Color Palette for Web Design

Updated May 21, 2026

A color palette for web design is a set of coordinated hues used for UI elements — primary actions, backgrounds, text, borders, and accents — typically defined as CSS custom properties or design tokens for consistent implementation across a site or app.

Build a Web Palette from an Image

1. Find an inspiration image — a screenshot, photo, or mood board
2. Upload it to PhotoTones
3. Assign extracted colors to semantic roles: primary, secondary, background, text
4. Copy hex codes into CSS or export Tailwind tokens with Pro

Semantic Color Roles for UI

Map PhotoTones swatches to semantic tokens:

• --color-primary — buttons, links, active states (usually Vibrant)
• --color-secondary — secondary actions, badges (Dark or Light Vibrant)
• --color-surface — cards, panels (Light Muted or custom tint)
• --color-background — page background (Light Muted or near-white)
• --color-text — body copy (Dark Muted or high-contrast dark)
• --color-accent — highlights, notifications (second Vibrant tone)

CSS Custom Properties Example

:root {
  --color-primary: #3B82F6;
  --color-primary-hover: #2563EB;
  --color-secondary: #64748B;
  --color-background: #F8FAFC;
  --color-surface: #FFFFFF;
  --color-text: #0F172A;
  --color-accent: #EC4899;
}

.btn-primary {
  background: var(--color-primary);
  color: #fff;
}

PhotoTones Pro generates this automatically as light and dark theme CSS with accessible semantic colors — plus W3C design tokens and Tailwind v4 @theme output.

Accessibility for Web Palettes

WCAG 2.1 requires minimum contrast ratios: 4.5:1 for normal text (AA), 7:1 for enhanced (AAA). PhotoTones Pro includes an N×N contrast grid showing pass/fail for every color pair — essential before shipping a production palette.

Learn more in Color Theory Basics for Designers and browse ready-made palettes in the Color Palette Gallery.

Frequently Asked Questions