A palette can look harmonious as a row of swatches while becoming confusing in an actual composition. The missing step is assigning the colors to recognizable roles.
Choose which color supports the background, which carries ordinary text, and which marks emphasis. Check the pairings in use rather than judging each swatch alone. A color for decoration may not be appropriate for readable text.
Apply the palette to a small realistic piece and look for competing accents. Keep emphasis focused, and provide other cues when color conveys meaning. The useful palette is the one that helps the viewer understand the work.
Picture this situation.
A reading interface might assign one color to primary actions and another to quiet surfaces. The roles give the palette a purpose beyond decoration.
A second way to look.
Keep a trace of the choice that changed the work. A later collaborator should be able to see the reason for a revision, not only the final arrangement.
- Assign colors to clear roles.
- Check actual foreground and background pairs.
- Keep emphasis focused on the intended detail.
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Check the actual interactive area.
Touch targets with room to moveRecord the actual steps of a task.
A workflow worth simplifyingKeep learning
Related background to continue exploring this subject.
MDN: image file formats W3C: accessible image tutorials
