Clear and concise definitions of color theory, accessibility, and design system terms. Everything a UI designer or front-end developer needs to know.
Analogous Colors
Colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel, creating naturally harmonious and low-contrast color palettes.
Color Accessibility
The practice of choosing and using colors in a way that ensures content is perceivable and understandable for users with color vision deficiencies or low vision.
Color Harmony
The principle that colors in a palette feel visually balanced and pleasing together, based on their relationships on the color wheel.
Color Palette
A curated collection of colors chosen to work together in a design, brand, or product.
Color Temperature
The perceived warmth or coolness of a color, based on its position on the warm-to-cool spectrum from reds and oranges through to blues and violets.
Color Theory
The body of knowledge explaining how colors relate to each other, how they interact visually, and how they can be combined effectively in design.
Color Tokens
Named variables that map semantic color roles (like "primary button background") to specific color values in a design system.
Color Wheel
A circular diagram that arranges colors by hue to illustrate the relationships between them and guide harmonious color selection.
Complementary Colors
Color pairs positioned directly opposite each other on the color wheel, creating the highest possible hue contrast when combined.
Contrast Ratio
A numerical measure of the difference in relative luminance between two colors, used to evaluate text legibility and UI accessibility.
Dark Mode
A color theme that uses dark backgrounds with light foreground content, designed to reduce eye strain in low-light environments and suit user preference.
HEX Color Code
A six-digit hexadecimal string used to represent a color in the RGB color model, widely used in web design and CSS.
HSL Color Model
A color model that represents colors using hue, saturation, and lightness, a more intuitive alternative to RGB for design work.
Hue
The pure color attribute of a color, what we refer to when we say something is "red," "blue," or "green," independent of its lightness or saturation.
Lightness
The dimension of color that describes how light or dark a color is, from black to white, independent of its hue and saturation.
OKLCH Color Space
A modern, perceptually uniform color space that represents colors using lightness, chroma, and hue, offering more accurate and predictable color manipulation than HSL or RGB.
RGB Color Model
An additive color model that represents colors by combining red, green, and blue light channels, used as the foundation of all digital screen color.
Saturation
The intensity or vividness of a color, how "pure" or "colorful" it appears, ranging from a neutral gray to a fully vivid hue.
Tint, Shade, and Tone
Three methods of modifying a base color by mixing it with white (tint), black (shade), or gray (tone) to produce lighter, darker, or more muted variations.
Triadic Colors
Three colors equally spaced 120° apart on the color wheel, forming a triangle and creating vibrant, balanced color combinations.
WCAG Color Contrast
The accessibility standard that defines minimum contrast ratio requirements for text and UI components to ensure content is readable by users with low vision or color blindness.