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A little color. A new perspective.

Published Jun 30, 2026

Tide Marks at Harbor Station

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Five colors, endless possibilities. Select a color to copy its HEX.

A measured harbor-dashboard palette with muted lavender, dark plum, cool chart paper, deep sounding blue, and a weathered terracotta marker. Designed for tide times, level charts, station comparisons, and observation logs.

The feeling

A quiet harbor station with lavender light, cool chart paper, deep blue soundings, and terracotta markers

Explore this palette ↓

The mood

Imagine tide-chart sheets spread across a quiet harbor station: lavender evening light on the desk, dark plum notes in the logbook, a deep blue sounding line, and a weathered terracotta marker beside the latest observation.

Logbook Plum keeps the dashboard grounded. Harbor Lavender creates a calm instrument-like canvas, Chart Paper opens space for dense plots, Deep Sounding carries the main data series, and Rusted Marker identifies a selected point.

How to use it

Use Harbor Lavender for the dashboard frame with Logbook Plum for navigation, station names, timestamps, and summary values. Put water-level plots and comparison tables on Chart Paper. Use Deep Sounding for the main chart line and compact dark panels with Chart Paper labels.

Rusted Marker can identify the selected observation with Logbook Plum text. Treat the 45/40/15 balance as a starting point for background, primary, and highlight surfaces. Give each station series a label plus a distinct line pattern or point shape.

What to watch

Logbook Plum reaches about 5.40:1 on Harbor Lavender, 14.23:1 on Chart Paper, and 4.79:1 on Rusted Marker. It reaches only about 2.06:1 on Deep Sounding, so use Chart Paper text there instead, at about 6.90:1.

Rusted Marker and Harbor Lavender are only about 1.13:1 apart. Add an outline, shape, and text label to selected points, and do not distinguish chart series through color alone.

A considered balance

Make room for
the right colors.

Use Harbor Lavender for the dashboard frame and Logbook Plum for station names, timestamps, and summary values. Put plots and tables on Chart Paper, use Deep Sounding for the main line and dark panels with Chart Paper labels, and reserve Rusted Marker for selected observations with explicit shapes and labels.

Start with a generous background, introduce your primary color, then use the highlight sparingly. The ratios are a guide for large surfaces, not a fixed recipe.

45 Base
40 Main
15 Point
Harbor Lavender

Background & breathing room

Chart Paper

Cards, graphics & sections

Deep Sounding

Focal areas & key details

Background · Primary · Highlight. Use text and accent colors where their roles call for them.

Text on background
5.40:1 #291D2D on #9A91B2 · AA normal text
Text on primary
14.23:1 #291D2D on #EDF2F4 · AAA normal text
Text on highlight
2.06:1 #291D2D on #34547A · Not suitable for text

The original text has low contrast (2.06:1). This example uses Chart Paper (#EDF2F4) from the same palette instead of #291D2D on #34547A, improving contrast to 6.90:1. This meets WCAG AA for normal text.

Text on accent
4.79:1 #291D2D on #C67863 · AA normal text

Contrast is calculated for these specific pairs. Large text means at least 24 px regular or about 18.7 px bold. Check every pairing in your final design.

IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES

One palette.
A world of possibilities.

See how these five colors come together in a website, a poster, a brand, and a presentation. Explore a different palette and watch the mood change.

ONDA STUDIO / WEB PREVIEW
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INDEPENDENT STUDIO · SEOUL

Design with
today’s color.

A little space for fresh ideas. A considered palette for whatever comes next.

Prepared design previews, recolored with this palette.

COLOR NOTE

Do not use Logbook Plum on Deep Sounding; the contrast is about 2.06:1. Use Chart Paper on Deep Sounding instead, at about 6.90:1. Rusted Marker and Harbor Lavender are only about 1.13:1 apart, so selected points need outlines, shapes, and text labels. Do not distinguish chart series by color alone.

From inspiration to creation

Your next idea,
in these colors.

Add a considered color direction to the design you already have in mind. Your layout and instructions stay yours.

  1. Write your design request.
  2. Choose a color guide and copy it.
  3. Paste it after your request.
  4. Review the result and check readability.

Try it in the design or AI tool you already use.

[Color guide — coloring.today / tide-marks-at-harbor-station]
Apply this palette to the design requested above. Preserve the requested layout, content, and interactions. If an explicit requirement conflicts with this color guide, identify the conflict instead of silently overriding it.

Text: Logbook Plum #291D2D
Primary: Chart Paper #EDF2F4
Highlight: Deep Sounding #34547A
Accent: Rusted Marker #C67863
Background: Harbor Lavender #9A91B2

Mood: A quiet harbor station with lavender light, cool chart paper, deep blue soundings, and terracotta markers
Suggested uses: Data dashboards
Application note: Use Harbor Lavender for the dashboard frame and Logbook Plum for station names, timestamps, and summary values. Put plots and tables on Chart Paper, use Deep Sounding for the main line and dark panels with Chart Paper labels, and reserve Rusted Marker for selected observations with explicit shapes and labels.
Avoid: Do not use Logbook Plum on Deep Sounding; the contrast is about 2.06:1. Use Chart Paper on Deep Sounding instead, at about 6.90:1. Rusted Marker and Harbor Lavender are only about 1.13:1 apart, so selected points need outlines, shapes, and text labels. Do not distinguish chart series by color alone.
Use approximately 45% background, 40% primary, and 15% highlight across large surfaces. These ratios are a starting point, not a rigid rule. Use text and accent colors according to their roles.

Keep the original HEX values. Choose readable text/background pairings without silently changing the palette. Do not introduce unrelated colors.
[Color guide — coloring.today / tide-marks-at-harbor-station]
Apply this palette to the design requested above. Preserve the requested layout, content, and interactions. If an explicit requirement conflicts with this color guide, identify the conflict instead of silently overriding it.

Text: Logbook Plum #291D2D
Primary: Chart Paper #EDF2F4
Highlight: Deep Sounding #34547A
Accent: Rusted Marker #C67863
Background: Harbor Lavender #9A91B2

Mood: A quiet harbor station with lavender light, cool chart paper, deep blue soundings, and terracotta markers
Suggested uses: Data dashboards
Application note: Use Harbor Lavender for the dashboard frame and Logbook Plum for station names, timestamps, and summary values. Put plots and tables on Chart Paper, use Deep Sounding for the main line and dark panels with Chart Paper labels, and reserve Rusted Marker for selected observations with explicit shapes and labels.
Avoid: Do not use Logbook Plum on Deep Sounding; the contrast is about 2.06:1. Use Chart Paper on Deep Sounding instead, at about 6.90:1. Rusted Marker and Harbor Lavender are only about 1.13:1 apart, so selected points need outlines, shapes, and text labels. Do not distinguish chart series by color alone.
Use approximately 45% background, 40% primary, and 15% highlight across large surfaces. These ratios are a starting point, not a rigid rule. Use text and accent colors according to their roles.

Use these semantic tokens consistently. Keep the original HEX values.
:root {
  --color-text: #291D2D;
  --color-primary: #EDF2F4;
  --color-highlight: #34547A;
  --color-accent: #C67863;
  --color-background: #9A91B2;
}
Background is the canvas, text is readable copy, primary is a key surface, highlight draws attention, and accent adds small secondary details.
[Color guide — coloring.today / tide-marks-at-harbor-station]
Apply this palette to the design requested above. Preserve the requested layout, content, and interactions. If an explicit requirement conflicts with this color guide, identify the conflict instead of silently overriding it.

Text: Logbook Plum #291D2D
Primary: Chart Paper #EDF2F4
Highlight: Deep Sounding #34547A
Accent: Rusted Marker #C67863
Background: Harbor Lavender #9A91B2

Mood: A quiet harbor station with lavender light, cool chart paper, deep blue soundings, and terracotta markers
Suggested uses: Data dashboards
Application note: Use Harbor Lavender for the dashboard frame and Logbook Plum for station names, timestamps, and summary values. Put plots and tables on Chart Paper, use Deep Sounding for the main line and dark panels with Chart Paper labels, and reserve Rusted Marker for selected observations with explicit shapes and labels.
Avoid: Do not use Logbook Plum on Deep Sounding; the contrast is about 2.06:1. Use Chart Paper on Deep Sounding instead, at about 6.90:1. Rusted Marker and Harbor Lavender are only about 1.13:1 apart, so selected points need outlines, shapes, and text labels. Do not distinguish chart series by color alone.
Use approximately 45% background, 40% primary, and 15% highlight across large surfaces. These ratios are a starting point, not a rigid rule. Use text and accent colors according to their roles.

Text/background contrast: 5.40:1. This is one measured pair, not a guarantee for the whole palette. Check every actual text/background pairing against WCAG AA. Prefer readable combinations from the original colors, keep visible keyboard focus, and never communicate state through color alone. If no original pairing meets the requirement, propose a separately labeled derived color with its original HEX, proposed HEX, purpose and measured contrast. Never overwrite the source palette.

This guide preserves the original HEX values. Review the output before using it.

Bring it into your project

Five colors.
Ready to use.

Copy the same colors as semantic CSS variables. Every preview and prompt on this page uses this palette.

:root {
  --color-text: #291D2D;
  --color-primary: #EDF2F4;
  --color-highlight: #34547A;
  --color-accent: #C67863;
  --color-background: #9A91B2;
}

A little more inspiration.

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