The system
The 12 color seasons
Four families, three seasons each — and every palette below is published in full, hex codes and all.
The 12 color seasons are the standard personal-color system: the four families — Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter — each split three ways along undertone, depth and clarity. Palettewell publishes all 12 palettes in full — 16 colors, 6 neutrals and 6 to avoid per season, 336 named hex values in total.
What are the 12 color seasons?
Three questions sort everyone: is your coloring warm or cool (undertone), light or deep (value), and bright or muted (chroma)? The first answer picks your family; the other two pick which of its three seasons you are. That is the whole system — everything else is the palette that comes out the other end.
| Spring | warm undertone · light to medium depth · medium to bright clarity |
|---|---|
| Summer | cool undertone · light to medium depth · soft to medium clarity |
| Autumn | warm undertone · medium to deep depth · soft to medium clarity |
| Winter | cool undertone · medium to deep depth · medium to bright clarity |
The 3 Spring seasons
warm undertone · light to medium depth · medium to bright clarity.
Light Spring
16 colorsSunlit, fresh and delicate — like the first warm week of the year.
warm · light depth · medium clarity
True Spring
16 colorsWarm, clear and alive — you wear color the way a garden does.
warm · medium depth · clear clarity
Bright Spring
16 colorsHigh-voltage warmth — clear, saturated color is your neutral.
warm · medium depth · bright clarity
The 3 Summer seasons
cool undertone · light to medium depth · soft to medium clarity.
Light Summer
16 colorsCool morning light — airy, luminous and effortlessly soft.
cool · light depth · medium clarity
True Summer
16 colorsCool, calm and quietly magnetic — the elegance of dusk over water.
cool · medium depth · medium clarity
Soft Summer
16 colorsMisty, muted and refined — colors that whisper rather than shout.
cool · medium depth · soft clarity
The 3 Autumn seasons
warm undertone · medium to deep depth · soft to medium clarity.
Soft Autumn
16 colorsGolden haze — warmth turned down to a murmur, rich but never loud.
warm · medium depth · soft clarity
True Autumn
16 colorsRich, earthy and golden — October light made wearable.
warm · medium depth · medium clarity
Deep Autumn
16 colorsSmoldering warmth — the drama of embers, not fireworks.
warm · deep depth · medium clarity
The 3 Winter seasons
cool undertone · medium to deep depth · medium to bright clarity.
Deep Winter
16 colorsMidnight contrast — cool depth that makes jewel tones look inevitable.
cool · deep depth · medium clarity
True Winter
16 colorsPure cool clarity — icy brights and absolute contrast.
cool · medium depth · clear clarity
Bright Winter
16 colorsNeon frost — the loudest cool colors, worn like they were obvious.
cool · medium depth · bright clarity
How do I know which season I am?
Start with undertone — it halves the system in one answer, and it is the axis people most often get wrong by guessing. Depth and clarity are easier to judge once the family is settled. If two of the three feel obvious and one doesn’t, you are choosing between neighbours inside a single family, which is a much smaller question than 12 palettes.
Questions about the 12 seasons
How many color seasons are there?
There are 12 color seasons. The four families — Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter — each split three ways along undertone, depth and clarity. Palettewell publishes all 12 palettes in full: 16 colors, 6 neutrals and 6 shades to avoid per season, 336 named hex values in all.
What are the four color families?
Spring: Light Spring, True Spring, Bright Spring. Summer: Light Summer, True Summer, Soft Summer. Autumn: Soft Autumn, True Autumn, Deep Autumn. Winter: Deep Winter, True Winter, Bright Winter. Each family shares an undertone, and the three seasons inside it differ on depth and clarity.
What is the difference between a warm and a cool season?
6 of the 12 seasons are warm — Light Spring, True Spring, Bright Spring, Soft Autumn, True Autumn, Deep Autumn — and 6 are cool: Light Summer, True Summer, Soft Summer, Deep Winter, True Winter, Bright Winter. Warm palettes are built on golden, yellow-based colors; cool palettes on pink and blue-based ones. Undertone is the first axis to settle, because it rules out half the system in one step.
How do I know which color season I am?
Three questions decide it: is your coloring warm or cool, light or deep, bright or muted? Answer those and you land on one of the 12 seasons. The free Palettewell undertone quiz settles the first one in about a minute, and the full analysis uses a quiz plus one selfie to settle all three.
Can I be more than one color season?
You have one season, but most people sit close to a neighbour on one axis — the same undertone at a slightly different depth or clarity. That is why the seasons are grouped in families of three: if two of the three axes feel certain and one doesn't, your answer is almost always the neighbouring season inside the same family.
Where can I see all 12 color palettes?
On this page. Every one of the 12 seasons links to a full palette page carrying 16 palette colors, 6 neutrals and 6 colors to avoid, each published with its hex code rather than described in words.
Work out your own coloring
- Free undertone quizWarm, cool or neutral in about a minute
- How to find your undertoneThe vein, jewelry and white-shirt tests, and what each one is worth
- What is color analysis?The whole idea in plain language
- Colors A–ZPick a color, see which of the 12 seasons can wear it
- Palette viewerAll 12 palettes side by side
- All free toolsQuiz, viewer and color checker