From Wada's dictionary, 1933
Wada combination 85
Its colours, with the book's names: Vinaceous Tawny · Antwarp Blue. 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 1.2:1: does not read.
On screen, the text #2e211b on the background #e2f9ff 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 #c74300 stands 4.5:1 from the background (a button needs 3:1) and as a link reaches 4.5:1 (a word needs 4.5:1).
How to use it
- Proportion
Distribute, don't equalise: #e2f9ff on 60% of the screen, #289ab1 on 30% (cards, bands, headers) and #c74300 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 1.2:1). That is why body text goes in #2e211b, a near-neutral ink tinted with the palette's hue: it is not in the book, and it is needed.
- The button
The accent #c74300 stands 4.5:1 apart from the background: it works as a button, with text in #eef8fb.
- Temperature
Warm and cool together: let one lead and the other point. Here the background #289ab1 leads, and the accent #c74300 is the first thing the eye will look for.
- How many
Two colours are a pair, not a brand: add a neutral (an off-white or a grey) to get background, text and accent without straining either.
- 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 dark ones: it needs light text and large surfaces; in small pieces it clogs.
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 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 · blue
Blue recedes: it draws the eye inward rather than coming out to meet it. It holds a large surface without fighting whatever sits on top.
- Accent and Heading · orange
Orange in a small patch is the accent that needs no explaining: it advances, it is seen, and it does not need size to do it.
- Opposite
Opposite on the circle: together they complete what the eye asks for on its own. It is the only category Goethe approves without reservation.
There are 5 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#f6f6f6
- 100#ebebeb
- 200#ffccb7
- 300#fdaa87
- 400#fc804a
- 500#e65e20
- 600#c74300
- 700#9b3504
- 800#742601
- 900#4c1b01
- 50#f8f6f5
- 100#eeeae9
- 200#dcd6d4
- 300#c4bdba
- 400#aba19d
- 500#918782
- 600#786d69
- 700#5e5552
- 800#453e3c
- 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 85 — bluenze.com/paletas */
:root {
--fondo: #e2f9ff;
--superficie: #289ab1;
--texto: #2e211b;
--tinta: #2e211b;
--texto-suave: #735f57;
--titular: #c74300;
--acento: #c74300;
--acento-texto: #eef8fb;
--enlace: #c74300;
--borde: #b6d7e0;
/* la lámina de Wada, tal cual */
--lamina-1: #c74300;
--lamina-2: #008aa1;
--acento-50: #f6f6f6;
--acento-100: #ebebeb;
--acento-200: #ffccb7;
--acento-300: #fdaa87;
--acento-400: #fc804a;
--acento-500: #e65e20;
--acento-600: #c74300;
--acento-700: #9b3504;
--acento-800: #742601;
--acento-900: #4c1b01;
--neutro-50: #f8f6f5;
--neutro-100: #eeeae9;
--neutro-200: #dcd6d4;
--neutro-300: #c4bdba;
--neutro-400: #aba19d;
--neutro-500: #918782;
--neutro-600: #786d69;
--neutro-700: #5e5552;
--neutro-800: #453e3c;
--neutro-900: #2e2927;
--boton: #c74300;
--boton-encima: #a93901;
--boton-pulsado: #8d2f02;
--boton-apagado: #c9aea3;
--foco: #c64403;
--exito: #0b7f21;
--aviso: #a28a0d;
--error: #c93625;
--info: #0470ba;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
:root {
--fondo: #2d1e18;
--superficie: #3c2a22;
--borde: #574239;
--texto: #f8ebe7;
--tinta: #f8ebe7;
--texto-suave: #bbaea8;
--acento: #f76b2d;
--acento-texto: #2e211b;
}
}