Tint

A colour lightened toward white. Tints open a palette without new hues, and keep a scheme from turning heavy.

A tint is a hue lightened toward white without changing what colour it is. Tints multiply a palette from inside: one blue yields a whole staircase of lighter siblings that are guaranteed to agree, because they are the same colour at different strengths.

This is how restrained palettes stay generous in practice. Backgrounds, hovers, borders and fills all draw from the tint ladder rather than from new hues, so surfaces gain variety without gaining voices. When a design needs another colour, the first question is whether it actually needs another tint.