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red · warm

#51171f

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

Token name suggestion: Ink Cherry

RGB
81, 23, 31
HSL
352°, 56%, 20%
CMYK
0, 72, 62, 68
Luminance
0.0246

#51171f is a deep vivid red, 352° on the wheel and 21/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (14.07:1). As text it scores 14.07:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Maroon, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(352 56% 20%)rgb(81 23 31)Base step 900AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #51171f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#51171f
Hue
352°
red
Saturation
56%
vivid
Lightness
20%
deep
Brightness
32%
HSV value
Perceived
19%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0246
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
21/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
14.07:1
Closest name
Maroon
ΔE2000 15
Chroma
29.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.302
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 31
Web-safe
#660033
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue352° of 360°
Saturation56%
Lightness20%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #51171f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool21% 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
Red71%
Green25%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#51171f
HEX (8-digit)#51171fff
RGBrgb(81, 23, 31)
RGBArgba(81, 23, 31, 1)
HSLhsl(352, 56%, 20%)
HSV / HSBhsv(352, 72%, 32%)
HWBhwb(352 9% 68%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 72%, 62%, 68%)
LABlab(17.7 27.7 9.6)
LCHlch(17.7 29.3 19.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.302 0.086 15.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(3.95, 2.46, 1.56)
Decimal5314335
Display P3color(display-p3 0.318 0.090 0.122)
Web-safe#660033

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #51171f;
background-color: #51171f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #51171f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#51171f] bg-[#51171f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #51171f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.318, green: 0.090, blue: 0.122)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.318, green: 0.090, blue: 0.122, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#51171F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF51171F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF51171F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(31, 23, 81)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(81, 23, 31)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(81, 23, 31)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 81, 23, 31)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3176f, 0.0902f, 0.1216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{81,23,31}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #51171f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #51171f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#631C26, #EED3D6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #51171f 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: #FBF4F5;
  --brand-100: #F6E9EB;
  --brand-200: #EECED2;
  --brand-300: #E6A8B0;
  --brand-400: #DA7C89;
  --brand-500: #CD5062;
  --brand-600: #BF3649;
  --brand-700: #9F2D3D;
  --brand-800: #7F2431;
  --brand-900: #51171f;
  --brand-950: #3A1318;
  --brand: #51171f;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF4F5;
  --brand-border: #EDC0C6;
  --brand-hover: #350F14;
  --brand-pressed: #19070A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241416;
    --brand-ink: #EED3D6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF4F5',
        100: '#F6E9EB',
        200: '#EECED2',
        300: '#E6A8B0',
        400: '#DA7C89',
        500: '#CD5062',
        600: '#BF3649',
        700: '#9F2D3D',
        800: '#7F2431',
        900: '#51171f',
        950: '#3A1318',
        DEFAULT: '#51171f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF4F5,
  '100': #F6E9EB,
  '200': #EECED2,
  '300': #E6A8B0,
  '400': #DA7C89,
  '500': #CD5062,
  '600': #BF3649,
  '700': #9F2D3D,
  '800': #7F2431,
  '900': #51171f,
  '950': #3A1318,
);
$brand-base: #51171f;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF4F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F6E9EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EECED2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E6A8B0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#DA7C89", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#CD5062", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#BF3649", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#9F2D3D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7F2431", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#51171f", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3A1318", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #51171f · 14.07:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 14.07:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 1.49:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #51171f as text scores 14.07:1 on white and 1.49:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F9EBED at 12.15:1.

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
#51171f · 14.07:1
AA on whitealready passes
#51171f
The quick fox
#51171f · 14.07:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#51171f
The quick fox
#CA4658 · 4.53:1
AA on black+33% L
#CA4658
The quick fox
#D97A87 · 7.08:1
AAA on black+46% L
#D97A87

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #51171F 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
#51171f on white: 14.07:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#51171f on black: 1.49:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #51171f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #51171f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White14.07:1AaAa
Slate 5013.45:1AaAa
Slate 10012.85:1AaAa
Slate 20011.42:1AaAa
Slate 3009.48:1AaAa
Slate 4005.49:1AaAa
Slate 5002.96:1AaAa
Slate 6001.86:1AaAa
Slate 7001.36:1AaAa
Slate 8001.04:1AaAa
Slate 9001.27:1AaAa
Black1.49:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #25241F
deuteranopia · #34301E
tritanopia · #590C1A

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. #51171f 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.

#FBF4F5
#F6E9EB
#EECED2
#E6A8B0
#DA7C89
#CD5062
#BF3649
#9F2D3D
#7F2431
#51171f
#3A1318
Base = 900Lightest = 50 · #FBF4F5Darkest = 950 · #3A1318Text 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 0.022 15.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.035 15.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.052 15.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.067 15.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.080 15.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.086 15.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.086 15.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.081 15.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.073 15.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.061 15.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.048 15.9);
}

Colors that work with #51171f

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#FAF4F5
Tinted page background
Border#EDC0C6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B4B56
Captions on the surface
Accent#15533B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#631C26
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F9EBED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241416
Dark-mode background
Hover#350F14
One step down in lightness
Pressed#19070A
Two steps down
Disabled#84545B
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#671521
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 #51171f

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • 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#175149
Analogous left#51173C
Analogous right#512C17
Split-complement 1#17512C
Split-complement 2#173C51
Triadic 1#1F5117
Triadic 2#171F51
Tetradic#3C5117
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°352°

#51171f sits at 352°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red31.8%
Green9.0%
Blue12.2%
R · 0–255
81
0x51
G · 0–255
23
0x17
B · 0–255
31
0x1f

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta71.6%
Yellow61.7%
Key (black)68.2%

Total ink coverage is 202%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#51171f text on a black background

contrast 1.49:1

Card sample

#51171f text on a white background

contrast 14.07:1

Card sample

#51171f on grey

12.85:1

#51171f on its own surface

12.95:1

#51171f on its dark surface

1.26:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #51171f;
Background color
Panel with #51171f background
background-color: #51171f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #51171f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(81, 23, 31, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(81, 23, 31, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #51171f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #51171f, #513617);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #51171f, #514417);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #51171f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #51171f;
caret-color: #51171f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #51171f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F9EBED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #51171f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#51171f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #51171f 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(81, 23, 31, 0.5)
rgb(81 23 31 / 50%)
#51171f80
hsl(352 56% 20% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #51171f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#51171f1a#EEE8E9
20%#51171f33#DCD1D2
40%#51171f66#B9A2A5
60%#51171f99#977479
80%#51171fcc#74454C

Gradients from #51171f

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, #812531, #51171f 45%, #631C26);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #51171f, #392910);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #51171f, #175149);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #992B3A 0%, #51171f 45%, #631C26 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF4F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #792261 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #693F1E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #631C26 0%, transparent 65%), #51171f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #51171f

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.

#51171f 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 1.49:1 — lift it to #CA4658 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.

#51171f, answered

What color is #51171f?

#51171f is a deep vivid red, closest to Maroon (ΔE2000 15). It sits at 352° on the hue wheel with 56% saturation and 20% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #51171f?

rgb(81, 23, 31) — 81 red, 23 green and 31 blue out of 255, or 31.8% / 9% / 12.2% by channel.

What is #51171f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(352, 56%, 20%) and hsv(352, 72%, 32%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #51171f a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0246 and perceived brightness is 19%, so white text on it reaches 14.07:1.

Should I use black or white text on #51171f?

White. It scores 14.07:1 against #51171f, versus 1.49:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #51171f accessible on a white background?

#51171f on white scores 14.07:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #51171f?

#175149 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #17512C and #173C51, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #51171f?

For interface work: #FAF4F5 as the surface, #EDC0C6 for borders, #9B4B56 for secondary text, #15533B as an accent and #631C26 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #51173C and #512C17 stays calm, while #175149 is the loudest partner.

What is #51171f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 72%, 62%, 68%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #51171f warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 21 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #512417; nudged cooler, #521634.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #51171f?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 31 away. That is a visible difference, so define #51171f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #51171f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#51171f] or text-[#51171f], 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 #51171f with 50% opacity?

rgba(81, 23, 31, 0.5), or #51171f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A88B8F; over black, #290C10.

Is #51171f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #660033, ΔE2000 9.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #51171f 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 chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #51171f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #812531, #51171f 45%, #631C26). For more colour, a short hue run to #392910 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #51171f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #51171f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.