Design
One palette for every service’s page and every app that draws their answers. It changes rarely, so it lives here rather than behind an endpoint.
Levels
For a scale from good to bad that we set ourselves, such as swimq’s verdicts.
| Level | Hex | Means |
|---|---|---|
| OK | #1baf7a |
Nothing to worry about |
| Caution | #e0a526 |
Worth a closer look |
| Warning | #eb6834 |
Take care |
| Avoid | #d64545 |
Don’t |
| Unknown | #9aa5b1 |
No verdict |
A scale uses the steps in order and needn’t use them all. Red means don’t, so a scale whose worst step isn’t a danger stops at orange: swimq uses OK, Caution and Avoid; the Tides app’s accuracy bar uses OK, Caution and Warning.
Series
One colour per item, in this order, for pins and lines that are told apart rather than ranked. Chosen to stay apart for colour-blind readers; a name or a table still carries each item’s identity.
#2a78d6 #eb6834 #1baf7a #eda100 #e87ba4 #8a63d2
Ink
#0b0b0b rings every pin and dot, so a colour holds on a pale map and a dark
one. #9aa5b1 is the muted grey.
An authority’s own bands keep the authority’s colours. The US AQI, the UK’s DAQI and the UV index come with published palettes, and airq sends those. Never repaint one in this palette.
© 2026 Gerry Shaw