Tinted Neutrals

Create neutral palettes that carry a subtle hint of your brand color. Instead of pure grays, get warm or cool neutrals that feel cohesive with your design system.

When to Use

• “Create grays that match my brand”
• “I want warm/cool neutrals”
• “Make my grays less boring”
• “Tint my neutral palette with brand color”

Installation

npx @basiclines/rampa

Recipe

1. Pure Neutral (Desaturated Brand)

Start with neutrals derived from your brand color’s hue but heavily desaturated:

rampa -C "<brand-color>" -L 98:5 -S 3:8 --size=10 -O css --name=neutral

2. Tinted Neutral

Apply your brand color as a subtle overlay tint:

rampa -C "<brand-color>" -L 98:5 -S 3:8 --tint-color="<brand-color>" --tint-opacity=8 --tint-blend=overlay --size=10 -O css --name=neutral-tinted

Key: The --tint-color uses the same brand color – no hardcoded values!

Tint Intensity Options

Subtle Tint (5-8%)

Barely noticeable but adds warmth/coolness:

--tint-opacity=6 --tint-blend=overlay

Medium Tint (10-15%)

Clearly tinted but still neutral:

--tint-opacity=12 --tint-blend=overlay

Strong Tint (18-25%)

Obviously colored neutrals:

--tint-opacity=20 --tint-blend=soft-light

Blend Mode Options

Complete Example

For brand color #7c3aed (purple):

# Pure neutral (cool-ish from purple hue)
rampa -C "#7c3aed" -L 98:5 -S 3:8 --size=10 -O css --name=gray

# Tinted neutral (purple tint)
rampa -C "#7c3aed" -L 98:5 -S 3:8 --tint-color="#7c3aed" --tint-opacity=8 --tint-blend=overlay --size=10 -O css --name=gray-tinted

# Compare: extra warm variant
rampa -C "#7c3aed" -L 98:5 -S 3:8 --tint-color="#7c3aed" --tint-opacity=15 --tint-blend=soft-light --size=10 -O css --name=gray-warm

Output Structure

:root {
  /* Pure neutral */
  --gray-0: #fafafa;
  --gray-1: #f4f4f5;
  --gray-9: #18181b;

  /* Tinted neutral */
  --gray-tinted-0: #faf8fc;
  --gray-tinted-1: #f3f0f7;
  --gray-tinted-9: #1a1720;
}

Tips

1. Always use the brand color as tint source – never hardcode gray
2. overlay blend mode works for most cases
3. Keep opacity under 15% for “still feels neutral”
4. Test on both light and dark backgrounds
5. Tinted neutrals make white text pop more on dark backgrounds