Combination 242 from Wada's dictionary · contrasting hues, mixed light
Colour palette: Eosine Pink, Burnt Sienna, Diamine Green and Black.
One of the 348 combinations Sanzō Wada set down in 1933, with roles assigned, contrast checked and advice for using it.
Haishoku Sōkan · 1933
4 colours in equal parts, as in the book. It is the inspiration, not the interface. Click one to copy it.
Combination 242 · the plate, in four leaves
What each one is.
The hex codes come from the book's CMYK run through the FOGRA39 press profile. Under each colour we also list the hex other websites use, which comes from a direct formula and oversaturates.
Eosine Pink
Rosa eosina
CMYK 0 · 63 · 23 · 0
Elsewhere: #ff5ec4
Wada uses it in 14 combinations.
Five palettes from this colour →Burnt Sienna
Siena quemado
CMYK 22 · 76 · 100 · 15
Elsewhere: #a93400
Wada uses it in 9 combinations.
Five palettes from this colour →Diamine Green
Verde césped
CMYK 87 · 20 · 100 · 10
Elsewhere: #1b8e13
Wada uses it in 6 combinations.
Five palettes from this colour →Black
Negro
CMYK 20 · 10 · 15 · 100
Elsewhere: #000000
Wada uses it in 23 combinations.
Five palettes from this colour →
The four colours, mixed two by two
- 3 parts eosine pink1 part burnt sienna
- 3 parts burnt sienna1 part diamine green
- 3 parts diamine green1 part black
- 3 parts black1 part eosine pink
- 3 parts eosine pink1 part diamine green
- 3 parts burnt sienna1 part black
- 3 parts diamine green1 part eosine pink
- 3 parts black1 part burnt sienna
- 3 parts eosine pink1 part black
- 3 parts burnt sienna1 part eosine pink
- 3 parts diamine green1 part burnt sienna
- 3 parts black1 part diamine 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.
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 #141715, lightened.
- 30% SurfaceCards, bands, headers. This is where the book's colour lives. From the plate, as is (#141715).
- 10% AccentOnly what gets clicked. From the plate, as is (#008336).
The roles the plate doesn’t carry
Measured, before and after
- On the plate, the best pair of colours reads at 6.9:1: AA, it reads.Passes
- On screen, the text #f8ebec on the background #212221 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 #008336 stands 3.2:1 from the background (a button needs 3:1) and as a link reaches 4.6:1 (a word needs 4.5:1).Passes
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.
How to use it
- ProportionDistribute, don't equalise: #212221 on 60% of the screen, #141715 on 30% (cards, bands, headers) and #008336 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 #f8ebec, 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 #ef7e96, where size forgives.
- The buttonThe accent #008336 stands 3.2:1 apart from the background: it works as a button, with text in #f6f7f6.
- TemperatureWarm and cool together: let one lead and the other point. Here the background #141715 leads, and the accent #008336 is the first thing the eye will look for.
- How manyFour colours demand discipline: #141715 and #f8ebec 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 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
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 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 buttonTake it with you
/* Wada combination 242 — bluenze.com/paletas */
:root {
--fondo: #212221;
--superficie: #141715;
--texto: #f8ebec;
--tinta: #f8ebec;
--texto-suave: #bfacaf;
--titular: #ef7e96;
--acento: #008336;
--acento-texto: #f6f7f6;
--enlace: #319e4e;
--borde: #464746;
--apoyo-1: #b14d17;
/* la lámina de Wada, tal cual */
--lamina-1: #ef7e96;
--lamina-2: #b14d17;
--lamina-3: #008336;
--lamina-4: #141715;
--acento-50: #ebfbec;
--acento-100: #d7f2d9;
--acento-200: #b6e2ba;
--acento-300: #8dcd95;
--acento-400: #5fb56e;
--acento-500: #2f9c4d;
--acento-600: #008336;
--acento-700: #08652a;
--acento-800: #054b1d;
--acento-900: #023211;
--neutro-50: #f5f7f5;
--neutro-100: #e9ece9;
--neutro-200: #d4d8d5;
--neutro-300: #bac0bb;
--neutro-400: #9ea59f;
--neutro-500: #838b84;
--neutro-600: #6a716b;
--neutro-700: #535953;
--neutro-800: #3c413d;
--neutro-900: #272b27;
--boton: #008336;
--boton-encima: #269647;
--boton-pulsado: #47a85c;
--boton-apagado: #344035;
--foco: #028336;
--exito: #67be64;
--aviso: #d1b445;
--error: #ff8a72;
--info: #6aaeff;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: light) {
:root {
--fondo: #ebf9ec;
--superficie: #dceddd;
--borde: #c3d7c4;
--texto: #1c261d;
--tinta: #1c261d;
--texto-suave: #5a665b;
--acento: #047d34;
--acento-texto: #f2f8f2;
}
}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 · 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
- Heading · 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. § 793
How each pair reads on the circle
- Adjacent #ef7e96 · #b14d17
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. § 828
- Opposite #ef7e96 · #008336
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
- With a neutral #ef7e96 · #141715
Next to black, a colour from the active side gains energy. § 831
- Characteristic #b14d17 · #008336
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 #b14d17 · #141715
Next to black, a colour from the active side gains energy. § 831
- With a neutral #008336 · #141715
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.
The card, as it gets shared
They share a colour
Other dictionary combinations with these colours.
- 276Eosine Pink · Seashell Pink · Yellow Green · Black
- 313Carmine · Yellow · Diamine Green · Black
- 034Eosine Pink · Neutral Gray
- 038Diamine Green · Deep Lyons Blue
- 046Orange · Black
- 052Sulphur Yellow · Black
- 059Eosine Pink · Citron Yellow
- 062Yellow · Black
This combination also lives under a colour.
Chapter 3
From plate to screen: six rules that are not ours
Wada worked with ink. You work with light.
Wada designed for ink, cloth and pigment. A screen emits light, is read for minutes at a time and has a law. These are the rules colour for interfaces is built with, and the ones we adapt each plate with; none of them is ours, so each one carries its owner.
- Johannes Itten · Hype4 Academy (opens in a new tab)
Distribute 60 · 30 · 10
- Refactoring UI (opens in a new tab)
The background rests
- Material 3 · colour roles (opens in a new tab)
The book's colour lives on the surface
- GOV.UK Design System (opens in a new tab)
Paragraphs don't go in colour
- WCAG 2.2 · 1.4.3 and 1.4.11 (opens in a new tab)
The accent earns the button
- Evil Martians · OKLCH in CSS (opens in a new tab)
Move the lightness, not the hue
Colophon
Colour is where it starts, not the whole job
If it is for your brand, this is what we do: custom websites that start with colour and end in code.
And something Wada already warned about back then: the plate is not the application. His samples sit on equal surfaces only so they can be compared. On a website the background leads, the text reads and the accent points, and a colour loses strength the more surface it covers. That is why every palette comes with its roles and some advice, not four equal squares.
Combinations based on Sanzō Wada's system (Haishoku Sōkan, 1933-34; Seigensha selection, 2010). Colour values are checked against that edition; the Spanish names, each combination's character and the explanations are ours.