PaletteInspiration

Creative

color palettes

SHOW HN2026

215points
83comments
#259of 4,366 in 2026
Top 6%of 2026 by points

How HN took it

DebatedReal support and real criticism

10 positive, 13 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 13 critical, out of 40 comments about the project. Thread score -0.04.

Idea: 2 for, 6 againstDesign: 1 for, 5 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Beautiful concept and site design

    From 3 comments
    • This is a gorgeous site and beautiful concept. I'm interested to learn what inspired you to create this contribution? I look forward to exploring it more especially as I decide…
      anthonycoslett on HN
    • It's wonderful. Thank you for building this.
      yubblegum on HN
    • Love it. I'll be using this on a weekly basis in my art practice. Let me know if you ever create an API endpoint.
      afolkest on HN
  • Useful for artists and designers

    From 3 comments
    • Love it. I'll be using this on a weekly basis in my art practice. Let me know if you ever create an API endpoint.
      afolkest on HN
    • This is great! Love the idea. You should send to some art programs, sure they would get a kick out of it. Also gives another use case outside of just digital design.
      BlueRock-Jake on HN
    • As a designer and creative director, I use Adobe Color and Pinterest for client branding/re-brand inspiration, or just straight to the pantone books. This is interesting to me as…
      saltypixel on HN

Objections

  • Oxidized varnish and faded pigments mean palettes don't show the original colors

    From 3 comments
    • As an "expert viewer" of Baumgartner Restoration, this site usefulness is questionable. If you look at those color palettes, most of them brownish that is because of dirty & old…
      S0und on HN
    • Agreed. I absolutely adore the idea of it! But all the brownish colours tell the same story. For some additional context; many old pigments were not stable at all.…
      molf on HN
    • > is because of dirty & old oxidised varnish And the pigments fade. And even worse, they fade at various rates and some are almost completely gone.
      KevinMS on HN
  • Palettes from averaging across several paintings lose the key colors

    From 2 comments
    • An additional problem is that it looks like the colors are from the intersection of 3 random paintings. The masters already picked their colors on one painting. If you randomly…
      senexex on HN
    • ouli, I feel like the algorithm fails to capture the essential colors and their roles. For example, for Mondrian I expect to find a palette with white, black, red, blue, yellow.…
      khazhoux on HN
  • Suspected AI-generated or vibecoded site

    From 2 comments
    • It‘s vibecoded slop that turned an idea that should have stayed a bad idea into poor execution, convincing the vibecoder that the idea is validated. The vibe coder has absolutely…
      camillomiller on HN
    • So... ummm... the website and all the submitter's comments here seem very Claude generated, no? Spam filters are going to have to get a lot more sophisticated. "Slop" filters,…
      austinjp on HN

Requests

  • Add OKLCH color output

    From 1 comment
    • I am currently looking for colour palettes and this website is of interest to me. Small snag, some UTF8 things are going on with some colour names, I am sure you know and have…
      Theodores on HN
  • Add RYB color wheel option

    From 1 comment
    • Great points! 1. I'll try to add RYB option for color harmony wheel 2. You are absolutely correct, there are no consistent palettes across genres, but I thought it will be…
      ouli on HN
  • Add modern or pop art painters

    From 2 comments
    • Why no contemporary/modern painters? First looked for Basquiat then Lichtenstein , nothing
      realitysballs on HN
    • As a designer and creative director, I use Adobe Color and Pinterest for client branding/re-brand inspiration, or just straight to the pantone books. This is interesting to me as…
      saltypixel on HN
  • Provide an API endpoint

    From 1 comment
    • Love it. I'll be using this on a weekly basis in my art practice. Let me know if you ever create an API endpoint.
      afolkest on HN

Questions

  • Can original pigment colors be recovered from faded paintings?

    From 2 comments
    • so is there a formula that can be automatically applied to restore the original colors? at least some reasonable approximation, based on the painting's age?
      pzoln on HN
    • Is there enough color data left in the brown to correct it? Or do you need to infer it based on location, budget, time, climate etc?
      basch on HN

Alternatives named

  • Adobe Color

    From 1 comment
    • As a designer and creative director, I use Adobe Color and Pinterest for client branding/re-brand inspiration, or just straight to the pantone books. This is interesting to me as…
      saltypixel on HN
  • Coolors and Colorhunt

    From 1 comment
    • The intention of this site is to showcase time tested palettes (with empirical evidence) of greatest visual artists instead of listing endless sea of neon bright color palettes…
      ouli on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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