Skip to content
red · warm

#442021

a deep, soft red · warm · closest name: Maroon

Token name suggestion: Abyss Ember

RGB
68, 32, 33
HSL
358°, 36%, 20%
CMYK
0, 53, 52, 73
Luminance
0.0237

#442021 is a deep soft red, 358° on the wheel and 18/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (14.24:1). As text it scores 14.24:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Maroon, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(358 36% 20%)rgb(68 32 33)Base step 900AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #442021 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#442021
Hue
358°
red
Saturation
36%
soft
Lightness
20%
deep
Brightness
27%
HSV value
Perceived
18%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0237
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
18/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
14.24:1
Closest name
Maroon
ΔE2000 17.4
Chroma
18.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.294
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 28.5
Web-safe
#333333
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue358° of 360°
Saturation36%
Lightness20%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #442021.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool18% cool

Reads warm. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red52%
Green44%
Blue5%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#442021
HEX (8-digit)#442021ff
RGBrgb(68, 32, 33)
RGBArgba(68, 32, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(358, 36%, 20%)
HSV / HSBhsv(358, 53%, 27%)
HWBhwb(358 13% 73%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 53%, 52%, 73%)
LABlab(17.3 17.4 7.2)
LCHlch(17.3 18.8 22.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.294 0.055 19.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(3.18, 2.37, 1.73)
Decimal4464673
Display P3color(display-p3 0.267 0.125 0.129)
Web-safe#333333

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #442021;
background-color: #442021;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #442021;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#442021] bg-[#442021]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #442021;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.267, green: 0.125, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.267, green: 0.125, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#442021</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF442021)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF442021)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 32, 68)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(68, 32, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(68, 32, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 68, 32, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2667f, 0.1255f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{68,32,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #442021 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #442021 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#57292A, #EBD5D6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #442021 h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F9F5F5;
  --brand-100: #F4EBEC;
  --brand-200: #E8D3D4;
  --brand-300: #DBB3B4;
  --brand-400: #C98D8E;
  --brand-500: #B76669;
  --brand-600: #A64E51;
  --brand-700: #8B4143;
  --brand-800: #6F3436;
  --brand-900: #442021;
  --brand-950: #331A1A;
  --brand: #442021;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF5F5;
  --brand-border: #E5C8C8;
  --brand-hover: #2C1515;
  --brand-pressed: #130909;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241414;
    --brand-ink: #EBD5D6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F5F5',
        100: '#F4EBEC',
        200: '#E8D3D4',
        300: '#DBB3B4',
        400: '#C98D8E',
        500: '#B76669',
        600: '#A64E51',
        700: '#8B4143',
        800: '#6F3436',
        900: '#442021',
        950: '#331A1A',
        DEFAULT: '#442021',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F5F5,
  '100': #F4EBEC,
  '200': #E8D3D4,
  '300': #DBB3B4,
  '400': #C98D8E,
  '500': #B76669,
  '600': #A64E51,
  '700': #8B4143,
  '800': #6F3436,
  '900': #442021,
  '950': #331A1A,
);
$brand-base: #442021;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F5F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4EBEC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E8D3D4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DBB3B4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C98D8E", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#B76669", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A64E51", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8B4143", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6F3436", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#442021", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#331A1A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#ffffff", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#ffffff on #442021 · 14.24:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 14.24:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 1.47:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #442021 as text scores 14.24:1 on white and 1.47:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F7EEEE at 12.49:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#442021 · 14.24:1
AA on whitealready passes
#442021
The quick fox
#442021 · 14.24:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#442021
The quick fox
#B25B5D · 4.55:1
AA on black+33% L
#B25B5D
The quick fox
#C58486 · 7.02:1
AAA on black+45% L
#C58486

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #442021 is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#442021 on white: 14.24:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#442021 on black: 1.47:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #442021 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #442021.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White14.24:1AaAa
Slate 5013.61:1AaAa
Slate 10013.00:1AaAa
Slate 20011.55:1AaAa
Slate 3009.59:1AaAa
Slate 4005.56:1AaAa
Slate 5002.99:1AaAa
Slate 6001.88:1AaAa
Slate 7001.38:1AaAa
Slate 8001.03:1AaAa
Slate 9001.25:1AaAa
Black1.47:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #282621
deuteranopia · #312D20
tritanopia · #4A1B21

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #442021 is pinned to step 900; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F5F5
#F4EBEC
#E8D3D4
#DBB3B4
#C98D8E
#B76669
#A64E51
#8B4143
#6F3436
#442021
#331A1A
Base = 900Lightest = 50 · #F9F5F5Darkest = 950 · #331A1AText step on white = 600
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.014 19.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.022 19.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.033 19.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.043 19.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.051 19.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.055 19.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.055 19.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.052 19.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.047 19.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.039 19.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.030 19.3);
}

Colors that work with #442021

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#ffffff
White wins here
Surface#FAF5F5
Tinted page background
Border#E5C8C8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B4B4D
Captions on the surface
Accent#1E463B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#57292A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7EEEE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241414
Dark-mode background
Hover#2C1515
One step down in lightness
Pressed#130909
Two steps down
Disabled#815354
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#582022
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #442021

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • Black text placed on it
  • Status meaning — pair it with an icon or label, never colour alone
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Any size
Safe as a fill behind white type
Yes
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

urgentappetisingboldphysical

Red arrives before the rest of the page does. It raises attention and appetite, which is why it runs food, sport and clearance pricing.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

It is also the universal error colour. Use it as a brand accent and users may read a warning that is not there.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight80/100
  • TemperatureWarm
  • ApproachabilityHigh

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#204443
Analogous left#442033
Analogous right#443120
Split-complement 1#204431
Split-complement 2#203344
Triadic 1#214420
Triadic 2#202144
Tetradic#334420
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°358°

#442021 sits at 358°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red26.7%
Green12.5%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
68
0x44
G · 0–255
32
0x20
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta52.9%
Yellow51.5%
Key (black)73.3%

Total ink coverage is 178%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#442021 text on a black background

contrast 1.47:1

Card sample

#442021 text on a white background

contrast 14.24:1

Card sample

#442021 on grey

13.00:1

#442021 on its own surface

13.19:1

#442021 on its dark surface

1.24:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #442021;
Background color
Panel with #442021 background
background-color: #442021;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #442021;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(68, 32, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(68, 32, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #442021;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #442021, #443720);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #442021, #444020);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #442021;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #442021;
caret-color: #442021;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #442021;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7EEEE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #442021;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#442021 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #442021 over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(68, 32, 33, 0.5)
rgb(68 32 33 / 50%)
#44202180
hsl(358 36% 20% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #442021 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#4420211a#ECE9E9
20%#44202133#DAD2D3
40%#44202166#B4A6A6
60%#44202199#8F797A
80%#442021cc#694D4D

Gradients from #442021

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #6E3435, #442021 45%, #57292A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #442021, #2F2816);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #442021, #204443);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #823D3F 0%, #442021 45%, #57292A 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF5F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #673052 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #59442A 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #57292A 0%, transparent 65%), #442021;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #442021

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#442021 in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
Food and drinkEntertainmentRetailSport
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Very dark values collapse into each other on cheap panels — leave more lightness between your darkest steps than the numbers suggest.

In dark mode

Too dim on dark surfaces at 1.47:1 — lift it to #B25B5D for body text, or reserve it for fills.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#442021, answered

What color is #442021?

#442021 is a deep soft red, closest to Maroon (ΔE2000 17.4). It sits at 358° on the hue wheel with 36% saturation and 20% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #442021?

rgb(68, 32, 33) — 68 red, 32 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 26.7% / 12.5% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #442021 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(358, 36%, 20%) and hsv(358, 53%, 27%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #442021 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0237 and perceived brightness is 18%, so white text on it reaches 14.24:1.

Should I use black or white text on #442021?

White. It scores 14.24:1 against #442021, versus 1.47:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #442021 accessible on a white background?

#442021 on white scores 14.24:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #442021?

#204443 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #204431 and #203344, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #442021?

For interface work: #FAF5F5 as the surface, #E5C8C8 for borders, #9B4B4D for secondary text, #1E463B as an accent and #57292A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #442033 and #443120 stays calm, while #204443 is the loudest partner.

What is #442021 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 53%, 52%, 73%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #442021 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 18 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #442C20; nudged cooler, #451F2E.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #442021?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 28.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #442021 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #442021 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#442021] or text-[#442021], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #442021 with 50% opacity?

rgba(68, 32, 33, 0.5), or #44202180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A29090; over black, #221011.

Is #442021 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #333333, ΔE2000 16.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #442021 mean?

As a red, it reads urgent, appetising, bold. Red arrives before the rest of the page does. It raises attention and appetite, which is why it runs food, sport and clearance pricing. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #442021?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #6E3435, #442021 45%, #57292A). For more colour, a short hue run to #2F2816 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #442021 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #442021 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.