← BACK TO /ds

Palette preview

Side-by-side comparison of the current palette against three alternative proposals. Toggle theme to see each set on dark and on bone. Vertical accents recalibrate to their --*-ink variants on light.

J · Klein Monochrome
· blue · single hue, three luminances

One cobalt hue (~228°) modulated only by luminance: vertical identity becomes a value scale, not a hue scale. Branded-house at its most extreme: the master is the color, the sub-brand is the brightness. Yves Klein's IKB lineage. Reads museum-grade, not 2024-startup-blue. Risk: in dense UI all three can compress into "just blue", so the value gap must stay visible.

solutions#93A8E5
factory#6F87DC
labs#5670D5
SOLUTIONS
Hire team.
$340K
recovered
FACTORY
SaaS product.
v2.3.1
live
LABS
Open paper.
MIT
OSS · v0.1.3
K · Petrol Triad
· blue · three nameable hues

Three blues with distinct hue positions you can name out loud: warm petrol (Solutions, ~195°), Prussian mid (Factory, ~225°), deeper cobalt edge (Labs, ~232°). The blue-family analog of current's triad strategy: same warm→cool tension, but contained inside one chromatic family. Each vertical has a chromatically nameable identity; museum-pigment lineage rather than software-blue.

solutions#5BA3C5
factory#5D7DDA
labs#6975DC
SOLUTIONS
Hire team.
$340K
recovered
FACTORY
SaaS product.
v2.3.1
live
LABS
Open paper.
MIT
OSS · v0.1.3
L · Manuscript Indigo
· blue · aged-bookbinding

Three closely-spaced indigos at 25–35% chroma: the "old library" answer. Reads weighted, dignified, archival; far less zing than Klein, far more elegance than Cool. The bookbinding palette: dignified rather than electric, sober without going washed-out (the complaint about Stone). Possibly the most aligned with the editorial spirit of the rest of the DS.

solutions#A0A4D0
factory#7C82C0
labs#7077BB
SOLUTIONS
Hire team.
$340K
recovered
FACTORY
SaaS product.
v2.3.1
live
LABS
Open paper.
MIT
OSS · v0.1.3
M · Aubergine Editorial
· purple · warm, red-leaning

Warm purples leaning red: dusty rose-plum, aubergine, deep wine-violet. Bordeaux territory; reads couture/fashion-editorial, not tech. The most distinct from anything currently in market for SaaS, and the most alive of the seven proposals. Risk: at large fills the lightest can read "rosé", so use it on text/lines not on hero blocks.

solutions#C795B0
factory#B57AA0
labs#A56398
SOLUTIONS
Hire team.
$340K
recovered
FACTORY
SaaS product.
v2.3.1
live
LABS
Open paper.
MIT
OSS · v0.1.3
N · Iris Cool
· purple · cool, blue-leaning

Cool purples leaning blue: lavender, iris, deep violet. Manuscript-like, academic, restrained. A purple palette that doesn't scream "AI startup 2024": more elegant than Aubergine's warmth, more recognizably purple than Manuscript Indigo. Sits closest in spirit to Cool Spectrum, but with violet conviction instead of blue safety.

solutions#B0AEE5
factory#8C82D5
labs#7E6CC8
SOLUTIONS
Hire team.
$340K
recovered
FACTORY
SaaS product.
v2.3.1
live
LABS
Open paper.
MIT
OSS · v0.1.3
O · Royal Pigment
· purple · saturated, museum-grade

Saturated museum purples: Tyrian violet, imperial purple, deep mauve. Statement-tier, classic European pigment tradition. The opposite move from Stone Editorial: full chroma, full conviction. The loudest of the seven; only works if Dinnartec wants to be remembered as "the purple one". Carries weight and history but pulls strongly toward the costume-y end of the spectrum.

solutions#C485E0
factory#A66BD8
labs#9560CF
SOLUTIONS
Hire team.
$340K
recovered
FACTORY
SaaS product.
v2.3.1
live
LABS
Open paper.
MIT
OSS · v0.1.3
P · Spectrum Cool
· blue + purple combo

A continuous chromatic walk from blue through indigo to violet. Solutions = cobalt (~225°), Factory = indigo bridge (~252°), Labs = violet (~285°). Reads as one move with three positions, not three competing hues. The most natural blue+purple combination because they live next to each other on the wheel; visually harmonic by construction. Risk: it's also the closest to "generic 2024 cool gradient", saved by sharper edges and editorial DS bones.

solutions#5B7BE0
factory#836CDA
labs#A565CC
SOLUTIONS
Hire team.
$340K
recovered
FACTORY
SaaS product.
v2.3.1
live
LABS
Open paper.
MIT
OSS · v0.1.3
Q · Argenta Triad
· saturation walks toward steel

Steel assigned to Labs: gunmetal instrument, scalpel under work-light, IC trace. The original silver (#BFC4CE) read too close to paper-muted (L≈0.59 effective) on dark surfaces, so Labs was pulled deeper to #8FA3BD: distinct from both paper and paper-muted, weighted as instrument rather than ornament. Solutions = indigo-violet (#836CDA) for the human-facing vertical's editorial gravitas; Factory = cobalt blue (#5B7BE0) for the product engine's structural saturation; Labs = steel (#8FA3BD) as the chromatic endpoint, gunmetal rather than polished. The progression reads as a saturation gradient (indigo → cobalt → steel) that converges toward the master brand. LATAM silver/metal tradition refracted through tool weight rather than ornament gloss.

solutions#836CDA
factory#5B7BE0
labs#8FA3BD
SOLUTIONS
Hire team.
$340K
recovered
FACTORY
SaaS product.
v2.3.1
live
LABS
Open paper.
MIT
OSS · v0.1.3
R · Steel Editorial
· three patinas of one metal

Silver becomes the shared language. All three accents live in the steel/pewter family with subtle hue casts: blue-steel (Solutions, ~210° trace), neutral silver (Factory, master-adjacent), violet-pewter (Labs, ~290° trace). The instrument-workshop palette: vertical identity lives in temperature shifts rather than discrete hues. More cohesive than Argenta, less differentiated. Risk: shares Tonal Trace's hazard, three desaturated tones can compress into "all silver" in dense UI.

solutions#98ACC5
factory#C2C5CC
labs#B5A7BE
SOLUTIONS
Hire team.
$340K
recovered
FACTORY
SaaS product.
v2.3.1
live
LABS
Open paper.
MIT
OSS · v0.1.3