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How to Fix a Failing Palette: Common Issues and Solutions in PaletteRx

You have added your colors to PaletteRx and the Health Score is stuck at 40 or 60. The red indicators are discouraging, but each failure has a specific, fixable cause. Here is how to work through them systematically.

Failure: Missing Base Colors

Symptom: Health Score penalizes "no light base" or "no dark base." Cause: Your palette has chromatic colors but no near-white or near-black anchors. Fix: Add a very light neutral (#f8f9fb or #faf9f7) and a very dark neutral (#1a1a2e or #1e293b). These two additions typically boost the Health Score by 20 points immediately.

Failure: WCAG Contrast Issues

Symptom: Step 3 shows red failures across the contrast grid. Cause: Colors are too similar in lightness. Two mid-tone colors (both around 50% lightness) will fail against each other and possibly against both bases. Fix: Adjust the lightness of failing colors. Make medium-light colors lighter. Make medium-dark colors darker. Spread your palette across the full lightness spectrum.

Failure: Low Color Diversity

Symptom: Balance scan flags low hue diversity. Cause: All chromatic colors are in the same hue family (three blues and two purples). Fix: Introduce a color from a different hue region. A warm accent (amber, coral) alongside a cool palette adds the diversity the score requires.

Failure: Color Count Too Low

Symptom: Health Score flags insufficient colors. Cause: You have only 2 or 3 colors. Fix: Use Smart Suggestions to add complementary or analogous colors until you reach at least 4 to 6 total.

Failure: Missing Role Assignments

Symptom: Export options are limited or unavailable. Cause: Colors exist but have no roles assigned. Fix: Go to Step 4 and assign at least Primary, Light Base, and Dark Base. Auto-assignment handles this in one click for most palettes.

💡 The fix order: Add bases first (biggest score impact). Fix contrast second. Add diversity third. Assign roles last. This order typically gets a failing palette to 80+ in under five minutes.

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