Hue

The colour itself, the name we give it: red, blue, gold. The first thing chosen and the hardest to change later.

Hue is the colour's identity, the position on the wheel that makes it red rather than orange, gold rather than yellow. It is the first choice a palette makes and the one everything downstream inherits: change a hue and every tint, shade and pairing built on it must be renegotiated.

Hue also carries meaning before any word does: culture, temperature, category. Choosing one is choosing associations, which is why we choose early, against real content, and commit. Adjusting saturation or lightness later is tuning; changing hue is starting again.