Color

When to Use

Use when color is the real decision surface: palette building, semantic tokens, dark mode, chart colors, brand systems, accessibility, print handoff, or image/export consistency.

If the job is context-specific, load the matching file before locking the palette:

• ui-systems.md for product UI, design systems, semantic tokens, states, surfaces, and dark mode.
• palettes.md for palette construction, neutrals, accents, tonal ladders, and brandable combinations.
• accessibility.md for contrast, non-color cues, text legibility, and state signaling.
• data-viz.md for categorical vs sequential scales, heatmaps, dashboards, and chart-safe colors.
• branding.md for brand palettes, campaigns, logos, packaging, and cross-channel consistency.
• print.md for CMYK, spot colors, proofs, coated vs uncoated stock, and prepress handoff.
• color-spaces.md for RGB/HEX/HSL/HSV/LAB/OKLab/OKLCH decisions and conversion traps.
• commands.md when the user needs concrete code, CSS tokens, or command-line conversions.

Keep the system-level workflow in this file, then pull in the specialized file that matches the real output instead of solving every color problem with generic palette advice.

Quick Reference

Fast Workflow

1. Identify the job type: UI system, palette exploration, chart, brand surface, image treatment, or print handoff.
2. Identify the destination: app UI, marketing page, charting library, social graphic, packaging, PDF, or press output.
3. Decide what color must do: guide hierarchy, encode state, separate data, express brand, improve readability, or survive production.
4. Inspect existing constraints before changing anything: current palette, token names, contrast, background shifts, export format, gamut, and theme variants.
5. Load the destination-specific file if the work is product UI, palette design, accessibility, data viz, branding, print, or color-space heavy.
6. Make the minimum color decisions that keep the whole system coherent: neutrals, accent count, state mapping, tonal steps, and conversion/export rules.
7. Validate the result in the actual context: light and dark, disabled and hover, chart legend, image overlay, browser preview, and printed proof when relevant.

Color-Job Defaults

Core Rules

1. Choose colors by job, not by taste

• A background color, brand accent, error state, chart series, and print ink are different jobs.
• If the palette has to handle hierarchy, status, and data at once, separate those responsibilities before adding more colors.
• The best-looking swatch in isolation can still fail when it has to carry text, hover states, or category meaning.
• Start by defining what each color must do in the interface or asset, not what hue feels fashionable.
• If a color has no clear role, it is probably noise.

2. Build the system before polishing the palette

• A color system needs primitives, semantic roles, and component-level usage, not only named swatches.
• Neutrals usually carry more of the product than the accent color does, so define the neutral ladder early.
• A palette that looks balanced on a moodboard can still fail when applied to buttons, borders, tables, banners, and empty states.
• Use accents deliberately; more accent colors usually create weaker hierarchy, not richer design.
• If the job spans multiple products or channels, define reuse rules before designing edge-case surfaces.

3. Use perceptual spaces for ramps and interpolation

• RGB and HSL are convenient, but they do not always create visually even steps.
• OKLCH or OKLab are better starting points when the task needs predictable lightness steps, tonal ramps, and theme derivations.
• HSL remains useful for fast exploration, but do not assume equal HSL steps look equally bright.
• Conversion is not neutral: a color that looks stable in one space can shift when moved into another gamut or output format.
• If a system needs scalable ramps, trust perceptual spacing more than eyeballing random hex values.

4. Contrast is contextual, not just a ratio

• Contrast checks for text, UI boundaries, icons, charts, and overlays are related but not identical jobs.
• Passing AA on one background does not mean the same foreground works on tinted cards, photos, hover states, or dark surfaces.
• A state color that "reads fine" in a mockup can disappear inside disabled, pressed, or selected variants.
• Thin type, small labels, chart lines, and over-photo text fail faster than large blocks of text.
• Measure contrast, but also validate the real composition where the color will be used.

5. Never let meaning depend on color alone

• Status, validation, category, and priority should still work in grayscale, low vision, and low-quality displays.
• Pair color with text, shape, iconography, pattern, position, or motion when the distinction matters.
• Sequential and diverging chart scales need labels and legends that remain understandable without perfect hue perception.
• Red and green can coexist, but they cannot be the only signal.
• If the user would lose the meaning when the color is removed, the system is underspecified.

6. Validate the whole state matrix, not the hero screen

• Palettes break in edges: disabled buttons, hover backgrounds, table striping, empty charts, skeletons, and on-image captions.
• Dark mode needs a deliberate surface strategy; simply inverting colors usually destroys hierarchy.
• Brand colors that work for headlines can fail for body text, borders, or small icons.
• Charts need validation at line thickness, marker size, and dashboard density, not only in a polished presentation slide.
• If the system ships across web, mobile, image exports, and PDF, validate each medium before calling it stable.

7. Treat color management as a real production constraint

• Display RGB, exported PNG, social upload, PDF, and press sheet can all move the same color differently.
• sRGB is still the safest default for most digital delivery, but not every workflow ends there.
• Print introduces CMYK conversion, ink limits, substrate shift, and proofing requirements that a screen mockup hides.
• Image assets, CSS colors, and chart libraries can each interpret the same value differently when profiles or rendering assumptions diverge.
• If the job crosses digital and print, define the handoff rules explicitly instead of trusting one set of hex codes to survive everything.

8. Make tokens semantic and naming durable

• Name colors by role or outcome, not by the hue of the moment.
• text-primary, surface-muted, and status-danger age better than blue-700-button.
• Keep primitives stable underneath semantics so a rebrand does not require renaming the entire component layer.
• One-off overrides multiply quickly; if a component needs a special token, document why it exists.
• Durable naming matters more than any single hex choice when the system will evolve.

Specialized Cases Worth Loading

• Load ui-systems.md when the work touches buttons, surfaces, forms, alerts, dark mode, or design tokens.
• Load data-viz.md when the output includes charts, maps, dashboards, scorecards, or category comparisons.
• Load print.md when the asset will become a poster, packaging file, brochure, label, PDF proof, or press-ready export.
• Load branding.md when the question is about brand recognition, campaign palettes, logos, packaging, or social consistency.

What Good Looks Like

• Every important color has a clear role and survives the surfaces where it is used.
• The neutral system, accent strategy, and semantic states feel related instead of assembled from disconnected swatches.
• Text, icons, charts, and overlays stay legible in the real preview, not only in the ideal mockup.
• Token names express function, so future changes can swap values without rewriting the whole system.
• Color ramps look visually even instead of randomly jumping in brightness.
• The design still works in grayscale, dark mode, tinted surfaces, and after export or print conversion.
• The agent has not confused pleasing colors with a complete color system.

Common Traps

• Starting with an accent color and improvising everything else afterward.
• Naming tokens by hue and locking the design system to this quarter's palette.
• Treating contrast as solved because one text/background pair passes a checker.
• Designing categorical charts with hues that collapse for colorblind users or at small line widths.
• Using brand colors for body copy when they were only safe for display-sized headlines.
• Building ramps in RGB or HSL and assuming equal code steps mean equal perceived steps.
• Solving state communication with red and green alone.
• Forgetting that tinted cards, overlays, and dark mode change contrast math and perception.
• Assuming screen colors will print faithfully without proofing or conversion decisions.
• Exporting gorgeous color palettes that have no neutral strategy, state mapping, or component rules behind them.

Related Skills

Install with clawhub install if user confirms:

• image — Image processing, exports, and color-sensitive visual asset workflows.
• image-generation — AI image creation where palette, art direction, and color consistency matter.
• branding — Brand-system decisions beyond color alone.
• photography — Capture, grading, and print-aware image workflows where color intent matters.
• svg — Vector graphics workflows where palette discipline and contrast affect brand delivery.

Feedback

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