Color analysis quiz › The 12 seasons
The 12-season system is a 4×3 grid. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter each split into three variants, and the variant is chosen by which of three dimensions dominates: undertone, value or chroma. This page explains the grid, the names each season goes by, and how to decide between the two seasons next to yours. The palettes themselves live on each season's page.
| Season | Family | Dominant dimension | What dominance means | Neighbors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light Spring | Spring | Value (light) | Lightness sets the palette; warmth is secondary. | Light Summer and True Spring |
| True Spring | Spring | Undertone (warm) | Warmth sets the palette; lightness and clarity are secondary. | Bright Spring and Light Spring |
| Bright Spring | Spring | Chroma (clear) | Clarity sets the palette; warmth is secondary. | Bright Winter and True Spring |
| Light Summer | Summer | Value (light) | Lightness sets the palette; coolness is secondary. | Light Spring and True Summer |
| True Summer | Summer | Undertone (cool) | Coolness sets the palette; softness is secondary. | Light Summer and Soft Summer |
| Soft Summer | Summer | Chroma (soft) | Softness sets the palette; coolness is secondary. | Soft Autumn and True Summer |
| Soft Autumn | Autumn | Chroma (soft) | Softness sets the palette; warmth is secondary. | Soft Summer and True Autumn |
| True Autumn | Autumn | Undertone (warm) | Warmth sets the palette; depth and softness are secondary. | Soft Autumn and Deep Autumn |
| Deep Autumn | Autumn | Value (deep) | Depth sets the palette; warmth is secondary. | Deep Winter and True Autumn |
| Deep Winter | Winter | Value (deep) | Depth sets the palette; coolness is secondary. | Deep Autumn and True Winter |
| True Winter | Winter | Undertone (cool) | Coolness sets the palette; clarity is secondary. | Deep Winter and Bright Winter |
| Bright Winter | Winter | Chroma (clear) | Clarity sets the palette; coolness is secondary. | Bright Spring and True Winter |
A "True" season is dominated by temperature: True Spring and True Autumn by warmth, True Summer and True Winter by coolness. Light and Deep seasons are dominated by value. Soft and Bright seasons are dominated by chroma. That gives four families of three, and it is why two people who both read "cool" can land in different seasons.
Four families sort only the extremes: warm or cool, light or deep. The 12-season system adds the question of which trait dominates, so a Soft Summer, defined by muted color, is separated from a True Summer, defined by coolness. That makes the system a heuristic: a short rule that produces a usable answer, not a validated measurement of a person. The 16-season system adds one more split at each family's strongest end: Warm Spring, Cool Summer, Warm Autumn and Cool Winter, for people whose undertone is unusually strong.
| Name used here | Also written | Note |
|---|---|---|
| True Spring | Warm Spring | Synonym in 12-season lists |
| True Summer | Cool Summer | Synonym in 12-season lists |
| True Autumn | Warm Autumn | Synonym in 12-season lists |
| True Winter | Cool Winter | Synonym in 12-season lists |
| Bright Spring | Clear Spring | Synonym |
| Bright Winter | Clear Winter | Synonym |
| Deep Autumn | Dark Autumn | Synonym |
| Deep Winter | Dark Winter | Synonym |
| Light Spring, Light Summer, Soft Summer, Soft Autumn | Same names | Used unchanged in the 12-season lists compared here |
One trap: in the 16-season system, Warm Spring, Cool Summer, Warm Autumn and Cool Winter are four additional types, not alternative names for the True seasons. So "Warm Spring" means True Spring in a 12-season list and a distinct fourth Spring in a 16-season list. The system matters as much as the name.
Every season has two neighbors, and each pair differs on one dimension. If your scores are close, compare the pair that matches your closest call, using the two colors below in daylight.
| Boundary pair | What separates them | Compare these colors |
|---|---|---|
| Light Spring ↔ True Spring | Both are warm and clear. Light Spring needs light colors; True Spring needs more warmth and saturation. | Peach vs Coral |
| True Spring ↔ Bright Spring | Both are warm. True Spring is the warmer palette; Bright Spring is clearer and takes more contrast. | Golden yellow vs Lime |
| Bright Spring ↔ Bright Winter | Same clarity, opposite temperature: warm-neutral versus cool-neutral. | Turquoise vs Cobalt |
| Bright Winter ↔ True Winter | Both are cool. Bright Winter is clearer; True Winter is cooler and slightly deeper. | Electric blue vs Royal blue |
| True Winter ↔ Deep Winter | Both are cool. True Winter is the cooler palette; Deep Winter is deeper. | Royal blue vs Deep navy |
| Deep Winter ↔ Deep Autumn | Same depth, opposite temperature: cool versus warm-neutral. | Emerald vs Forest green |
| Deep Autumn ↔ True Autumn | Both are warm. Deep Autumn is deeper; True Autumn is warmer and richer. | Chocolate vs Rust |
| True Autumn ↔ Soft Autumn | Both are warm. True Autumn is warmer; Soft Autumn is muted. | Rust vs Terracotta |
| Soft Autumn ↔ Soft Summer | Same softness, opposite temperature: warm-neutral versus cool-neutral. | Olive vs Sage |
| Soft Summer ↔ True Summer | Both are cool. Soft Summer is muted; True Summer is cooler and clearer. | Dusty rose vs Raspberry |
| True Summer ↔ Light Summer | Both are cool. True Summer is deeper; Light Summer is lighter. | Blue-grey vs Powder blue |
| Light Summer ↔ Light Spring | Same lightness, opposite temperature: cool versus warm-neutral. | Lavender vs Peach |
These are palette anchors, not a draping test. Hold fabric or a printed swatch against your bare face; a screen color adds its own light.
The largest absolute score among undertone, value and chroma. Four questions per dimension score -2 to +2; each dimension is normalized to -1 to +1; the dominant dimension and its sign select the season. Exact ties are broken in the order undertone, then value, then chroma, and an undertone score of 0 counts as warm. The full arithmetic is on the science page.
Four families sort only by warm versus cool and light versus deep. The 12-season system adds which trait dominates, so a Soft Summer (muted first, cool second) is separated from a True Summer (cool first). The 16-season system adds four more types for unusually strong warm or cool undertones.
The quiz returns one label, but every result page shows its two neighboring seasons. If your three scores are close, compare those two palettes in daylight before buying anything. The system has no mixed type.
No. True, Warm and Cool are synonyms in 12-season usage, as are Bright and Clear, and Deep and Dark. The 16-season system reuses Warm Spring, Cool Summer, Warm Autumn and Cool Winter as four additional types, so check which system a list uses before comparing names.
Not as a measurement. It is a rule-based classification built on standard color dimensions. Published tests of automated classification report 55.6% accuracy on a face-image benchmark and 65% on a four-season task; those results do not validate the label as a measurement. We found no study showing that a season label predicts which colors flatter a face. The science page sets out the evidence and the gaps.
The evidence behind the labels covers what published studies do and do not support. What each tier includes compares the free result with the two paid reports.