Skip to content

Colour · T-07

Colour scale

One colour in, eleven shades out: from almost white to almost black, in steps that look even to the eye. Each step shows straight away whether white or black text on it is readable.

Your files stay on your device

Questions

Good to know

  1. Why OKLCH?

    In OKLCH an equal step in lightness is also an equal step for the eye. In HSL, yellow looks much lighter than blue at the same value. This gives you a scale that looks just as regular in every hue.

  2. Does my own colour stay in the scale?

    Yes. By default your colour sits exactly on the step that best matches its lightness, with a pink frame. Switch that off and you get a fully calculated scale.

  3. Which step do I use for text?

    Look at the contrast figures: if AA appears next to white, white text on it is readable; next to black, black text. For text on a white page you usually take 600 or darker.

How it works

Colour scale in three steps

  1. Choose your colour

    Your brand colour, in any notation. Kleurstaal puts it on the step that best matches its lightness.

  2. Look at the scale

    Eleven steps with their code and their contrast on white and on black. AA appears when normal text is readable.

  3. Take the code with you

    As CSS variables, for Tailwind 4 or 3, or as JSON, in HEX or in OKLCH.

Spotted a mistake?

A few words are enough. We will check and fix it.

Search

Loading…

Reading aids

Make the site easier to read. Your choice is saved on this device.

Text size

Prefer your device’s own settings (zoom, screen reader, dark mode)? They work here too.