When you create a new Jottings site, you get a random color from our curated palette of 12 theme colors. That color becomes your site's visual identity—it appears in your header, tags, buttons, and across all your pages. But here's what makes it special: you can change it anytime, and each color works beautifully in both light and dark modes.
The 12 Colors
We spent time creating a palette that:
- Works across light and dark modes without modification
- Feels cohesive but distinct from each other
- Maintains readability and visual hierarchy
- Never feels generic or corporate
Here are the 12 colors that make up your palette:
- Blue (#2563EB) - Clean, professional, trustworthy
- Purple (#7C3AED) - Creative, innovative, imaginative
- Pink (#DB2777) - Bold, playful, expressive
- Red (#DC2626) - Energetic, passionate, commanding attention
- Orange (#EA580C) - Warm, friendly, approachable
- Amber (#CA8A04) - Golden, optimistic, vibrant
- Green (#16A34A) - Fresh, calm, balanced
- Cyan (#0891B2) - Modern, cool, sophisticated
- Indigo (#6366F1) - Deep, thoughtful, intellectual
- Violet (#8B5CF6) - Mystical, elegant, refined
- Rose (#EC4899) - Soft, artistic, delicate
- Yellow-Orange (#F59E0B) - Cheerful, warm, energetic
How Color Shapes Perception
Color theory isn't just for designers. When visitors land on your site, they form an impression within milliseconds—and your theme color is a key part of that first impression.
- A blue site signals professionalism and expertise—great for consultants, researchers, and educators
- A pink site radiates creativity and approachability—perfect for designers, writers, and artists
- A green site communicates growth and sustainability—ideal for wellness, environmentalism, and gardening
- An orange site feels warm and energetic—perfect for makers, craft blogs, and community-focused creators
Your theme color doesn't need to match your industry perfectly. It just needs to match you. Some of the most memorable sites break expectations: a serious developer with a pink site, a wellness coach with a sharp indigo presence, an accountant with a warm orange personality.
Deterministic Assignment
When you create a Jottings site, you're assigned a theme color automatically. The assignment is deterministic—meaning it's not truly random, but based on an algorithm. This ensures good color distribution: if too many people get blue, new creators shift toward underrepresented colors.
But here's the beauty: you don't have to keep it.
Change It Whenever You Want
Your theme color isn't locked in. You can change it from your site settings anytime you want:
- Navigate to your site's settings
- Look for the "Theme Color" option
- Choose from the 12-color palette
- Your entire site updates instantly
This flexibility matters. Maybe you're rebranding. Maybe you realize that purple actually feels more like "you" than the blue you were assigned. Maybe you're seasonal and want to shift colors with the times. You're free to do all of it.
The color change is immediate—no rebuild needed, no waiting. It's one of those small details that transforms a tool from "using software" to "using software that works for me."
Dark Mode Compatibility
Here's what many site builders get wrong: they pick colors that work in light mode and ignore dark mode. We didn't do that.
Every color in our palette was selected to maintain contrast and visual appeal in both light and dark modes. There's no moment where your visitor switches to dark mode and suddenly your site colors clash with the dark background. Each color was tested extensively in both modes.
When your site is viewed in dark mode, the colors automatically adjust in brightness while preserving their personality. A blue stays blue, but it shifts to the right shade of blue for dark backgrounds. Same with every other color. No manual configuration needed—it just works.
The Philosophy: Constraints Breed Creativity
You might wonder why we limited the palette to 12 colors instead of letting you pick any color you want. The answer is that constraints breed creativity.
When you have unlimited options, you can spend hours tweaking RGB values, never feeling satisfied. With a curated palette of 12, you make a choice and move forward. You focus on your actual content instead of getting lost in customization.
These 12 colors were chosen specifically to avoid the trap of generic web design. They're distinctive enough that each site feels different, but cohesive enough that they all feel like they belong to the same platform. It's the difference between a carefully curated museum and a warehouse where everything is possible.
Your Site, Your Color
Whether your site gets a warm amber or a cool indigo, you'll notice something interesting: after a while, you stop thinking about the color as assigned and start thinking of it as yours. Visitors will too. Your color becomes part of your identity.
That's when you know it's working.
The color is just the beginning. It sets the tone for everything else: your writing voice, your content type, your audience's expectations. A site with a warm orange color naturally feels more approachable. A site with deep indigo feels more serious. Colors are a subtle language that speaks to everyone who visits.
Change Your Color, Change Your Feeling
If your site ever starts to feel like it doesn't match who you are anymore, remember: you can change it. Maybe it's a new chapter. Maybe you finally know what color feels right. Whatever the reason, the color is yours to control.
Your site should feel like home, and that starts with a color that feels like you.
Ready to find your color? Create a new Jottings site and see which color feels right—or switch it whenever you want. Your site, your personality, your rules.