Harmony

Elevating UI contrast control to a new level of precision

Design Tools

Developer Tools

Design resources

Our story begins with a pressing need. Back in the day, all existing color palettes faced a common issue: some colors were excessively bright, while others were overly dark. Utilizing any of these existing palettes would undoubtedly lead to accessibility problems down the road. To tackle this challenge, my colleagues and I devoted numerous hours manually crafting colors for each project. We meticulously examined each color using contrast calculators, and we assessed the consistency of the resulting color set with our own eyes. Then came the game-changer: OKLCH. This innovative model introduced a perceptual lightness axis and a consistent chroma axis, making our color selection process significantly more manageable. However, there was still a lingering issue - the contrast ratio wasn't as consistent as we desired. We wanted more. A groundbreaking idea: what if we calculated colors in a way that ensures all colors within the same level have precisely the same contrast ratio? The concept was intriguing, but the implementation was undeniably challenging. It appeared that no one—not a single designer—had ever explored this idea before. There were no ready-made solutions for calculating colors based on desired contrast values. So, we made the bold decision to roll up our sleeves and create an algorithm from the ground up. We put our ideas to the test with a proof of concept on Codepen, and the result of our efforts amazed even us—a palette that harmonized perfectly. I'm so proud of what we accomplished. The colors we created are not only visually solid but also exhibit consistent chroma and perceived lightness. Even when we play around with different hues, our test interface maintains an astounding level of consistency. And that's where our mission of bringing Dynamic UI Themes to the world was born! I really believe that fellow designers will save hours and upon hours of active work time and will be delighted with the outcome. This project hasn't just provided us with a solution to our immediate problem; it has ignited a passion within us to delve deeper into the world of colors, their intricate relationships, and the vital aspects of accessibility. We are so inspired by this journey that we decided to distill our color calculation algorithm into an open-source library called apcach (https://github.com/antiflasher/a...). This library is just the beginning! We're hard at work on many more tools that will prove invaluable to designers and developers. Stay tuned for exciting updates, and join us as we explore the colorful world of design and accessibility!

Hey everyone, I’m thrilled to unveil my third product as a maker: Harmony, a unique UI color palette! Why is it so unique? First, it’s intensely focused on accessibility. Next, it leverages cutting-edge color technology and provides features that make it a dependable companion for any design system. Finally, Harmony is available for free and is provided as both a Figma file and an npm package. 👉 Check out my Twitter thread where I explain how Harmony was designed and how designers and developers can benefit from it: https://twitter.com/romanshamin_... --- Here are seven Harmony features that simplify the lives of designers and developers: 1. Equal contrast within lightness levels. Configure your UI effortlessly with dozens of switchable accent colors, as you can do on macOS. Ensure that the text on a yellow button is as legible as the text on a blue one. This functionality is achieved, because in Harmony, colors such as Blue 600, Green 600, and all others within the 600 level maintain the same contrast level. 2. Mirrored contrast columns simplify the creation of UI themes—both light and dark—and also ensure consistent color contrast for text and buttons in those themes. This is made possible by organizing color columns in Harmony as pairs, with the same contrast mirrored across the central column. 3. P3 gamut support for richer colors. Harmony leverages up to 49% more colors from the P3 gamut, enhancing the vibrancy of every color in the palette on modern displays. Be sure to use the Display P3 color profile in Figma to access all these vibrant colors. 4. Consistent chroma and perceived lightness ensure that all colors within a group appear remarkably similar. This cohesive approach helps semantically related, yet differently colored elements, such as user avatars, tags, and notifications, maintain a uniform appearance, even when placed in different sections of the UI. 5. Tailwind compatibility. Harmony seamlessly integrates with Tailwind’s color count, lightness levels, and naming conventions. Additionally, Harmony is available as an npm package that includes color configurations for Tailwind. 6. Figma variables support. You’ll find the palette neatly organized in the ‘Harmony Primitives’ collection. Simply assign these variables to your semantic tokens and configure UI theming modes, keeping the mirrored contrast columns in mind. 7. OKLCH as the source of truth. Harmony provides an OKLCH color code for each sample. Use these codes to ensure color consistency between Figma and CSS, since copying and pasting HEX codes into CSS may not produce the desired results if the Figma document is set to Display P3 mode. --- Harmony was developed by a team of believers at ​Evil Martians, specializing in product consulting for developer tools. 🙇‍♂️ Roman Shamin (https://twitter.com/romanshamin_en), creator of OKLCH Color Picker & Converter, Polychrom APCA contrast checker, and Martian Mono font. 🙇‍♂️ Anton Lovchikov (https://twitter.com/antiflasher), creator of apcach—a JS color calculator for composing colors with a consistent APCA contrast ratio. 🙇‍♂️ Gleb Stroganov (https://twitter.com/strongeron), product designer at Evil Martians. 🙇‍♂️ Ivan Buryak (https://twitter.com/11bit), frontend engineer at Evil Martians. --- We all are truly grateful for your support. Feel free to share your thoughts! 🙌

Harmony is a valuable resource for designers. Its focus on accessibility, advanced color technology and npm package make it an essential companion for design systems. Highly recommended.

Looks super helpful for making sure colors match up across designs and stay accessible. Props to the team for creating such a useful tool

What an amazing product! How does Harmony's advanced color tech make it stand out among other UI color palettes? How can I access the Figma file and npm package? Looking forward to hearing more about the launch!

I'm truly impressed by the Harmony Color Palette! This initiative remarkably addresses accessibility in UI design, making it a breeze to attain precise UI contrast control. The availability of this tool as a free Figma file and npm package is a testament to the creators' dedication towards inclusive design. The blend of aesthetic appeal and functionality makes it a commendable resource for any design system. A hearty kudos to the team behind this!

I actually love the idea and looking forward to Websites and apps starting to use the cutting-edge color technology as I am among those who hate working under direct sun with Macbook. Thank you for making it so easy to use in Figma guys!

Awesome, hopefully I can pass Chrome's Lighthouse accessibility thing. Pretty annoyed by it's complaints around contrast.

Great job on creating Harmony! I'm curious, how does Harmony ensure consistent color contrast for different UI themes in both light and dark modes?