Era and hardware
Era: 1982 · Hardware: Sinclair ULA
Key facts
- 8 colors at two brightness levels for 15 effective colors
- Each 8x8 character cell could only use 2 colors — the famous attribute clash
- Sinclair fans treat the clash as a feature, not a bug
How to use this palette for cursor design
Embrace the clash by designing cursors that use exactly two colors per shape with a hard edge.
Open your pixel editor of choice (Aseprite, Piskel, or LibreSprite), import the palette, and follow the five-pass cursor design tutorial: silhouette, outline, fill, highlight, accent. The palette will impose its own discipline — that is the entire point. For deeper background on retro palettes in general, see the retro palette guide.
Cursor packs already in this palette
If you would rather download than design, browse the collections page — collections are organized by palette family and several map directly to the historic palettes documented here.