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Every Color, by Family (Website)

Every Color, by Family (Website)

Design web Rhapsody
Rhapsody's color library categorizes thousands of colors by family and provides pre-calculated readability metrics for digital and print media.
What: The database sorts colors into 27 families based on the ISCC-NBS system, offering hex, RGB, HSL, and OKLCH values for each, alongside WCAG 2.2 and APCA contrast scores.
Why it matters: This addresses the persistent developer pain point of choosing brand-compliant colors that fail accessibility or print-calibration tests.
Deep dive
  • Organizes colors into 27 standard ISCC-NBS families
  • Each entry provides HSL, RGB, CMYK, and OKLCH color codes
  • Built-in contrast testing against WCAG 2.2 and APCA standards
  • Provides print-shift reporting for specific colors to predict rendering issues on physical presses
Decoder
  • ISCC-NBS: A standardized system for color naming developed by the Inter-Society Color Council and the National Bureau of Standards.
  • APCA: Advanced Perceptual Contrast Algorithm, a modern metric for assessing readability that accounts for human visual perception more accurately than traditional WCAG contrast ratios.
Original article

Every color, by family

Choosing a color takes a second. Finding out that nothing readable sits on it, or that it turns to mud on press, takes a lot longer. Don’t worry, Rhapsody has done all that work for you.

Browse by family

Twenty-seven families, every named color inside each one, with the codes to paste, the text colors that stay readable on it, and how it behaves on press.

  • The Ambers: 58 colors. Ambers are the warm, resinous yellows with a glow of orange running through them.
  • The Aquas: 115 colors. Aquas are the light, water-clear blue-greens.
  • The Blues: 208 colors. Blues are everything from pale morning sky to near-black navy.
  • The Bricks: 56 colors. Bricks are the earthy red-clay tones of masonry and terracotta.
  • The Bronzes: 55 colors. Bronzes are metallic browns with a warm, burnished cast.
  • The Browns: 78 colors. Browns are the wood-and-earth tones that sit where orange loses its chroma.
  • The Fuchsias: 30 colors. Fuchsias are the loud pink-purples, named for the flower.
  • The Golds: 205 colors. Golds are the warm yellows, from pale straw through deep antique.
  • Grayscale: 57 colors. Grayscale is the neutral spine of every palette: white, black, and the steps between.
  • The Greens: 192 colors. Greens are the leaf-and-grass colors at the middle of the spectrum.
  • The Hunters: 35 colors. Hunters are the deep, muted greens of forest floor and field dress.
  • The Indigos: 80 colors. Indigos are the ink-dark blues that stop just short of violet.
  • The Khakis: 23 colors. Khakis are the dusty, sand-toned yellows of canvas and uniform.
  • The Lemons: 90 colors. Lemons are the yellow-greens that stay on the yellow side of the line.
  • The Limes: 145 colors. Limes are the sharp yellow-greens, the loudest stretch of the green range.
  • The Magentas: 77 colors. Magentas are vivid purple-reds and rarely exist in nature.
  • The Olives: 52 colors. Olives are the muted, gray-leaning yellow-greens of the drab palette.
  • The Oranges: 68 colors. Oranges sit between red and yellow and stay warm the whole way.
  • The Peaches: 62 colors. Peaches are the soft, pale oranges carrying a pink undertone.
  • The Pinks: 63 colors. Pinks are reds gone light and gentle.
  • The Purples: 132 colors. Purples are the red-leaning cousins of violet, deep and heavy.
  • The Reds: 95 colors. Reds are the hottest colors in the set and among the most saturated.
  • The Roses: 47 colors. Roses are the soft red-pinks named for the flower.
  • The Scarlets: 79 colors. Scarlets are the fiery reds that lean hard toward orange.
  • The Teals: 98 colors. Teals are the deep blue-greens, darker and cooler than aqua.
  • The Turquoises: 64 colors. Turquoises are the bright blue-greens of the stone they take their name from.
  • The Violets: 80 colors. Violets are the blue-leaning purples at the far edge of the spectrum.

One color from every family

The color nearest the middle of each family. A place to start if you don’t know the name of the one you want.

  • Navajo White
  • Light Sea Green
  • Cornflower Blue
  • Dark Red
  • Tan
  • Sienna
  • Warm Purple
  • Wheat
  • Dark Gray
  • Medium Sea Green
  • Dark Olive Green
  • Dark Blue
  • Greyish Brown
  • Pale Goldenrod
  • Yellow Green
  • Deep Pink
  • Olive
  • Peru
  • Light Salmon
  • Light Pink
  • Dark Orchid
  • Indian Red
  • Snow
  • Orange Red
  • Medium Spring Green
  • Light Blue
  • Medium Purple

Common questions

How do I find a color’s hex code?

Type it into the search box above. A name, or a hex you already have. Every hex has a page, named or not, and it carries the RGB, HSL, CMYK, and OKLCH alongside.

Which text color is readable on a background color?

Each color’s page measures it, against both WCAG 2.2 contrast and APCA, and says which of black, white, and the color’s own tonal steps clear the bar rather than leaving you to guess.

Will this color print the way it looks on screen?

Often not, and each page says so specifically: the shift is measured against real press profiles and reported as a color difference, not as a warning that every saturated color would trip.

How many color families are there?

Twenty-seven here, each a sub-family of the ISCC-NBS system, the standard the US National Bureau of Standards published for naming colors, rather than a set someone chose.

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