Design Tools

Online Color Picker & Converter

Pick colors visually or convert seamlessly between HEX, RGB, and HSL values. Inspect color harmony palettes and evaluate WCAG accessibility contrast.

Color Selection & Formats
Visual Color Palette Click the square to open the OS color eyedropper
Preview & Contrast Rating
Against White Text
—
Pass
Against Black Text
—
Pass
Harmonic Color Palette (Click to inspect)

How to Pick and Convert Colors

1

Pick or Type Color

Click the color swatch to open the visual picker, or type any valid 3 or 6 digit HEX string.

2

Inspect Formats

View real-time synchronized values across CSS HEX, RGB, and HSL color models.

3

Check Accessibility

Review the WCAG contrast ratios to verify compliance with AA accessibility guidelines.

Features & Benefits

Color Harmonies Generator

Automatically calculates mathematically balanced complementary, analogous, and triadic color pairings.

WCAG 2.1 Contrast Testing

Computes relative luminance to confirm whether white or black text satisfies the 4.5:1 ratio required by ADA standards.

One-Click Copy

Instantly copy clean CSS color definitions to speed up your frontend styling workflow.

Everyday Use Cases

Frontend CSS Development

Convert brand HEX codes from graphic design files into HSL variables for scalable CSS themes.

Accessibility (A11y) Audits

Ensure button backgrounds and body text maintain sufficient luminance contrast to meet legal standards.

Brand Palette Creation

Discover harmonious secondary and accent colors from an anchor brand shade.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA require a minimum visual contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for regular text and 3:1 for large text (18pt+ or bold 14pt+). This ensures content is legible for users with low vision or color blindness.
HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) is more intuitive than RGB or HEX. In HSL, you can easily create hover states or color variations simply by adjusting the lightness or saturation percentage, without having to calculate new hex color channels.

Related Tools

The Science of Digital Color Models & Human Perception

Color reproduction on digital screens is governed by additive RGB color mixing. By varying the intensity of Red, Green, and Blue subpixels from 0 to 255, displays can render up to 16.7 million distinct chromatic hues (24-bit TrueColor).

Relative Luminance and Contrast Calculation

The human eye is not uniformly sensitive to all wavelengths of light; our retinas perceive green light far more vividly than blue light. The WCAG 2.1 relative luminance formula accounts for this physiological asymmetry:

Luminance = 0.2126 * R_lin + 0.7152 * G_lin + 0.0722 * B_lin

The contrast ratio between two colors is then calculated as \((L_1 + 0.05) / (L_2 + 0.05)\), where \(L_1\) is the lighter color. Our tool automates these calculations in real time, making accessibility auditing straightforward during UI/UX prototyping.