Colour palettes

Architecture and design portfolios; a near-white with a warm floor.

Not for: Anything with status — there is no colour budget left.

Reference and tabular text with a green used only for confirmations.

Not for: Emotional marketing — it reads as a records office.

Editorial fashion layouts with a grey that is faintly violet, never blue.

Not for: Any interface needing a call to action.

Celebration states and confetti moments after a task completes.

Not for: Everyday chrome — a party palette wears out fast.

A near-neutral dark with a faint warm tilt, so black never goes blue.

Not for: Charts needing five separable series — the chroma is too low.

Playful marketing sections where five stripes is the whole layout.

Not for: Data — the hues are spread for cheer, not for separation.

Above-the-fold statements where red has to arrive before the text.

Not for: Anything with error states — the red is taken.

Hero sections that travel from magenta into deep blue on one run.

Not for: Charts — a sequential run implies an order data may not have.

Interfaces that open at dusk and stay open; the top step is a usable surface.

Not for: Print — the range collapses on paper.

Campaign pages needing a single loud red and a green to answer it.

Not for: Back-office tooling — it will not survive a spreadsheet.

Hospitality and interiors; warm, pale, and completely unhurried.

Not for: Dark mode — this palette exists only in the light.

Editorial layouts wanting an oxblood and a bottle green for structure.

Not for: Modern SaaS chrome — the pairing reads bound and printed.

News and media brands wanting a confident blue and an alert orange.

Not for: Calm products — this pairing signals urgency by default.

Consumer social features — reactions, streaks, light gamification.

Not for: Financial or medical data of any kind.

Retail promotions for younger audiences; sweet and unmistakably temporary.

Not for: Trust-building surfaces — payment, security, account recovery.

Record browsers with hundreds of rows and one selected state.

Not for: Data visualisation — the chroma ceiling is far too low.

Wellness and lifestyle brands that want warmth without sweetness.

Not for: Alerts — nothing here can raise its voice.

Kids' products and light onboarding; five tints, no dark anchor.

Not for: Body text — not one of these can carry a sentence.

Invitations and event pages with a gold too pale to be gaudy.

Not for: Screens read in sunlight — the range collapses under glare.

Long-running back ends where a green cast keeps the grey from going dead.

Not for: Success/failure semantics — the whole ground is already green.

Category tiles that need five equals rather than a hierarchy.

Not for: Body text on any of these — none is dark enough.

High-volume data entry where the interface should disappear.

Not for: Brand differentiation — this is deliberately anonymous.

Security and monitoring consoles that run warm instead of the usual blue glow.

Not for: Daylight data entry — the warm cast lowers text crispness under glare.

Monitoring walls left running all day; almost no chroma to fatigue the eye.

Not for: Marketing — there is nothing here that wants attention.

Navigation dashboards and progress maps where five series share one screen without colliding.

Not for: Marketing landing pages, where five strong data colours fight the one call to action.

Commerce landings where the coral is the button and nothing else.

Not for: Health interfaces — coral sits too near a danger red.

Minimal writing surfaces where the only real colour is the text.

Not for: Charts, dashboards, anything with a legend.

Creative tools aimed at beginners, where the toolbar is the fun part.

Not for: Colour-accurate work — the palette contaminates the canvas.

Sparklines and inline data that must read at very small sizes.

Not for: Large fills — at scale the set looks like a beach ball.

Long analytical sessions that still want a recognisable violet cast.

Not for: Financial red/green readouts — the violet cast bends both.

Inventory and dispatch views with a faint green so grey is not the whole story.

Not for: Success semantics — the ground is already the success colour.

Garden journals and nature essays: paper and ink with one green allowed to speak.

Not for: Charts — only the green carries weight, so no two series stand apart.

A launch page built around one violet that turns blue as it lifts.

Not for: Long sessions — this chroma is exhausting past a minute.

Stacked areas and maps; the lightness ladder survives greyscale printing.

Not for: Brand work — no one colour is allowed to lead.

Admin tables where colour is spent only on what needs action.

Not for: Marketing — there is no persuasion in this set.

Categorical comparisons where the categories have no natural order.

Not for: Sequential data — the hue jumps imply differences that are not there.

Photography portfolios where the chrome must vanish behind the work.

Not for: Charts, legends, and any five-way comparison.

Note-taking and drafting tools; a cream that does not glare at night.

Not for: Photography — the warm cast contaminates every image on it.

Kids apps and casual games where every step needs to pop.

Not for: Corporate dashboards, where the noise drowns the numbers.

Real-time readouts where warm and cool must both be present.

Not for: Danger semantics — a warm hue is already in the middle of the set.

Developer surfaces wanting a cast that is not the usual blue.

Not for: Anything selling — this palette has no closing argument.

A night-shift tool where the brightest step still sits below mid grey.

Not for: Any screen read in daylight — the top step is too dark to be a page.

Single-message pages where the top step is the page and the rest is type.

Not for: Anything needing a second accent — this palette allows one.

Print-inspired brand work with a vermilion that stays hot throughout.

Not for: Dark mode — the run has no upper neutral to become a surface.

Writing tools at night, where the page should be the lightest thing present.

Not for: Dashboards — five steps this dark cannot separate as data.

Dense gauges and small multiples read at a glance.

Not for: Long-form reading — nothing here is a text colour.

Stock and fulfilment screens that run all day on a warehouse monitor.

Not for: Small screens — the mid steps merge at phone brightness.

Empty states and illustrations where the art carries the screen.

Not for: Text on colour — every combination here fails contrast.

Festival and night-market brands where lantern gold leads and deep lagoon blue steadies it.

Not for: Clinical or financial products. The festival mood fights the brief.

Accounting screens; a warm grey so the figures do not look cold.

Not for: Charts — two of these steps are indistinguishable at 12px.

Chart legends with five entries that must survive being 12px squares.

Not for: Full-bleed backgrounds — every colour is mid-weight.

Empty states and success moments — light, and clearly not neutral.

Not for: Warning colours — the palette is already sitting on yellow.

Documentation sites; the near-white top step is the reading surface.

Not for: Brand pages — this palette refuses to raise its voice.

Poster-led layouts where all five colours appear at full size.

Not for: Small UI — none of these work below 24px.

In-car and low-light instrument panels; warm and deliberately dim.

Not for: Daylight-legible signage — nothing here survives glare.

Internal mailrooms and parcel desks, where one hue marks the delivered pile and the other the still waiting.

Not for: Marketing hero sections; the mid steps are too greyed out to carry a headline.

An opening screen that has to feel like somewhere warm within a second.

Not for: Long forms — this much saturation gets tiring by field four.

Archives and long documents; every step is a shade of the same paper.

Not for: Status systems — there is no colour left over for meaning.

Annotated and reviewed documents: ink, paper, and a correction red.

Not for: Error states — the red is already doing editorial duty.

Annotated manuscripts and study guides where the ink should feel like it was just written.

Not for: Long sessions — this chroma tires the eye past an hour of continuous reading.

Event and entertainment pages that should feel lit from behind.

Not for: Reading — the mid steps vibrate against body text.

Utilisation bars and heat rows across many rows at once.

Not for: Photography-led pages — the set overwhelms real images.

Public-service forms: a civic blue, a confirmation green, a clean sheet.

Not for: Playful products — this palette has a queue and a ticket number.

Product launches that want to look lit rather than printed.

Not for: Accessibility-first work — the light steps fail on white.

High-density text at small sizes, where any chroma becomes noise.

Not for: Consumer apps — it reads as a wire service.

Evening reading modes; the warm tilt is the point, not a defect.

Not for: Colour-critical work — everything is being pulled toward amber.

Media and player chrome that has to sit under artwork without fighting it.

Not for: Text-dense reading — the chroma climbs too fast at the mid steps.

Internal tools that should look issued rather than designed.

Not for: Consumer onboarding — it reads as somebody else's software.

High-end commerce where photography is the only saturated thing present.

Not for: Data-dense screens — no step separates from its neighbour.

Drawing and craft apps; the palette is a set of materials, not a theme.

Not for: Reporting — no two of these read as more or less than each other.

Long-form articles: two ink weights, a stock, and one blue for links.

Not for: Charts — there are only two usable series here.

Event and community pages that should look like a good afternoon.

Not for: Dense information — five equals with no anchor is hard to scan.

Finance back ends that need one blue for links and one amber for holds.

Not for: Emotional moments — nothing here celebrates anything.

Consumer sign-up flows aiming at warmth over authority.

Not for: Financial products — it reads soft, and soft reads unserious.

Minimal product sites where the type does every piece of the work.

Not for: Accessibility — the mid steps sit below AA against each other.

Education products for young readers; friendly without being loud.

Not for: Professional tools — it reads as a children's app immediately.

Engineering charts printed as often as they are viewed.

Not for: Consumer surfaces — it reads as a machine's output.

A hero that needs one loud red and something green to steady it.

Not for: Alert semantics — the loudest colour here is already spent.

Bold editorial covers where the colours are the illustration.

Not for: Product chrome — nothing here recedes.

Private clubs, publishers, and jewelers that want lamplight on paper.

Not for: Bright product grids: the deep step swallows thumbnails.

Reading apps that prefer a cool page over a cream one.

Not for: Warm imagery — the page fights every skin tone placed on it.

Private banking and advisory sites; green so faint it registers as grey.

Not for: Consumer fintech — it signals a minimum balance.

Book-length text where the page is warm and the ink is nearly black.

Not for: Anything needing a call to action — no step steps forward.

Multi-metric panels that need five equals and no favourite.

Not for: Storytelling — a chart palette has no narrative order.

Archive and audit tools; a cool grey with the faintest plum in it.

Not for: Charts, hero sections, anywhere colour must lead.

Fashion and gallery sites where the product supplies all the colour.

Not for: Charts — the whole set is inside one perceptual step.

Comparison tables where each column carries its own colour.

Not for: Semantic states — none of these hues means anything yet.

Light consumer surfaces that want colour without a single strong voice.

Not for: Accessibility-critical work — every step is a pale tint.

Announcement pages: one gold, one violet, one sheet of paper.

Not for: Multi-brand systems — this is too particular to host others.

Light seasonal skins layered over an existing neutral product.

Not for: Permanent brand identity — this is a coat of paint.

A five-series line chart where the reader must never trace the wrong line.

Not for: Page chrome — these are data colours, too loud for furniture.

Considered SaaS marketing that wants to look expensive, not loud.

Not for: Playful features — this palette has no sense of humour.

Code and log surfaces where syntax colour has to sit on top and win.

Not for: Anywhere the palette itself is supposed to be the personality.

Dark luxury: a low-key warm grey for spirits, watches, and members' clubs.

Not for: Broad consumer products — it reads exclusive by design.

Scientific plots that need maximum separation across a wide set.

Not for: Anything subtle — this is a test pattern, not a mood.

Dense CRUD interfaces where every row must look identical.

Not for: Anything hierarchical — the steps are too close to rank.

Badge and reward moments where colour is decoration, not signal.

Not for: Anything needing contrast — every step fails against white.

Portfolio and studio sites pairing a deep violet with a raw yellow.

Not for: Data — two loud families cannot also be a legend.

Control-room interfaces that want depth without going fully monochrome.

Not for: Health and safety states — the teal reads as calm even at alert.

Seasonal campaigns; reads as canvas and sunlight rather than as UI.

Not for: Year-round product chrome — it dates the screen to one season.

Onboarding runs where every step should feel lighter than the last.

Not for: Dark mode — there is no dark anchor to invert to.

Travel and lifestyle heroes; warm foreground against a cool distance.

Not for: Dense tables — two strong families make rows hard to scan.

Dispatch consoles and ops dashboards where a dark, warm-neutral ground keeps indicator lamps readable for hours.

Not for: Print and daylight documents, where the dark anchor turns into ink soup on paper.

Bold app opens that want to travel from orange into gold on one run.

Not for: Text-heavy pages — the chroma never drops enough to read against.

Dark-mode dashboards; the set is pitched below the ground it sits on.

Not for: Light backgrounds — the darkest steps disappear into the border.

Family and household products that want warmth over polish.

Not for: Enterprise sales pages — it undercuts the price.

Evening event landing pages where a violet sky holds the hero and the green mid keeps the body copy readable.

Not for: Long reading sessions. The saturation keeps tugging the eye away from the text.

Premium long-form with a page just off white and ink just off black.

Not for: Dark mode — inverting this loses the whole material story.

Operations and logistics screens built for scanning, not dwelling.

Not for: Brand pages — no step here wants to be photographed.

Bright product grids where each card needs its own identity.

Not for: Anything sober; this is a fruit stand, not a bank.