Already have a colour?
Optional starting pointIf the client has an existing brand colour, enter it and the dials will be back-solved to reproduce it — then you can walk the pipeline forward from where they already are, and see how far any proposal moves them.
Your customer
Who you're selling toAnswer for the majority of your audience, not the outliers.
safety, order, being looked afterThings to change —
challenge, mastery, breaking rules
fitting in, shared momentsTheir own way —
independence, standing apart
they mostly want the same thingBroad market —
they vary a lot
Where they are
Sets the base colourHow loud, how serious
Register for this audienceThe category
Who's already thereLoad a preset or enter your rivals. The map shades every position by how crowded it is — bright means open, dark means someone's standing there.
Solid ring = your colour · dashed = archetype base · dots = rivals
Slice at your current lightness · grey = outside sRGB
Reconcile
Fidelity vs distinctivenessIf the archetype points somewhere crowded, this searches nearby colours for the best compromise.
Archetype says
Recommended
Harmony
Feeds the roles belowThe twelve-colour system
Roles, not huesProduct name
AccentBody copy on surface, ink for text, border for dividers. The accent is reserved for the single action you want taken.
Production
Off-screen realityScreen is the easy case. These are the three places a palette usually breaks once it leaves the browser: press, single-colour reproduction, and anything small enough that thin strokes matter.
Save the session
Reasoning, not just coloursA palette without its reasoning is just twelve hexes — six months on, nobody remembers why. The rationale sheet captures every decision and check in one printable page; the session file and share link restore all the dials exactly as they are now.