What Is Pigment by ShapeFactory?

Pigment by ShapeFactory is a free browser-based color palette generator that produces color combinations by simulating how light interacts with pigment, rather than by applying mathematical color rules like complementary or triadic harmony. It's aimed at designers, illustrators, and anyone who needs a fresh, vibrant palette quickly — you open the site, browse or generate palettes, and copy the hex or rgba values you want. Because it runs in the browser with no account mentioned, it works as a quick starting point for a project rather than a full design tool.

How it differs from typical palette generators

Most palette tools work in a color space (HSL, HSV, LAB) and shift hue, saturation, and lightness by fixed increments. That approach is predictable but can feel mechanical.

Pigment instead frames color as the result of lighting and pigment. The site's own description puts it as generating colors "based on lighting and pigment, instead of math." In practice this means the palettes tend to read like paint mixed under a light source — warmer, more saturated, and with more tonal variation between swatches — rather than evenly spaced hues on a wheel.

The page also exposes a Lighting control alongside the palette output, which reinforces that lighting is a first-class variable in how the colors are produced, not just a brightness slider bolted on afterward.

What you actually get

The output is a set of color swatches, each shown with its value. From the page data, values appear in two formats:

A single palette can hold a large number of swatches — the page lists well over a hundred color values — so you're not limited to a fixed 5-color strip. You can pull just the two or three that fit your project and ignore the rest.

Who it's for

• UI and web designers who need a starting palette before refining brand colors.
• Illustrators and poster designers who want pigment-like, high-saturation combinations that don't look algorithmically generated.
• Anyone stuck on color choice who wants to browse options in seconds rather than build a palette from scratch.

It's less suited to work that requires strict, reproducible color math (for example, generating accessible contrast pairs on demand) — for that, a contrast checker or a color-space-based tool is the better fit.

How to use it

1. Open pigment.shapefactory.co in a browser.
2. Browse the generated palette, or use the Lighting control to shift how the colors are rendered.
3. Pick the swatches you want and copy their hex or rgba values into your design tool or stylesheet.
4. Verify contrast and legibility separately — the generator produces color, not accessibility guarantees.

Practical notes

• The site is described as free, and no pricing links or payment platforms appear in the page data. That said, treat "free" as the site's own framing rather than a guarantee about future terms.
• No login or account requirement is mentioned, so you can use it without signing up.
• Because palettes are generated rather than saved to an account, copy the values you want before navigating away.
• The rgba values shown include fully transparent entries (rgba(255, 255, 255, 0)), so if you're copying rgba, check the alpha channel before using it as a solid fill.

If you want a palette that feels mixed rather than calculated, Pigment is a fast first stop. If you need precise, repeatable color relationships, pair it with a dedicated contrast or color-harmony tool.