Colours that go with green

Chapter 2 · Five plates with green

Chapter 2 · From the bookHaishoku Sōkan · 1933

From the book

The two Wada combinations that contain the book colours closest to green, measured in Lab. They have been in use for almost a century: the harmony is already proven.

135

Sulphur Yellow, Cossack Green, Salvia Blue

#f8f0c8 · #43763b · #a3b3cf

Light · button 3:1Warm and coolIts page →Open →

262

Eugenia Red | B, Ivory Buff, Citron Yellow, Cossack Green

#d84c5a · #efd8a8 · #b9b826 · #43763b

Light · button 3:1Warm and coolIts page →Open →

Chapter 2 · By ruleNamed harmonies

By rule

Three plates built from green with a rule that can be explained: the opposite, the neighbours or a single hue with an accent. None of them comes from a roll of the dice.

R·01

Complementary

#4f7a3a · #41254f · #f0f5ee · #2e2035

The starting green and the one opposite it on the wheel, plus a light neutral and a dark version for background and text.

Dark · button 3:1All coolOpen →

R·02

Analogous

#8b9757 · #4f7a3a · #24582d · #f0f5ee

The starting green and its two neighbours on the wheel, plus a neutral that lets them breathe.

Light · button 4.6:1All coolOpen →

R·03

Monochrome with accent

#1e3513 · #4f7a3a · #dfedd9 · #442154

One hue in three lights and a small accent opposite it.

Dark · button 3:1All coolOpen →

Strip: the colours in equal parts, as in kimono sample books. It is the quickest reading for comparing.

Plate 01 of 05 · Wada combination 135

All five ↑

The plate, as printedHaishoku Sōkan · 1933

Wada combination 135

Sulphur Yellow#f8f0c8
Cossack Green#43763b
Salvia Blue#a3b3cf

It contains a colour very close to the starting green (Cossack Green) and has been in use for almost a century. The original colours are called Sulphur Yellow · Cossack Green · Salvia Blue.

3 colours in equal parts, as in the book. It is the inspiration, not the interface. Click one to copy it.

See this combination →

Plate · MixesThree parts to one

The three colours, mixed two by two

3 parts sulphur yellow1 part cossack green
3 parts cossack green1 part salvia blue
3 parts salvia blue1 part sulphur yellow
3 parts sulphur yellow1 part salvia blue
3 parts cossack green1 part sulphur yellow
3 parts salvia blue1 part cossack green

This is where the in-betweens the plate doesn’t carry come from: borders, card backgrounds, disabled states. The mix is done in OKLab, which is closer to mixing paint than to averaging numbers. Click the result to copy it.

On screen · the split60 · 30 · 10

Adapted for screen

The same hue as the plate with the lightness moved to where an interface needs it: the background rests, the surface keeps the colour from the book and the accent earns the button. Each role says which colour it comes from and what was done to it. Click any to copy.

60% BackgroundWhere the eye rests: most of the screen. The plate's #f8f0c8, lightened.
30% SurfaceCards, bands, headers. This is where the book's colour lives. The plate's #f8f0c8, darkened.
10% AccentOnly what gets clicked. The plate's #a3b3cf, darkened.

The roles the plate doesn’t carry

Measured, before and after

On the plate, the best pair of colours reads at 4.7:1: AA, it reads.Passes
On screen, the text #1f261d on the background #f9f5e4 gives 14.1:1: AAA, reads with room to spare. APCA gives Lc 96: good for small text, the kind you read a paragraph of.Passes
The accent #7e8ea9 stands 3.0:1 from the background (a button needs 3:1) and as a link reaches 4.6:1 (a word needs 4.5:1).Passes
Under protanopia, your accent and your background drop to 2.9:1. The button stops standing out: give it a border, change the lightness, or don't rely on colour alone to mark it.Falls short

Out in the worldAdapted

This is the plate with a whole screen to fill.

This paragraph is here so you can see real text on a real background, which is where half of the pretty palettes fall over. If it's hard to read, now you know. And this is a link.

A card

Secondary surfaces use the support colour. If it doesn't separate from the background, the hierarchy is gone.

Adapted: the background rests, the surface keeps the plate’s colour and the accent earns the button.

How to use it

ProportionDistribute, don't equalise: #f9f5e4 on 60% of the screen, #e7dfb7 on 30% (cards, bands, headers) and #7e8ea9 on 10%, only on buttons and links. A colour loses force the more surface it covers; what looks intense on the plate softens at full screen.
TextBody text goes in #1f261d, a near-neutral ink tinted with the palette's hue, even though the plate had a pair that read: a saturated colour as text tires by the third line. The book's colour enters through the heading, in #43763b, where size forgives.
The buttonThe accent #7e8ea9 stands 3.0:1 apart from the background: it works as a button, with text in #1f261d.
TemperatureWarm and cool together: let one lead and the other point. Here the background #e7dfb7 leads, and the accent #7e8ea9 is the first thing the eye will look for.
How manyThree colours is the comfortable measure: background, text and one accent. Don't add a fourth unless it earns its place by contrast or by hue.
In the dictionaryIn the dictionary it sits among the contrasting-hue sets: hues deliberately set against each other. The contrast is already there; don't force it with shadows or blacks. It is one of the mixed-light ones: it already brings hierarchy. Keep it on screen: lightest at the back, darkest in front.

The kit · ramps and statesFor the design system

The kit

A brand needs four colours; an interface needs a good deal more. This is what you'd otherwise invent by hand once you take four hex codes into the editor.

Click any swatch to copy it.

The accent’s tints

The neutrals, tinted with the accent

Button states and alerts

The kit · night and code135

The same plate, at night

The same colour, at night.

The background isn’t pure black: it carries a little of the accent’s hue. That’s what separates a designed dark mode from one that looks like a fault.

A button

Take it with you

/* Wada combination 135 — bluenze.com/paletas */
:root {
  --fondo: #f9f5e4;
  --superficie: #e7dfb7;
  --texto: #1f261d;
  --tinta: #1f261d;
  --texto-suave: #5d665a;
  --titular: #43763b;
  --acento: #7e8ea9;
  --acento-texto: #1f261d;
  --enlace: #606f89;
  --borde: #d6d2be;

  /* la lámina de Wada, tal cual */
  --lamina-1: #f8f0c8;
  --lamina-2: #43763b;
  --lamina-3: #a3b3cf;

  --acento-50: #f4f6fb;
  --acento-100: #e7ebf3;
  --acento-200: #d1d7e5;
  --acento-300: #b5bfd2;
  --acento-400: #96a4bc;
  --acento-500: #7e8ea9;
  --acento-600: #61708a;
  --acento-700: #4a586e;
  --acento-800: #354052;
  --acento-900: #222a38;
  --neutro-50: #f6f6f8;
  --neutro-100: #eaebee;
  --neutro-200: #d5d7db;
  --neutro-300: #bbbec4;
  --neutro-400: #9fa3ab;
  --neutro-500: #858991;
  --neutro-600: #6c7078;
  --neutro-700: #54575e;
  --neutro-800: #3d4045;
  --neutro-900: #282a2e;

  --boton: #7e8ea9;
  --boton-encima: #6c7c96;
  --boton-pulsado: #5f6a7e;
  --boton-apagado: #d1d3d8;
  --foco: #638fc8;

  --exito: #457942;
  --aviso: #9e8b48;
  --error: #a45747;
  --info: #3670ac;
}

@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --fondo: #1f2226;
    --superficie: #2b2e34;
    --borde: #43474e;
    --texto: #eceef1;
    --tinta: #eceef1;
    --texto-suave: #afb1b4;
    --acento: #8797b2;
    --acento-texto: #222427;
  }
}

Open the card →Post on LinkedIn →

Goethe’s readingWhat it conveys

What this combination conveys, and why.

Wada tells you which colours go together. Goethe, a century earlier, explains why a combination means something or means nothing, and what each colour does depending on how much of the screen it takes. His circle has six colours and three oppositions, and every verdict below carries the paragraph it comes from.

What it conveys, by where each colour landed

The palette crosses both sides of the circle, active and passive. It carries the most tension and most needs one of the two to lead.

Surface · yellow
Yellow across a large surface is a gamble. It is the least forgiving colour: the slightest drift towards green turns gold into dirt, and on screen that drift is supplied by compression or a gradient. § 770
Accent · blue
Blue recedes, and an accent is asked to do the opposite. As a link it only has to be distinguishable; as a primary button it needs contrast to do the work the colour will not. § 781
Heading · green
Green is the colour of rest, so as an accent it points at nothing: the eye accepts it and moves on. If this palette needs something to stop the eye, this is not it. § 802

How each pair readsZur Farbenlehre · 1810

How each pair reads on the circle

Adjacent #f8f0c8 · #43763b
Adjacent on the circle, with nothing between them. Ordinary and agreeable: it says little, and it does not offend. § 829
Characteristic #f8f0c8 · #a3b3cf
Yellow and blue, with green skipped. Goethe finds it poor: red is missing, and the nearness of green leaves it slight. § 819
Adjacent #43763b · #a3b3cf
Adjacent on the circle. This is the one pair Goethe dismisses outright, and that judgement does not hold today — teal is well liked. What does hold is the measurable half: two neighbours with no difference in lightness produce no contrast. § 829

Criteria taken from Zur Farbenlehre (1810), in Eastlake's 1840 translation, which is public domain. The explanations are ours: from a book you take the substance, not the wording. The light values usually credited to Goethe for working out surface proportions are not in the Farbenlehre — they are Itten's, 1961, and that is how they are credited in the adaptation rules.

Plate 02 of 05 · Wada combination 262

All five ↑

The plate, as printedHaishoku Sōkan · 1933

Wada combination 262

Eugenia Red | B#d84c5a
Ivory Buff#efd8a8
Citron Yellow#b9b826
Cossack Green#43763b

It contains a colour very close to the starting green (Cossack Green) and has been in use for almost a century. The original colours are called Eugenia Red | B · Ivory Buff · Citron Yellow · Cossack Green.

4 colours in equal parts, as in the book. It is the inspiration, not the interface. Click one to copy it.

See this combination →

Plate · MixesThree parts to one

The four colours, mixed two by two

3 parts eugenia red | b1 part ivory buff
3 parts ivory buff1 part citron yellow
3 parts citron yellow1 part cossack green
3 parts cossack green1 part eugenia red | b
3 parts eugenia red | b1 part citron yellow
3 parts ivory buff1 part cossack green
3 parts citron yellow1 part eugenia red | b
3 parts cossack green1 part ivory buff
3 parts eugenia red | b1 part cossack green
3 parts ivory buff1 part eugenia red | b
3 parts citron yellow1 part ivory buff
3 parts cossack green1 part citron yellow

This is where the in-betweens the plate doesn’t carry come from: borders, card backgrounds, disabled states. The mix is done in OKLab, which is closer to mixing paint than to averaging numbers. Click the result to copy it.

On screen · the split60 · 30 · 10

Adapted for screen

The same hue as the plate with the lightness moved to where an interface needs it: the background rests, the surface keeps the colour from the book and the accent earns the button. Each role says which colour it comes from and what was done to it. Click any to copy.

60% BackgroundWhere the eye rests: most of the screen. The plate's #efd8a8, lightened.
30% SurfaceCards, bands, headers. This is where the book's colour lives. From the plate, as is (#efd8a8).
10% AccentOnly what gets clicked. The plate's #b9b826, darkened.

The roles the plate doesn’t carry

Measured, before and after

On the plate, the best pair of colours reads at 3.8:1: only good for large text.Falls short
On screen, the text #1f261d on the background #fdf4e4 gives 14.2:1: AAA, reads with room to spare. APCA gives Lc 96: good for small text, the kind you read a paragraph of.Passes
The accent #929202 stands 3.0:1 from the background (a button needs 3:1) and as a link reaches 4.6:1 (a word needs 4.5:1).Passes

Out in the worldAdapted

This is the plate with a whole screen to fill.

This paragraph is here so you can see real text on a real background, which is where half of the pretty palettes fall over. If it's hard to read, now you know. And this is a link.

A card

Secondary surfaces use the support colour. If it doesn't separate from the background, the hierarchy is gone.

Adapted: the background rests, the surface keeps the plate’s colour and the accent earns the button.

How to use it

ProportionDistribute, don't equalise: #fdf4e4 on 60% of the screen, #efd8a8 on 30% (cards, bands, headers) and #929202 on 10%, only on buttons and links. A colour loses force the more surface it covers; what looks intense on the plate softens at full screen.
TextNo pair on the plate read as text (the best gave 3.8:1). That is why body text goes in #1f261d, a near-neutral ink tinted with the palette's hue: it is not in the book, and it is needed.
The buttonThe accent #929202 stands 3.0:1 apart from the background: it works as a button, with text in #1f261d.
TemperatureWarm and cool together: let one lead and the other point. Here the background #efd8a8 leads, and the accent #929202 is the first thing the eye will look for.
How manyFour colours demand discipline: #efd8a8 and #43763b are the base, the other two are detail. If in doubt, drop the support colour before the accent.
In the dictionaryIn the dictionary it sits among the tone-on-tone sets: colours from one family. Hierarchy comes from light, not hue, so order elements from lightest to darkest. It is one of the pale ones: muted tones that get along; running text needs an ink from outside, near black.

The kit · ramps and statesFor the design system

The kit

A brand needs four colours; an interface needs a good deal more. This is what you'd otherwise invent by hand once you take four hex codes into the editor.

Click any swatch to copy it.

The accent’s tints

The neutrals, tinted with the accent

Button states and alerts

The kit · night and code262

The same plate, at night

The same colour, at night.

The background isn’t pure black: it carries a little of the accent’s hue. That’s what separates a designed dark mode from one that looks like a fault.

A button

Take it with you

/* Wada combination 262 — bluenze.com/paletas */
:root {
  --fondo: #fdf4e4;
  --superficie: #efd8a8;
  --texto: #1f261d;
  --tinta: #1f261d;
  --texto-suave: #5d665a;
  --titular: #43763b;
  --acento: #929202;
  --acento-texto: #1f261d;
  --enlace: #727305;
  --borde: #dcd0bb;
  --apoyo-1: #d84c5a;

  /* la lámina de Wada, tal cual */
  --lamina-1: #d84c5a;
  --lamina-2: #efd8a8;
  --lamina-3: #b9b826;
  --lamina-4: #43763b;

  --acento-50: #faf7e3;
  --acento-100: #f1ecca;
  --acento-200: #dfd9a1;
  --acento-300: #c7c171;
  --acento-400: #aaa73d;
  --acento-500: #929202;
  --acento-600: #747307;
  --acento-700: #5a5a02;
  --acento-800: #424202;
  --acento-900: #2d2b01;
  --neutro-50: #f7f6f5;
  --neutro-100: #ebebe8;
  --neutro-200: #d8d7d3;
  --neutro-300: #bfbeb8;
  --neutro-400: #a5a39c;
  --neutro-500: #8b8980;
  --neutro-600: #717067;
  --neutro-700: #585750;
  --neutro-800: #41403a;
  --neutro-900: #2b2a26;

  --boton: #929202;
  --boton-encima: #807f0a;
  --boton-pulsado: #6e6d08;
  --boton-apagado: #d7d4c1;
  --foco: #92920c;

  --exito: #097f20;
  --aviso: #a38a0a;
  --error: #c1412e;
  --info: #0870ba;
}

@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --fondo: #232215;
    --superficie: #302f1f;
    --borde: #4a4734;
    --texto: #f0eee4;
    --tinta: #f0eee4;
    --texto-suave: #b3b1a6;
    --acento: #9b9b14;
    --acento-texto: #252419;
  }
}

Open the card →Post on LinkedIn →

Goethe’s readingWhat it conveys

What this combination conveys, and why.

Wada tells you which colours go together. Goethe, a century earlier, explains why a combination means something or means nothing, and what each colour does depending on how much of the screen it takes. His circle has six colours and three oppositions, and every verdict below carries the paragraph it comes from.

What it conveys, by where each colour landed

The whole palette sits on the active side of the circle: the colours that advance, warm and push outward.

Surface · yellow
Yellow across a large surface is a gamble. It is the least forgiving colour: the slightest drift towards green turns gold into dirt, and on screen that drift is supplied by compression or a gradient. § 770
Accent · yellow
Yellow points, but it loses the moment the ground stops being smooth and bright. On screen that means shadows, gradients and small type on top. § 771
Heading · green
Green is the colour of rest, so as an accent it points at nothing: the eye accepts it and moves on. If this palette needs something to stop the eye, this is not it. § 802

How each pair readsZur Farbenlehre · 1810

How each pair reads on the circle

Characteristic #d84c5a · #efd8a8
Yellow and red, with orange skipped between them. The characteristic pair he thinks best: serene and magnificent. § 820
Characteristic #d84c5a · #b9b826
Yellow and red, with orange skipped between them. The characteristic pair he thinks best: serene and magnificent. § 820
Opposite #d84c5a · #43763b
Opposite on the circle: together they complete what the eye asks for on its own. It is the only category Goethe approves without reservation. § 810
Same sector #efd8a8 · #b9b826
Both fall in the same sector of the circle. There is no hue contrast, so whatever separates them will have to be lightness. § 832
This verdict is ours. Goethe judges four of the six pairs in this group and says so himself, or one of the two colours sits right between two sectors of the circle.
Adjacent #efd8a8 · #43763b
Adjacent on the circle, with nothing between them. Ordinary and agreeable: it says little, and it does not offend. § 829
Adjacent #b9b826 · #43763b
Adjacent on the circle, with nothing between them. Ordinary and agreeable: it says little, and it does not offend. § 829

Criteria taken from Zur Farbenlehre (1810), in Eastlake's 1840 translation, which is public domain. The explanations are ours: from a book you take the substance, not the wording. The light values usually credited to Goethe for working out surface proportions are not in the Farbenlehre — they are Itten's, 1961, and that is how they are credited in the adaptation rules.

Plate 03 of 05 · Complementary

All five ↑

The plate, as printedRule of harmony · not in the book

Complementary

Support#4f7a3a
Accent#41254f
Text#f0f5ee
Background#2e2035

The starting green and the one opposite it on the wheel, plus a light neutral and a dark version for background and text. For brands that want attention: the accent jumps out because the eye reads it as the opposite of everything else.

The colours the rule gives, raw and in equal parts. It is the starting point, not the interface. Click one to copy it.

Plate · MixesThree parts to one

The four colours, mixed two by two

3 parts #4f7a3a1 part #41254f
3 parts #41254f1 part #f0f5ee
3 parts #f0f5ee1 part #2e2035
3 parts #2e20351 part #4f7a3a
3 parts #4f7a3a1 part #f0f5ee
3 parts #41254f1 part #2e2035
3 parts #f0f5ee1 part #4f7a3a
3 parts #2e20351 part #41254f
3 parts #4f7a3a1 part #2e2035
3 parts #41254f1 part #4f7a3a
3 parts #f0f5ee1 part #41254f
3 parts #2e20351 part #f0f5ee

This is where the in-betweens the plate doesn’t carry come from: borders, card backgrounds, disabled states. The mix is done in OKLab, which is closer to mixing paint than to averaging numbers. Click the result to copy it.

On screen · the split60 · 30 · 10

Adapted for screen

60% BackgroundWhere the eye rests: most of the screen. The plate's #2e2035, darkened.
30% SurfaceCards, bands, headers. This is where the book's colour lives. The plate's #2e2035, lightened.
10% AccentOnly what gets clicked. The plate's #41254f, lightened.

The roles the plate doesn’t carry

Measured, before and after

On the plate, the best pair of colours reads at 13.8:1: AAA, reads with room to spare.Passes
On screen, the text #edeeed on the background #252027 gives 13.7:1: AAA, reads with room to spare. APCA gives Lc 94: good for small text, the kind you read a paragraph of.Passes
The accent #816190 stands 3.0:1 from the background (a button needs 3:1) and as a link reaches 4.7:1 (a word needs 4.5:1).Passes

Out in the worldAdapted

This is the plate with a whole screen to fill.

This paragraph is here so you can see real text on a real background, which is where half of the pretty palettes fall over. If it's hard to read, now you know. And this is a link.

A card

Secondary surfaces use the support colour. If it doesn't separate from the background, the hierarchy is gone.

Adapted: the background rests, the surface keeps the plate’s colour and the accent earns the button.

How to use it

ProportionDistribute, don't equalise: #252027 on 60% of the screen, #3b2d42 on 30% (cards, bands, headers) and #816190 on 10%, only on buttons and links. A colour loses force the more surface it covers; what looks intense on the plate softens at full screen.
TextBody text goes in #edeeed, a near-neutral ink tinted with the palette's hue, even though the plate had a pair that read: a saturated colour as text tires by the third line. The book's colour enters through the heading, in #f0f5ee, where size forgives.
The buttonThe accent #816190 stands 3.0:1 apart from the background: it works as a button, with text in #f9f5fb.
TemperatureAll cool: orderly and serious. So it doesn't feel distant, leave plenty of air and use the accent generously on whatever you want touched.
How manyFour colours demand discipline: #3b2d42 and #edeeed are the base, the other two are detail. If in doubt, drop the support colour before the accent.

The kit · ramps and statesFor the design system

The kit

A brand needs four colours; an interface needs a good deal more. This is what you'd otherwise invent by hand once you take four hex codes into the editor.

Click any swatch to copy it.

The accent’s tints

The neutrals, tinted with the accent

Button states and alerts

The kit · night and codeR·01

The same plate, by day

The same colour, by day.

The palette is born dark; this is its light version. The background is not pure white: it carries a little of its hue, just as the dark one was not black.

A button

Take it with you

/* Complementary — bluenze.com/paletas */
:root {
  --fondo: #252027;
  --superficie: #3b2d42;
  --texto: #edeeed;
  --tinta: #edeeed;
  --texto-suave: #b0b1b0;
  --titular: #f0f5ee;
  --acento: #816190;
  --acento-texto: #f9f5fb;
  --enlace: #a180b0;
  --borde: #4b454e;
  --apoyo-1: #4f7a3a;

  /* la lámina, tal cual */
  --lamina-1: #4f7a3a;
  --lamina-2: #41254f;
  --lamina-3: #f0f5ee;
  --lamina-4: #2e2035;

  --acento-50: #fbf4fd;
  --acento-100: #f2e7f6;
  --acento-200: #e2d1e9;
  --acento-300: #ceb6d8;
  --acento-400: #b699c4;
  --acento-500: #9e7dad;
  --acento-600: #816190;
  --acento-700: #684d75;
  --acento-800: #4d3858;
  --acento-900: #34243c;
  --neutro-50: #f7f6f7;
  --neutro-100: #eceaed;
  --neutro-200: #d9d6da;
  --neutro-300: #c1bdc2;
  --neutro-400: #a6a1a8;
  --neutro-500: #8d878f;
  --neutro-600: #736e75;
  --neutro-700: #5a565c;
  --neutro-800: #423f44;
  --neutro-900: #2c292d;

  --boton: #816190;
  --boton-encima: #9372a3;
  --boton-pulsado: #a386b1;
  --boton-apagado: #3c373e;
  --foco: #8b58a5;

  --exito: #83b87e;
  --aviso: #cbb570;
  --error: #ea9582;
  --info: #7daef0;
}

@media (prefers-color-scheme: light) {
  :root {
    --fondo: #f9f3fb;
    --superficie: #eee5f1;
    --borde: #d9cedd;
    --texto: #262228;
    --tinta: #262228;
    --texto-suave: #676169;
    --acento: #816190;
    --acento-texto: #f9f5fa;
  }
}

Open the card →Post on LinkedIn →

Goethe’s readingWhat it conveys

What this combination conveys, and why.

Wada tells you which colours go together. Goethe, a century earlier, explains why a combination means something or means nothing, and what each colour does depending on how much of the screen it takes. His circle has six colours and three oppositions, and every verdict below carries the paragraph it comes from.

What it conveys, by where each colour landed

The whole palette sits on the passive side: the colours that recede, cool and draw the eye inward.

Surface · violet
Goethe puts it bluntly: a large surface of pure violet would be intolerable. It holds up here because the screen adaptation has taken the chroma down. On the plate, at full saturation, it would not. § 790
Accent · violet
The violet that would be intolerable as a background works in a border or a button. Same colour, different dose: this is a rule about surface, not about hue. § 790

How each pair readsZur Farbenlehre · 1810

How each pair reads on the circle

Characteristic #4f7a3a · #41254f
Characteristic by geometry — there is a colour skipped between the two. But Goethe judges only four pairs in this group, and this is not one of them. § 823
This verdict is ours. Goethe judges four of the six pairs in this group and says so himself, or one of the two colours sits right between two sectors of the circle.
With a neutral #4f7a3a · #f0f5ee
A neutral with a colour that has no side on the circle. Goethe has nothing to say here. § 831
Characteristic #4f7a3a · #2e2035
Characteristic by geometry — there is a colour skipped between the two. But Goethe judges only four pairs in this group, and this is not one of them. § 823
This verdict is ours. Goethe judges four of the six pairs in this group and says so himself, or one of the two colours sits right between two sectors of the circle.
With a neutral #41254f · #f0f5ee
Next to white, a colour from the passive side gains in liveliness. § 831
Same sector #41254f · #2e2035
Both fall in the same sector of the circle. There is no hue contrast, so whatever separates them will have to be lightness. § 832
This verdict is ours. Goethe judges four of the six pairs in this group and says so himself, or one of the two colours sits right between two sectors of the circle.
With a neutral #f0f5ee · #2e2035
Next to white, a colour from the passive side gains in liveliness. § 831

Criteria taken from Zur Farbenlehre (1810), in Eastlake's 1840 translation, which is public domain. The explanations are ours: from a book you take the substance, not the wording. The light values usually credited to Goethe for working out surface proportions are not in the Farbenlehre — they are Itten's, 1961, and that is how they are credited in the adaptation rules.

Plate 04 of 05 · Analogous

All five ↑

The plate, as printedRule of harmony · not in the book

Analogous

Support#8b9757
Accent#4f7a3a
Text#24582d
Background#f0f5ee

The starting green and its two neighbours on the wheel, plus a neutral that lets them breathe. For calm brands: everything looks like one family and nothing shouts.

The colours the rule gives, raw and in equal parts. It is the starting point, not the interface. Click one to copy it.

Plate · MixesThree parts to one

The four colours, mixed two by two

3 parts #8b97571 part #4f7a3a
3 parts #4f7a3a1 part #24582d
3 parts #24582d1 part #f0f5ee
3 parts #f0f5ee1 part #8b9757
3 parts #8b97571 part #24582d
3 parts #4f7a3a1 part #f0f5ee
3 parts #24582d1 part #8b9757
3 parts #f0f5ee1 part #4f7a3a
3 parts #8b97571 part #f0f5ee
3 parts #4f7a3a1 part #8b9757
3 parts #24582d1 part #4f7a3a
3 parts #f0f5ee1 part #24582d

This is where the in-betweens the plate doesn’t carry come from: borders, card backgrounds, disabled states. The mix is done in OKLab, which is closer to mixing paint than to averaging numbers. Click the result to copy it.

On screen · the split60 · 30 · 10

Adapted for screen

60% BackgroundWhere the eye rests: most of the screen. The plate's #f0f5ee, lightened.
30% SurfaceCards, bands, headers. This is where the book's colour lives. The plate's #f0f5ee, darkened.
10% AccentOnly what gets clicked. From the plate, as is (#4f7a3a).

The roles the plate doesn’t carry

Measured, before and after

On the plate, the best pair of colours reads at 7.5:1: AAA, reads with room to spare.Passes
On screen, the text #1e251f on the background #f3f6f2 gives 14.3:1: AAA, reads with room to spare. APCA gives Lc 97: good for small text, the kind you read a paragraph of.Passes
The accent #4f7a3a stands 4.6:1 from the background (a button needs 3:1) and as a link reaches 4.6:1 (a word needs 4.5:1).Passes

Out in the worldAdapted

This is the plate with a whole screen to fill.

This paragraph is here so you can see real text on a real background, which is where half of the pretty palettes fall over. If it's hard to read, now you know. And this is a link.

A card

Secondary surfaces use the support colour. If it doesn't separate from the background, the hierarchy is gone.

Adapted: the background rests, the surface keeps the plate’s colour and the accent earns the button.

How to use it

ProportionDistribute, don't equalise: #f3f6f2 on 60% of the screen, #dfe4dd on 30% (cards, bands, headers) and #4f7a3a on 10%, only on buttons and links. A colour loses force the more surface it covers; what looks intense on the plate softens at full screen.
TextBody text goes in #1e251f, a near-neutral ink tinted with the palette's hue, even though the plate had a pair that read: a saturated colour as text tires by the third line. The book's colour enters through the heading, in #24582d, where size forgives.
The buttonThe accent #4f7a3a stands 4.6:1 apart from the background: it works as a button, with text in #f6f7f5.
TemperatureAll cool: orderly and serious. So it doesn't feel distant, leave plenty of air and use the accent generously on whatever you want touched.
How manyFour colours demand discipline: #dfe4dd and #24582d are the base, the other two are detail. If in doubt, drop the support colour before the accent.

The kit · ramps and statesFor the design system

The kit

A brand needs four colours; an interface needs a good deal more. This is what you'd otherwise invent by hand once you take four hex codes into the editor.

Click any swatch to copy it.

The accent’s tints

The neutrals, tinted with the accent

Button states and alerts

The kit · night and codeR·02

The same plate, at night

The same colour, at night.

The background isn’t pure black: it carries a little of the accent’s hue. That’s what separates a designed dark mode from one that looks like a fault.

A button

Take it with you

/* Analogous — bluenze.com/paletas */
:root {
  --fondo: #f3f6f2;
  --superficie: #dfe4dd;
  --texto: #1e251f;
  --tinta: #1e251f;
  --texto-suave: #5c665c;
  --titular: #24582d;
  --acento: #4f7a3a;
  --acento-texto: #f6f7f5;
  --enlace: #4f7a3a;
  --borde: #d0d2cf;
  --apoyo-1: #8b9757;

  /* la lámina, tal cual */
  --lamina-1: #8b9757;
  --lamina-2: #4f7a3a;
  --lamina-3: #24582d;
  --lamina-4: #f0f5ee;

  --acento-50: #f2f9ed;
  --acento-100: #e2efda;
  --acento-200: #c9ddbc;
  --acento-300: #aac799;
  --acento-400: #88ae73;
  --acento-500: #699452;
  --acento-600: #4f7a3a;
  --acento-700: #3c602a;
  --acento-800: #2a471c;
  --acento-900: #192f0e;
  --neutro-50: #f6f7f5;
  --neutro-100: #eaebe9;
  --neutro-200: #d5d8d4;
  --neutro-300: #bcbfba;
  --neutro-400: #a0a49d;
  --neutro-500: #858a82;
  --neutro-600: #6c7169;
  --neutro-700: #545852;
  --neutro-800: #3e413c;
  --neutro-900: #282b27;

  --boton: #4f7a3a;
  --boton-encima: #3e682a;
  --boton-pulsado: #315620;
  --boton-apagado: #aeb5aa;
  --foco: #397e1d;

  --exito: #41793f;
  --aviso: #9f8a42;
  --error: #a85545;
  --info: #2b70b1;
}

@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --fondo: #1c2418;
    --superficie: #283123;
    --borde: #3f4a39;
    --texto: #ebefe8;
    --tinta: #ebefe8;
    --texto-suave: #adb2aa;
    --acento: #76a25f;
    --acento-texto: #20251e;
  }
}

Open the card →Post on LinkedIn →

Goethe’s readingWhat it conveys

What this combination conveys, and why.

Wada tells you which colours go together. Goethe, a century earlier, explains why a combination means something or means nothing, and what each colour does depending on how much of the screen it takes. His circle has six colours and three oppositions, and every verdict below carries the paragraph it comes from.

What it conveys, by where each colour landed

The whole palette sits on the active side of the circle: the colours that advance, warm and push outward.

Accent and Heading · green
Green is the colour of rest, so as an accent it points at nothing: the eye accepts it and moves on. If this palette needs something to stop the eye, this is not it. § 802

How each pair readsZur Farbenlehre · 1810

How each pair reads on the circle

Adjacent #8b9757 · #4f7a3a
Adjacent on the circle, with nothing between them. Ordinary and agreeable: it says little, and it does not offend. § 829
Adjacent #8b9757 · #24582d
Adjacent on the circle, with nothing between them. Ordinary and agreeable: it says little, and it does not offend. § 829
With a neutral #8b9757 · #f0f5ee
Next to white, a colour from the active side loses force. § 831
Same sector #4f7a3a · #24582d
Both fall in the same sector of the circle. There is no hue contrast, so whatever separates them will have to be lightness. § 832
This verdict is ours. Goethe judges four of the six pairs in this group and says so himself, or one of the two colours sits right between two sectors of the circle.
With a neutral #4f7a3a · #f0f5ee
A neutral with a colour that has no side on the circle. Goethe has nothing to say here. § 831
With a neutral #24582d · #f0f5ee
A neutral with a colour that has no side on the circle. Goethe has nothing to say here. § 831

Criteria taken from Zur Farbenlehre (1810), in Eastlake's 1840 translation, which is public domain. The explanations are ours: from a book you take the substance, not the wording. The light values usually credited to Goethe for working out surface proportions are not in the Farbenlehre — they are Itten's, 1961, and that is how they are credited in the adaptation rules.

Plate 05 of 05 · Monochrome with accent

All five ↑

The plate, as printedRule of harmony · not in the book

Monochrome with accent

Background#1e3513
Support#4f7a3a
Text#dfedd9
Accent#442154

One hue in three lights and a small accent opposite it. The one studios use most: the brand is recognised by one colour and the accent does the work of pointing at buttons and links.

The colours the rule gives, raw and in equal parts. It is the starting point, not the interface. Click one to copy it.

Plate · MixesThree parts to one

The four colours, mixed two by two

3 parts #1e35131 part #4f7a3a
3 parts #4f7a3a1 part #dfedd9
3 parts #dfedd91 part #442154
3 parts #4421541 part #1e3513
3 parts #1e35131 part #dfedd9
3 parts #4f7a3a1 part #442154
3 parts #dfedd91 part #1e3513
3 parts #4421541 part #4f7a3a
3 parts #1e35131 part #442154
3 parts #4f7a3a1 part #1e3513
3 parts #dfedd91 part #4f7a3a
3 parts #4421541 part #dfedd9

This is where the in-betweens the plate doesn’t carry come from: borders, card backgrounds, disabled states. The mix is done in OKLab, which is closer to mixing paint than to averaging numbers. Click the result to copy it.

On screen · the split60 · 30 · 10

Adapted for screen

60% BackgroundWhere the eye rests: most of the screen. The plate's #1e3513, darkened.
30% SurfaceCards, bands, headers. This is where the book's colour lives. From the plate, as is (#1e3513).
10% AccentOnly what gets clicked. The plate's #442154, lightened.

The roles the plate doesn’t carry

Measured, before and after

On the plate, the best pair of colours reads at 10.9:1: AAA, reads with room to spare.Passes
On screen, the text #edeeec on the background #1d2418 gives 13.6:1: AAA, reads with room to spare. APCA gives Lc 94: good for small text, the kind you read a paragraph of.Passes
The accent #855e96 stands 3.0:1 from the background (a button needs 3:1) and as a link reaches 4.6:1 (a word needs 4.5:1).Passes
Under protanopia, your accent and your background drop to 2.9:1. The button stops standing out: give it a border, change the lightness, or don't rely on colour alone to mark it.Falls short

Out in the worldAdapted

This is the plate with a whole screen to fill.

This paragraph is here so you can see real text on a real background, which is where half of the pretty palettes fall over. If it's hard to read, now you know. And this is a link.

A card

Secondary surfaces use the support colour. If it doesn't separate from the background, the hierarchy is gone.

Adapted: the background rests, the surface keeps the plate’s colour and the accent earns the button.

How to use it

ProportionDistribute, don't equalise: #1d2418 on 60% of the screen, #1e3513 on 30% (cards, bands, headers) and #855e96 on 10%, only on buttons and links. A colour loses force the more surface it covers; what looks intense on the plate softens at full screen.
TextBody text goes in #edeeec, a near-neutral ink tinted with the palette's hue, even though the plate had a pair that read: a saturated colour as text tires by the third line. The book's colour enters through the heading, in #dfedd9, where size forgives.
The buttonThe accent #855e96 stands 3.0:1 apart from the background: it works as a button, with text in #f3f8f1.
TemperatureAll cool: orderly and serious. So it doesn't feel distant, leave plenty of air and use the accent generously on whatever you want touched.
How manyFour colours demand discipline: #1e3513 and #edeeec are the base, the other two are detail. If in doubt, drop the support colour before the accent.

The kit · ramps and statesFor the design system

The kit

A brand needs four colours; an interface needs a good deal more. This is what you'd otherwise invent by hand once you take four hex codes into the editor.

Click any swatch to copy it.

The accent’s tints

The neutrals, tinted with the accent

Button states and alerts

The kit · night and codeR·03

The same plate, by day

The same colour, by day.

The palette is born dark; this is its light version. The background is not pure white: it carries a little of its hue, just as the dark one was not black.

A button

Take it with you

/* Monochrome with accent — bluenze.com/paletas */
:root {
  --fondo: #1d2418;
  --superficie: #1e3513;
  --texto: #edeeec;
  --tinta: #edeeec;
  --texto-suave: #afb1ae;
  --titular: #dfedd9;
  --acento: #855e96;
  --acento-texto: #f3f8f1;
  --enlace: #a57cb6;
  --borde: #41493b;
  --apoyo-1: #4f7a3a;

  /* la lámina, tal cual */
  --lamina-1: #1e3513;
  --lamina-2: #4f7a3a;
  --lamina-3: #dfedd9;
  --lamina-4: #442154;

  --acento-50: #fbf4fe;
  --acento-100: #f4e7f8;
  --acento-200: #e5d0ed;
  --acento-300: #d1b4dc;
  --acento-400: #bb96c9;
  --acento-500: #a37ab4;
  --acento-600: #855e96;
  --acento-700: #6c4b7a;
  --acento-800: #50365c;
  --acento-900: #36223f;
  --neutro-50: #f7f6f7;
  --neutro-100: #eceaed;
  --neutro-200: #d9d6da;
  --neutro-300: #c1bdc2;
  --neutro-400: #a7a1a8;
  --neutro-500: #8d878f;
  --neutro-600: #736e75;
  --neutro-700: #5a565c;
  --neutro-800: #423f44;
  --neutro-900: #2c292d;

  --boton: #855e96;
  --boton-encima: #986fa9;
  --boton-pulsado: #a883b7;
  --boton-apagado: #3d373f;
  --foco: #8f54ab;

  --exito: #83b87e;
  --aviso: #cbb570;
  --error: #ea9582;
  --info: #7daef0;
}

@media (prefers-color-scheme: light) {
  :root {
    --fondo: #faf3fd;
    --superficie: #efe5f2;
    --borde: #dbcddf;
    --texto: #272228;
    --tinta: #272228;
    --texto-suave: #68616a;
    --acento: #855e96;
    --acento-texto: #faf5fb;
  }
}

Open the card →Post on LinkedIn →

Goethe’s readingWhat it conveys

What this combination conveys, and why.

Wada tells you which colours go together. Goethe, a century earlier, explains why a combination means something or means nothing, and what each colour does depending on how much of the screen it takes. His circle has six colours and three oppositions, and every verdict below carries the paragraph it comes from.

What it conveys, by where each colour landed

The whole palette sits on the passive side: the colours that recede, cool and draw the eye inward.

Surface · green
Green is where the eye rests. Goethe says whoever looks at it neither wishes nor is able to imagine anything beyond it, which is why it was the colour for rooms you live in. In an interface that is precisely a background. § 802
Accent · violet
The violet that would be intolerable as a background works in a border or a button. Same colour, different dose: this is a rule about surface, not about hue. § 790

How each pair readsZur Farbenlehre · 1810

How each pair reads on the circle

Same sector #1e3513 · #4f7a3a
Both fall in the same sector of the circle. There is no hue contrast, so whatever separates them will have to be lightness. § 832
This verdict is ours. Goethe judges four of the six pairs in this group and says so himself, or one of the two colours sits right between two sectors of the circle.
With a neutral #1e3513 · #dfedd9
A neutral with a colour that has no side on the circle. Goethe has nothing to say here. § 831
Characteristic #1e3513 · #442154
Characteristic by geometry — there is a colour skipped between the two. But Goethe judges only four pairs in this group, and this is not one of them. § 823
This verdict is ours. Goethe judges four of the six pairs in this group and says so himself, or one of the two colours sits right between two sectors of the circle.
With a neutral #4f7a3a · #dfedd9
A neutral with a colour that has no side on the circle. Goethe has nothing to say here. § 831
Characteristic #4f7a3a · #442154
Characteristic by geometry — there is a colour skipped between the two. But Goethe judges only four pairs in this group, and this is not one of them. § 823
This verdict is ours. Goethe judges four of the six pairs in this group and says so himself, or one of the two colours sits right between two sectors of the circle.
With a neutral #dfedd9 · #442154
Next to white, a colour from the passive side gains in liveliness. § 831

Criteria taken from Zur Farbenlehre (1810), in Eastlake's 1840 translation, which is public domain. The explanations are ours: from a book you take the substance, not the wording. The light values usually credited to Goethe for working out surface proportions are not in the Farbenlehre — they are Itten's, 1961, and that is how they are credited in the adaptation rules.

What goes with green

Five palettes with green, each with a reason.

Sulphur Yellow, Cossack Green, Salvia Blue

Eugenia Red | B, Ivory Buff, Citron Yellow, Cossack Green

Complementary

Analogous

Monochrome with accent

Wada combination 135

The three colours, mixed two by two

Adapted for screen

The roles the plate doesn’t carry

Measured, before and after

How to use it

The kit

The accent’s tints

The neutrals, tinted with the accent

Button states and alerts

The same plate, at night

Take it with you

What this combination conveys, and why.

What it conveys, by where each colour landed

How each pair reads on the circle

Wada combination 262

The four colours, mixed two by two

Adapted for screen

The roles the plate doesn’t carry

Measured, before and after

How to use it

The kit

The accent’s tints

The neutrals, tinted with the accent

Button states and alerts

The same plate, at night

Take it with you

What this combination conveys, and why.

What it conveys, by where each colour landed

How each pair reads on the circle

Complementary

The four colours, mixed two by two

Adapted for screen

The roles the plate doesn’t carry

Measured, before and after

How to use it

The kit

The accent’s tints

The neutrals, tinted with the accent

Button states and alerts

The same plate, by day

Take it with you

What this combination conveys, and why.

What it conveys, by where each colour landed

How each pair reads on the circle

Analogous

The four colours, mixed two by two

Adapted for screen

The roles the plate doesn’t carry

Measured, before and after

How to use it

The kit

The accent’s tints

The neutrals, tinted with the accent

Button states and alerts

The same plate, at night

Take it with you

What this combination conveys, and why.

What it conveys, by where each colour landed

How each pair reads on the circle

Monochrome with accent

The four colours, mixed two by two

Adapted for screen

The roles the plate doesn’t carry

Measured, before and after

How to use it

The kit

The accent’s tints

The neutrals, tinted with the accent

Button states and alerts

The same plate, by day

Take it with you