How I Solved My Biggest Solo Dev Design Pain: Colors 🎨

When you're a solo developer, you're not just writing code —
you're the designer, PM, tester, and sometimes the support team too.

For me, one of the most frustrating parts of building my projects was choosing good colors.
Not just any colors, but ones that work well together, feel modern, and suit the UI.

The Problem: "What color should this be?"

I’d often ask myself:

• “Does this shade of blue look trustworthy?”
• “Is this red too aggressive?”
• “How do I find a calm color palette for this feature?”

I’d open Figma, search Pinterest, take screenshots of websites I liked — and still waste hours unsure if my palette felt right.
Worse, I’d forget which colors I used in previous projects, or fail to share them properly when collaborating with someone.

I needed a better way.

The Solution: Palette Box

I built and now use Palette Box, a Chrome extension that lets you:

✅ Drag over any part of a webpage
✅ Instantly extract dominant colors
✅ Save those as presets
✅ Export as JSON
✅ Share them with encrypted codes

No more guessing, no more switching tools. Just click, capture, and go.

Why It Works

Palette Box fits right into my solo workflow. I no longer need a designer’s help just to define color styles.
I can explore existing websites, grab a palette I like, tweak it slightly, and boom — it’s ready to use in my project.

It’s helped me stay consistent, save time, and even rediscover inspiration while browsing.

Try It Out

You can install it from the Chrome Web Store:
👉 Palette Box

The premium version is just $2/month, which unlocks unlimited presets, JSON export, and all the good stuff.

If you're a solo developer or indie hacker who struggles with the design side of development, this tool is for you.

Built for Developers

• ⚙️ No unnecessary UI clutter
• 🔐 Privacy-respecting
• 🧑‍💻 Developer-first features (JSON export, encrypted codes)
• 🌗 Dark mode ready
• 🌍 Multilingual (KR, EN, JP, ES)

Let me know what you think!
I’m always looking to improve it — and if it helps other solo devs like me, that’s a win.