for graphic designers.
As one of the top color palette generators, Colormind uses deep learning to generate color styles from popular art, movies, and photographs. Just click the “generate” button and it will create a palette. You can lock the colors you like and replace the others by clicking “generate” again. Repeat this process until you have a color scheme that you love.
Using Colormind allows logo and graphic designers to create smart and aesthetically pleasing colors for various purposes. The tool is convenient as users can input any base or background hue they want while generating gradient combinations that match it perfectly.
Web designers will appreciate Colormind’s functionality for previewing the color palettes on demo websites. This makes it easy to visualize how to colors will look in an actual design.
6. ColorSpace
ColorSpace is a powerful tool that allows designers to easily create unique color palettes for their projects. Whether designing a website, creating a brand identity, or working on any other design-related task, ColorSpace has got you covered.
Its simple and intuitive interface allows users to select a shade from the color picker or enter a hex code. Then, ColorSpace will generate palettes based on that primary color.
ColorSpace provides an excellent range of customizable options for your design needs. By using ColorSpace’s extensive color library and gradient features, web designers can create visually appealing and effective designs that stand out from the competition.
7. Color Hunt
Color Hunt is a treasure trove for graphic designers seeking inspiration in color palette creation. It’s a free, artist-generated color library with trendy, new, and random palettes that suit any style or preference.
Its curated approach to color generation sets Color Hunt apart from other tools. The palettes are carefully chosen by designers who understand the power of color and how it can impact visual communication.
Additionally, the site offers easy access to hex codes and gradients for each hue in the selected palette. You can search by keyword or style and even save your favorites.
8. COLOURlovers
COLORlovers may not be strictly a color palette generator, but it’s a great platform for graphic designers to find inspiration and ideas for their new designs.
As a creative community where artists share color palettes, patterns, and other design elements, COLORlovers provides an extensive library of beautiful colors, gradients, and hues that users can choose from.
Whether you’re looking to create a website banner or logo design, COLOURlovers can prove to be useful. With its convenient search feature, users can filter results based on specific keywords, allowing them to narrow down their options quickly.
9. Canva Color Palette Generator
Canva, the popular online design software, also offers a color palette generator. Whether you’re designing a website, creating marketing materials, or working on a branding campaign, this tool can help you create cohesive and visually appealing color schemes quickly and easily.
You can start by uploading a photo or image, or you can select a base color and choose the type of color combination that you want. And if you’re looking for inspiration, you can browse a large selection of palettes in their library.
Canva’s color palette tool is not quite as advanced or feature-rich as some of the others on this list, but it’s a simple, effective tool that Canva users are likely to appreciate.
10. Culrs
Culrs works differently than some of the other tools on this list. Instead of generating a color scheme from scratch, Culrs provides a curated library of palettes. You can browse based on the type you’re looking for (analogous, triadic, tetradic, and monochromatic).
While the functionality of Culrs isn’t as advanced as some others on this list, the simple and pleasing interface makes it a joy to use.
11. Brand Colors
Brand Colors is a unique and interesting website. Instead of generating a custom color palette, this simple website displays the color combinations used by hundreds of brands worldwide.
You can see the exact colors each brand uses, which may provide some inspiration when choosing your brand colors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Creating a color palette involves selecting colors that complement each other and convey the desired message. You can manually create a color palette by choosing colors based on color theory or using online tools like the color palette generators featured in this article.
In manual selection, choose one primary color, two to three secondary colors, and an accent hue for your design.
Alternatively, you could use color palette generators to generate different combinations until you find one that fits your requirements. These tools allow you to input specific shades or pick from their pre-existing options to experiment with variations until you find something that works.
Using a color palette generator can help graphic designers save time and create more visually appealing designs. These tools take the guesswork out of picking complementary colors and offer pre-made options that can be adjusted to fit any project.
By using a color palette generator, designers can ensure harmony across their work and develop a recognizable brand identity through the consistent use of colors.
It’s important to strike a balance between too few and too many. In general, it’s advised to stick to a maximum of 4-5 colors, but you can use fewer if you prefer.
This ensures that your design remains visually appealing and not overwhelming for the eyes. Many well-designed color palettes include one dominant color, a few accent colors, and one standard color which can be used as a neutral background or text color.
Final Thoughts On Color Palette Generators
In conclusion, using color palette generators can be a game-changer for designers. These tools offer a quick and efficient way to create beautiful color schemes that align with your brand or project.
With the abundance of online options, finding the right color palette generator is essential. Whether you’re looking for gradient generators or brand-specific color palettes, there’s something out there for everyone.
