Palette Cohesion
The degree to which all colors in a palette feel like they belong together — driven by shared undertones, consistent chroma, and intentional relationships.
What it means
Palette cohesion is what makes a set of colors feel "right" together. It's not just about picking harmonious hues — it's about alignment across multiple dimensions: shared or compatible undertones, consistent chroma levels within functional groups, intentional lightness distribution, and temperature coherence.
A cohesive palette can include high-contrast, diverse hues and still feel unified. The secret is usually undertone alignment: if every color in the palette drifts toward the same hue family when desaturated, the palette reads as a deliberate family rather than a random collection.
Why it matters in palette design
PerfectPalette's health score is largely a measure of palette cohesion. It evaluates harmony adherence, contrast availability, lightness distribution, and saturation balance. A high-cohesion palette supports more accessible color pairs, requires fewer workarounds, and looks professionally designed — because it is.
Example
A 5-color palette with blue, green, cream, dark gray, and coral might seem eclectic. But if all five share a warm undertone (OKLCH hue drifting toward 60° when chroma is drained), they feel unexpectedly cohesive. Change the coral to a cool pink with a blue undertone, and the cohesion breaks — one color doesn't belong.
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Apply this to your palette
Open PerfectPalette and put these concepts into practice with your own colors.