Saturation is the intensity or purity of a color. A fully saturated blue is vivid and electric. A desaturated blue is muted, dusty, and subtle. The saturation level of your palette colors affects their perceived energy, sophistication, and visual weight.
High Saturation
Highly saturated colors demand attention. They feel energetic, youthful, and bold. They work for entertainment, gaming, children's brands, fast food, and tech startups trying to stand out. The cost: saturated colors are visually fatiguing in large areas and can feel cheap if used without restraint.
Low Saturation
Muted, desaturated colors feel sophisticated, calm, and premium. They work for luxury brands, professional services, wellness, editorial design, and any context where refinement matters more than energy. The cost: muted palettes can feel bland or lifeless without careful lightness contrast and strategic moments of vibrancy.
The Mixed Saturation Approach
Most production palettes use mixed saturation. Base colors (backgrounds, text) are always desaturated (neutral). Primary brand color might be moderately saturated. CTAs might be the most saturated element on the page. This creates a natural attention hierarchy: the most saturated element draws the most attention.
Saturation and Accessibility
WCAG contrast ratios are based on luminance, not saturation. A highly saturated color and a desaturated color at the same lightness can have similar contrast ratios against a given background. However, highly saturated colors adjacent to each other can create visual discomfort even when they technically pass contrast requirements.