Articles
Essays and explainers on colour. How hex works, why systems disagree, what accessibility really means, and what "colour of the year" is actually selling.
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May 11, 2026
The 12-season color analysis system: how to find your palette
Personal colour analysis sorts skin into twelve seasonal palettes based on undertone, value, and chroma. A guide to the system, plus links to every season's hex codes.
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May 10, 2026
Soft Summer color palette: hex codes, characteristics, and how to wear it
Soft Summer is the cool, muted, medium-light season in 12-season colour analysis. Twelve hex codes, the rules that bind them, and how to tell if you are one.
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May 8, 2026
Soft Autumn color palette: hex codes, characteristics, and how to wear it
Soft Autumn (also called Soft Fall) is the warm, muted, medium-value season. Twelve hex codes, the rules that bind them, and how to identify if you belong.
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May 7, 2026
Dark Winter color palette: hex codes, characteristics, and how to wear it
Dark Winter (also called Deep Winter) is the cool, dark, medium-to-bright chroma season. Twelve hex codes, the rules, and how to identify if you belong.
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May 5, 2026
Dark Autumn color palette: hex codes, characteristics, and how to wear it
Dark Autumn (also called Deep Autumn or Deep Fall) is the warm, dark, medium-chroma season. Twelve hex codes, the rules, and how to identify if you belong.
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May 4, 2026
Cool Summer color palette: hex codes, characteristics, and how to wear it
Cool Summer (also called True Summer) is the cool, medium-value, softly saturated season. Twelve hex codes, the rules, and how to identify if you belong.
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May 2, 2026
Warm Autumn color palette: hex codes, characteristics, and how to wear it
Warm Autumn (also called True Autumn) is the warm, medium-deep, medium-chroma season. Twelve hex codes, the rules, and how to identify if you belong.
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May 1, 2026
Cool Winter color palette: hex codes, characteristics, and how to wear it
Cool Winter (also called True Winter) is the cool, bright, deep season. Twelve hex codes, the rules, and how to identify if you belong.
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April 29, 2026
Bright Winter color palette: hex codes, characteristics, and how to wear it
Bright Winter (also called Clear Winter) is the cool-neutral, very bright, deep season. Twelve hex codes, the rules, and how to identify if you belong.
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April 28, 2026
Light Summer color palette: hex codes, characteristics, and how to wear it
Light Summer is the cool, light, soft season in 12-season colour analysis. Twelve hex codes, the rules that bind them, and how to tell if you belong.
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April 26, 2026
Bright Spring color palette: hex codes, characteristics, and how to wear it
Bright Spring (also called Clear Spring) is the warm-neutral, very bright, clear season. Twelve hex codes, the rules that bind them, and how to identify if you belong.
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April 25, 2026
True Spring color palette: hex codes, characteristics, and how to wear it
True Spring is the warm, bright, medium-value season in 12-season colour analysis. Twelve hex codes, the rules that bind them, and how to tell if you belong.
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April 23, 2026
Light Spring color palette: hex codes, characteristics, and how to wear it
Light Spring is the warm, light, fresh season in 12-season colour analysis. Twelve hex codes, the traits that bind them, and how to identify if you belong.
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April 21, 2026
'Colour of the Year' is a marketing exercise
Pantone, Benjamin Moore, and Sherwin-Williams each pick a Colour of the Year and generate a week of free press. Here is who actually picks, how, and why you should ignore it.
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April 18, 2026
Cultural colour meanings, and the brand mistakes they cause
White means purity in Europe and mourning in China. Red means prosperity in Beijing and debt in North America. Global brands get this wrong constantly. Here is a short field guide.
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April 15, 2026
Standardised colour systems, Munsell, NCS, Pantone, and the rest
Before anyone could argue about colour over email, they argued about it over phone calls, and before that, over letters. Colour standards were invented to end those arguments. Mostly they didn't.
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April 12, 2026
Why colours have weird names
Crayola, Pantone, X11, and the British Admiralty all disagree on what to call a specific shade of pinkish-orange. There is a reason, and the reason is older than you think.
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April 9, 2026
Colour accessibility, WCAG, colour blindness, and the 4.5:1 rule
Eight per cent of men and half a per cent of women see colour differently. Your design either accommodates them or doesn't. Here is the math, the law, and the workflow.
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April 6, 2026
Dark mode isn't just black
Good dark themes are not built on #000000. They are built on a ladder of warm near-blacks, a contrast budget, and a careful restraint on pure saturation. Here is the ladder.
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April 3, 2026
Monitor colour ≠ print colour
The colour on your screen and the colour on paper come from opposite physics. RGB adds light, CMYK subtracts it, and the gamut in the middle is smaller than either side promises.
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March 31, 2026
Hex vs HSL vs OKLCH, when to reach for which
Three ways to write the same colour. The one you choose changes how easily you can think about the colour, how accessibly it renders, and how well your design system ages.
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March 28, 2026
Why there are 16,777,216 colours
The number on our homepage is a precise maths result, not a marketing round. Here is where 16,777,216 comes from, why the web settled on it, and what your eye can actually perceive.
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March 25, 2026
How hex colour codes work
A six-character hex code is one of the shortest useful strings in tech. Here is exactly what it means, why it looks the way it does, and what every pair of digits is up to.
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