Skip to content
red · warm

#533d37

a dark, soft red · warm · closest name: Dim Gray

Token name suggestion: Slate Cardinal

RGB
83, 61, 55
HSL
13°, 20%, 27%
CMYK
0, 27, 34, 68
Luminance
0.0545

#533d37 is a dark soft red, 13° on the wheel and 27/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (10.05:1). As text it scores 10.05:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dim Gray, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(13 20% 27%)rgb(83 61 55)Base step 900AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #533d37 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#533d37
Hue
13°
red
Saturation
20%
soft
Lightness
27%
dark
Brightness
33%
HSV value
Perceived
27%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0545
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
27/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
10.05:1
Closest name
Dim Gray
ΔE2000 17.7
Chroma
11.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.383
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 19
Web-safe
#663333
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue13° of 360°
Saturation20%
Lightness27%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #533d37.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool27% 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
Red34%
Green61%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#533d37
HEX (8-digit)#533d37ff
RGBrgb(83, 61, 55)
RGBArgba(83, 61, 55, 1)
HSLhsl(13, 20%, 27%)
HSV / HSBhsv(13, 34%, 33%)
HWBhwb(13 22% 67%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 27%, 34%, 68%)
LABlab(28.0 8.7 7.5)
LCHlch(28.0 11.4 40.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.383 0.033 35.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(5.93, 5.45, 4.35)
Decimal5455159
Display P3color(display-p3 0.325 0.239 0.216)
Web-safe#663333

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #533d37;
background-color: #533d37;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #533d37;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#533d37] bg-[#533d37]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #533d37;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.325, green: 0.239, blue: 0.216)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.325, green: 0.239, blue: 0.216, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#533D37</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF533D37)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF533D37)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(55, 61, 83)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(83, 61, 55)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(83, 61, 55)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 83, 61, 55)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3255f, 0.2392f, 0.2157f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{83,61,55}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #533d37 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #533d37 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4D3833, #E7DDDA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #533d37 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: #F9F7F6;
  --brand-100: #F2EEED;
  --brand-200: #E4DAD8;
  --brand-300: #D2C0BC;
  --brand-400: #BCA19A;
  --brand-500: #A68278;
  --brand-600: #936C62;
  --brand-700: #7B5A51;
  --brand-800: #624841;
  --brand-900: #533d37;
  --brand-950: #2D221F;
  --brand: #533d37;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F9F6F6;
  --brand-border: #DED1CE;
  --brand-hover: #3E2D29;
  --brand-pressed: #281E1B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #221916;
    --brand-ink: #E7DDDA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F7F6',
        100: '#F2EEED',
        200: '#E4DAD8',
        300: '#D2C0BC',
        400: '#BCA19A',
        500: '#A68278',
        600: '#936C62',
        700: '#7B5A51',
        800: '#624841',
        900: '#533d37',
        950: '#2D221F',
        DEFAULT: '#533d37',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F7F6,
  '100': #F2EEED,
  '200': #E4DAD8,
  '300': #D2C0BC,
  '400': #BCA19A,
  '500': #A68278,
  '600': #936C62,
  '700': #7B5A51,
  '800': #624841,
  '900': #533d37,
  '950': #2D221F,
);
$brand-base: #533d37;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F7F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F2EEED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E4DAD8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D2C0BC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BCA19A", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A68278", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#936C62", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7B5A51", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#624841", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#533d37", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2D221F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #533d37 · 10.05:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 10.05:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.09:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #533d37 as text scores 10.05:1 on white and 2.09:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F5F1F0 at 8.96:1.

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
#533d37 · 10.05:1
AA on whitealready passes
#533d37
The quick fox
#533d37 · 10.05:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#533d37
The quick fox
#946C62 · 4.58:1
AA on black+21% L
#946C62
The quick fox
#B09088 · 7.19:1
AAA on black+34% L
#B09088

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #533D37 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
#533d37 on white: 10.05:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#533d37 on black: 2.09:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #533d37 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #533d37.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White10.05:1AaAa
Slate 509.60:1AaAa
Slate 1009.17:1AaAa
Slate 2008.15:1AaAa
Slate 3006.77:1AaAa
Slate 4003.92:1AaAa
Slate 5002.11:1AaAa
Slate 6001.33:1AaAa
Slate 7001.03:1AaAa
Slate 8001.46:1AaAa
Slate 9001.78:1AaAa
Black2.09:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #423F37
deuteranopia · #474437
tritanopia · #583A3B

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. #533d37 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.

#F9F7F6
#F2EEED
#E4DAD8
#D2C0BC
#BCA19A
#A68278
#936C62
#7B5A51
#624841
#533d37
#2D221F
Base = 900Lightest = 50 · #F9F7F6Darkest = 950 · #2D221FText 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 0.008 35.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.013 35.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.020 35.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.026 35.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.030 35.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.033 35.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.033 35.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.031 35.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.028 35.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.023 35.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.018 35.8);
}

Colors that work with #533d37

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#F9F6F6
Tinted page background
Border#DED1CE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8A655B
Captions on the surface
Accent#345655
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4D3833
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5F1F0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#221916
Dark-mode background
Hover#3E2D29
One step down in lightness
Pressed#281E1B
Two steps down
Disabled#976F64
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#674237
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 #533d37

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
  • Weight73/100
  • 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#374D53
Analogous left#53373F
Analogous right#534B37
Split-complement 1#37534B
Split-complement 2#373F53
Triadic 1#37533D
Triadic 2#3D3753
Tetradic#3F5337
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°13°

#533d37 sits at 13°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red32.5%
Green23.9%
Blue21.6%
R · 0–255
83
0x53
G · 0–255
61
0x3d
B · 0–255
55
0x37

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta26.5%
Yellow33.7%
Key (black)67.5%

Total ink coverage is 128%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#533d37 text on a black background

contrast 2.09:1

Card sample

#533d37 text on a white background

contrast 10.05:1

Card sample

#533d37 on grey

9.17:1

#533d37 on its own surface

9.35:1

#533d37 on its dark surface

1.72:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #533d37;
Background color
Panel with #533d37 background
background-color: #533d37;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #533d37;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(83, 61, 55, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(83, 61, 55, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #533d37;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #533d37, #535037);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #533d37, #4F5337);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #533d37;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #533d37;
caret-color: #533d37;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #533d37;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5F1F0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #533d37;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#533d37 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #533d37 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(83, 61, 55, 0.5)
rgb(83 61 55 / 50%)
#533d3780
hsl(13 20% 27% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #533d37 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#533d371a#EEECEB
20%#533d3733#DDD8D7
40%#533d3766#BAB1AF
60%#533d3799#988B87
80%#533d37cc#75645F

Gradients from #533d37

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, #78584F, #533d37 45%, #4D3833);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #533d37, #41402B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #533d37, #374D53);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #8A665C 0%, #533d37 45%, #4D3833 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F6F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #724B5A 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #665F43 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4D3833 0%, transparent 65%), #533d37;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #533d37

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.

#533d37 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

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Too dim on dark surfaces at 2.09:1 — lift it to #946C62 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.

#533d37, answered

What color is #533d37?

#533d37 is a dark soft red, closest to Dim Gray (ΔE2000 17.7). It sits at 13° on the hue wheel with 20% saturation and 27% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #533d37?

rgb(83, 61, 55) — 83 red, 61 green and 55 blue out of 255, or 32.5% / 23.9% / 21.6% by channel.

What is #533d37 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(13, 20%, 27%) and hsv(13, 34%, 33%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #533d37 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0545 and perceived brightness is 27%, so white text on it reaches 10.05:1.

Should I use black or white text on #533d37?

White. It scores 10.05:1 against #533d37, versus 2.09:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #533d37 accessible on a white background?

#533d37 on white scores 10.05:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #533d37?

#374D53 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #37534B and #373F53, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #533d37?

For interface work: #F9F6F6 as the surface, #DED1CE for borders, #8A655B for secondary text, #345655 as an accent and #4D3833 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #53373F and #534B37 stays calm, while #374D53 is the loudest partner.

What is #533d37 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 27%, 34%, 68%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #533d37 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 27 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #534237; nudged cooler, #55363A.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #533d37?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 19 away. That is a visible difference, so define #533d37 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #533d37 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#533d37] or text-[#533d37], 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 #533d37 with 50% opacity?

rgba(83, 61, 55, 0.5), or #533d3780 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A99E9B; over black, #2A1F1C.

Is #533d37 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #663333, ΔE2000 9.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #533d37 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 #533d37?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #78584F, #533d37 45%, #4D3833). For more colour, a short hue run to #41402B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #533d37 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #533d37 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.