Radix Colors

A gorgeous, accessible color system An open-source color system for designing beautiful, accessible websites and apps. A dart library for Radix Colors

View the Flutter web demo

Installation

Add the Radix Colors package to pubspec.yaml

dependencies:
  radix_colors: ^1.0.3

Import the package in your dart file

import 'package:radix_colors/radix_colors.dart';

Usage

Radix Colors provides 15 color scales, designed for white foreground text at step 9.

Light color variant

RadixColors.amber;

Dark color variant

RadixColors.dark.amber;

Dynamic color for auto light/dark theme

RadixColorsDynamic(context).amber;

12 Colors steps/shades

RadixColors.amber.step1;
RadixColors.amber.step2;
RadixColors.amber.step3;
RadixColors.amber.step4;
RadixColors.amber.step5;
RadixColors.amber.step6;
RadixColors.amber.step7;
RadixColors.amber.step8;
RadixColors.amber.step9;
RadixColors.amber.step10;
RadixColors.amber.step11;
RadixColors.amber.step12;

There are 12 steps in each scale. Each step was designed for at least one specific use case.

Step Use case
1 App background
2 Subtle background
3 UI element background
4 Hovered UI element background
5 Active Selected UI element background
6 Subtle borders and separators
7 UI element border and focus rings
8 Hovered UI element border
9 Solid backgrounds
10 Hovered solid backgrounds
11 Low-contrast text
12 High-contrast text

Steps 1 and 2 are designed for app backgrounds and subtle component backgrounds. You can use them interchangeably, depending on the vibe you're going for.

Appropriate applications include:

  • Main app background
  • Striped table background
  • Code block background
  • Card background
  • Sidebar background
  • Canvas area background

Steps 3, 4, and 5 are designed for UI component backgrounds.

  • Step 3 is for normal states.
  • Step 4 is for hover states.
  • Step 5 is for pressed or selected states.

Even if your component has a transparent background in its default state, you should skip Step 3 and use Step 4 for its hover state.

For call-to-action components that you want to draw particular attention to, you can bump each color one step higher to steps 4, 5, and 6.

For complex components where you need many subtle colors to communicate different meanings, you can get creative and do something like:

  • Step 3 for hovered backgrounds.
  • Step 4 for selected / pressed backgrounds.
  • Step 5 for "unread" backgrounds.
  • Step 6 for hovered "unread" backgrounds.

Steps 6, 7, and 8 are designed for borders.

  • Step 6 is designed for subtle borders on components which are not interactive. For example sidebars, headers, cards, alerts, and separators.
  • Step 7 is designed for borders on interactive components, but can also be used for focus rings.
  • Step 8 is designed for borders on interactive components in their hover state.

Steps 9 and 10 are designed for solid backgrounds.

Step 9 has the highest chroma of all steps in the scale. In other words, it's the purest step, the step mixed with the least amount of white or black. Because 9 is the purest step, it has a wide range of applications:

  • Website/App backgrounds
  • Website section backgrounds
  • Header backgrounds
  • Component backgrounds
  • Graphics/Logos
  • Overlays
  • Coloured shadows
  • Accent borders

Step 10 is designed for component hover states, where step 9 is the component's normal state background.

Most step 9 colors are designed for white foreground text. RadixColors.sky, RadixColors.mint, RadixColors.lime, RadixColors.yellow, and RadixColors.amber are designed for black foreground text and steps 9 and 10.

Steps 11 and 12 are designed for text.

  • Step 11 is designed for low-contrast text.
  • Step 12 is designed for high-contrast text.

A major part of this documentation was lifted from the Radix Colors website.

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Contact

Reach me on Twitter @lesliearkorful

Libraries

radix_colors
A gorgeous, accessible color system