From Wada's dictionary, 1933
Wada combination 150
Its colours, with the book's names: Seashell Pink · Glaucous Green · Citron Yellow. The values are the book's; the roles and advice are ours.
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.
On a website
This is your colour 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.
Measured, before and after
On the plate, the best pair of colours reads at 1.3:1: does not read.
On screen, the text #232519 on the background #e8f9ec 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.
The accent #8a6159 stands 4.9:1 from the background (a button needs 3:1) and as a link reaches 4.6:1 (a word needs 4.5:1).
How to use it
- Proportion
Distribute, don't equalise: #e8f9ec on 60% of the screen, #b3e8c2 on 30% (cards, bands, headers) and #8a6159 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.
- Text
No pair on the plate read as text (the best gave 1.3:1). That is why body text goes in #232519, a near-neutral ink tinted with the palette's hue: it is not in the book, and it is needed.
- The button
The accent #8a6159 stands 4.9:1 apart from the background: it works as a button, with text in #f1f8f3.
- Temperature
Warm and cool together: let one lead and the other point. Here the background #b3e8c2 leads, and the accent #8a6159 is the first thing the eye will look for.
- How many
Three 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 dictionary
In 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 light ones: works on white and on screen; in print it loses body, so push the ink a notch.
Goethe's reading
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.
The whole palette sits on the active side of the circle: the colours that advance, warm and push outward.
- 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.
- Accent · red
Red is the high point of the active side. In a small patch it does exactly what an accent is for: stopping the eye once.
- Heading · 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.
- Characteristic
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.
- Adjacent
Adjacent on the circle, with no colour between them to keep them apart. They are saved by proportion: one has to lead and the other to follow.
- Adjacent
Adjacent on the circle, with nothing between them. Ordinary and agreeable: it says little, and it does not offend.
#ffcfc4 and #a6d40d are neighbours on the circle and only 8 points of lightness apart. This is the failure Goethe describes without naming it: well-chosen colours placed at the wrong value. They vibrate, and neither can be read on top of the other.
#b3e8c2 and #a6d40d are neighbours on the circle and only 8 points of lightness apart. This is the failure Goethe describes without naming it: well-chosen colours placed at the wrong value. They vibrate, and neither can be read on top of the other.
There are 8 points of lightness between the lightest and darkest colour. With no step in lightness there is no hierarchy: the palette leans entirely on hue, and hue alone does not order a screen.
The kit for building it
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.
- 50#fdf5f3
- 100#f6e8e5
- 200#e9d2ce
- 300#d7b7b1
- 400#c19a92
- 500#aa7f76
- 600#8a6159
- 700#714f48
- 800#553934
- 900#3a2521
- 50#f8f6f5
- 100#eeeae9
- 200#dcd6d5
- 300#c5bcbb
- 400#aca19f
- 500#928684
- 600#786d6b
- 700#5f5553
- 800#463e3d
- 900#2e2927
- Normal
- Hover
- Pressed
- Disabled
- Focus
- Success
- Warning
- Error
- Info
The same colour, at night.
The background isn't pure black: it carries a little of your hue. That's what separates a designed dark mode from one that looks like a fault.
A button/* Wada combination 150 — bluenze.com/paletas */
:root {
--fondo: #e8f9ec;
--superficie: #b3e8c2;
--texto: #232519;
--tinta: #232519;
--texto-suave: #626554;
--titular: #5f790d;
--acento: #8a6159;
--acento-texto: #f1f8f3;
--enlace: #8f655c;
--borde: #c1d7c6;
/* la lámina de Wada, tal cual */
--lamina-1: #ffcfc4;
--lamina-2: #b3e8c2;
--lamina-3: #a6d40d;
--acento-50: #fdf5f3;
--acento-100: #f6e8e5;
--acento-200: #e9d2ce;
--acento-300: #d7b7b1;
--acento-400: #c19a92;
--acento-500: #aa7f76;
--acento-600: #8a6159;
--acento-700: #714f48;
--acento-800: #553934;
--acento-900: #3a2521;
--neutro-50: #f8f6f5;
--neutro-100: #eeeae9;
--neutro-200: #dcd6d5;
--neutro-300: #c5bcbb;
--neutro-400: #aca19f;
--neutro-500: #928684;
--neutro-600: #786d6b;
--neutro-700: #5f5553;
--neutro-800: #463e3d;
--neutro-900: #2e2927;
--boton: #8a6159;
--boton-encima: #785049;
--boton-pulsado: #60423c;
--boton-apagado: #b4adab;
--foco: #a25548;
--exito: #457942;
--aviso: #9e8b48;
--error: #a45747;
--info: #3670ac;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
:root {
--fondo: #28201e;
--superficie: #362c2a;
--borde: #504442;
--texto: #f2edec;
--tinta: #f2edec;
--texto-suave: #b5afae;
--acento: #b88c83;
--acento-texto: #282321;
}
}