# Palette Systems

**Track:** Advanced Generative Art — Advanced Creative Coding — proposed (50)
**Framework / surface:** p5.js
**Level:** Medium
**Prerequisites:** Color, Seeded Determinism & a Hand-Rolled PRNG

**In one line:** Seeded palette engines: weighted pools, harmony rules, rarity.

## Theory, aesthetics & inspiration

A palette engine treats color as a seeded system rather than a fixed swatch: weighted pools bias toward signature hues, harmony rules—analogous, complementary, triadic—constrain relationships, and rarity tiers make some palettes scarce. Done well, color becomes the strongest carrier of a collection's identity; Tyler Hobbs has written at length on how Fidenza's color moods do more authorial work than its curves. The lineage runs back through Josef Albers's Interaction of Color, where relationship trumps individual value, and Vera Molnár's restrained plotter palettes. The risk is muddy mid-tones from naive RGB averaging; perceptual color spaces and curated pools keep the output legible and intentional.