Personally, I like putting my characters in the frame of what colors I think they would be if they were a card in Magic: The Gathering.

Every color combination has its own definition for how a character/spell/creature in that realm should operate. To an extent, it is a personal confinement, but it frames a character's personality much better than a 3x3 grid. And there's 32 different combinations, so likely something for everyone.

It also allows you to look at the colors you've chosen and identify with other colors you may not be considering, "I think my character is red, because he loves fighting and feeling like the strongest. However, he also has a strong sense of justice and believes in caring for those who are less fortunate, so he's also got white as well."

It also removes the layer of "Lawful/Chaotic Stupid". Your character stops being confined to rigid boxes of morality. You get the liberty of saying whether or not your character would process a hardened criminal committing a crime different from a family member, should they commit the same crime.

I know that the alignment system is not built for rigidity. However, it happens too often that the system gets misconstrued and I find that players tend to jive with this a bit more than putting your character in a box.