color palettesLavender oat
Soft
Lavender with a natural oat warmth.
Mood / A considered starting point
Pastel color palettes.
Keep the light, low-chroma surfaces. Add enough depth for words, links and controls to remain legible.
The collection
Original sRGB combinations. Each detail page includes website roles, CSS and measured pairs.
Rosewater
Soft
Rose, plum, and a quieter kind of contrast.
Butter & blue
Soft
A pale yellow morning with a blue horizon.
Peach mist
Soft
Peach paper and a cool misty accent.
Sage porcelain
Soft
Soft sage with a porcelain pink detail.
Blue hydrangea
Soft
Powder blue and pale violet in balance.
Petal pistachio
Soft
A petal wash with a fresh green edge.
Lemon linen
Soft
Pale lemon, softened by blue-gray.
Cloud coral
Soft
A light gray sky with a coral detail.
Mauve seafoam
Soft
Mauve lettering and a seafoam lift.
Soft apricot with a chamomile glow.
Powder ink
Soft
Blue powder with an ink-like anchor.
Lilac fern
Soft
Lilac shade and a soft fern accent.
Blush biscuit
Soft
A gentle blush with a baked warmth.
Morning glacier
Soft
An airy blue with a quiet green note.
Peony parchment
Soft
Peony pink on warm parchment.
Cream periwinkle
Soft
Warm cream and a calm blue vocabulary.
Almond aqua
Soft
Natural almond beside pale aqua glass.
Rose quartz
Soft
Tonal rose with enough depth to read.
Dawn peach
Soft
Early peach light with a lilac shadow.
Mint notebook
Soft
Fresh mint with a paper-colored detail.
Wisteria milk
Soft
Milky whites with a wisteria edge.
Shell lagoon
Soft
Shell warmth beside a shallow lagoon.
Pale orchard
Soft
Orchard greens with a pale fruit accent.
Make the colors work
More than a set of swatches.
Build softness around readable text
Peach Mist, Blue Hydrangea and Sage Porcelain put their lightest colors in large areas. Their darker role is essential, not an unwanted interruption. Using only pale colors for the entire interface usually leaves text and required control boundaries without enough contrast.
Separate cards with more than a tint
Two pale surfaces may be difficult to distinguish on different displays. Use spacing, a clear heading and, where a boundary identifies a control, an adequately contrasted border. A card does not need a heavy outline just because its surface is subtle.
Treat accents as fills first
Try pale lavender or peach behind a dark label before using it as lettering. Inspect the actual pair and font size. If the primary action looks too heavy, reduce its area rather than making its label unreadable.