Functional Palettes, Picked to Do a Job

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Functional palettes

Palettes chosen to do a job, with the real numbers behind them.

Every other shelf in this catalogue picks colours for how they feel. These ten are picked for what they have to do: be read at a distance, stay apart for a colour blind reader, sit under somebody else's logo, or run on a screen in a dark room. That makes them the only palettes here with a pass mark, so the numbers on these pages are real ones. The contrast ratios are measured against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and the hex values come from published sets rather than from taste.

Seen by everyone

3

Three palettes built around a reader, not a subject. Two of them carry a measured pass mark and the third trades one away on purpose.

High Contrast: A near-black ground with white, yellow and cyan on it, every pair well past 7 to 1.
High Contrast
A near-black ground with white, yellow and cyan on it, every pair well past 7 to 1.
Colour Blind Safe: Six hues from the Okabe and Ito set, which stay apart for the common kinds of colour blindness.
Colour Blind Safe
Six hues from the Okabe and Ito set, which stay apart for the common kinds of colour blindness.
Night Safe Red: Deep reds on pure black, so a reader keeps their dark adapted eyes.
Night Safe Red
Deep reds on pure black, so a reader keeps their dark adapted eyes.

Interfaces and data

3

Three palettes made for a screen. One is the room the interface sits in, and two are the rules a chart has to obey before anybody can read it.

Dark Interface: Three near-black surfaces, two greys of text and one cool accent.
Dark Interface
Three near-black surfaces, two greys of text and one cool accent.
Categorical Data: Six unrelated hues held at one depth, for six things that have no order.
Categorical Data
Six unrelated hues held at one depth, for six things that have no order.
Sequential Data: One hue in six even steps, pale to deep, for a number that goes up.
Sequential Data
One hue in six even steps, pale to deep, for a number that goes up.

Selling something

4

Four palettes that have to work for a business. Each one is a convention, and each convention exists because breaking it costs money.

Brand Safe Neutrals: Six warm neutrals, pale to near-black, that sit under anybody's logo.
Brand Safe Neutrals
Six warm neutrals, pale to near-black, that sit under anybody's logo.
Clinical White: Cool whites and pale blue greys, with one green for the instrument.
Clinical White
Cool whites and pale blue greys, with one green for the instrument.
Food Warm: Creams, honey ambers and roasted browns, with one green for something fresh.
Food Warm
Creams, honey ambers and roasted browns, with one green for something fresh.
Two Ink Duotone: Two inks and the paper, plus the third colour where the two cross.
Two Ink Duotone
Two inks and the paper, plus the third colour where the two cross.

Run one of them

Copy a palette into a prompt and pay for that one run. No subscription.

Open an image model

Other palette groups

Colour harmonyThe ways to choose a set of colours, and the wording that gets each one.10 harmony schemesPeriod palettesThe sets of colours that date a picture, and the wording for each one.15 period palettesScreen palettesThe palettes from film and television, and the wording for each one.12 screen palettesNature and materialPalettes taken from landscapes and materials, with the words for each.12 natural palettes
Print stylesDesigning the whole poster rather than choosing its colours? The same reference, for ink on paper.

A set of colours picked to do a job rather than to set a mood: to be read at a distance, to stay apart for a colour blind reader, to sit under a logo, or to rank a number on a map.