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red · warm

#871521

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

Token name suggestion: Shadow Cardinal

RGB
135, 21, 33
HSL
354°, 73%, 31%
CMYK
0, 84, 76, 47
Luminance
0.0580

#871521 is a dark vivid red, 354° on the wheel and 20/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (9.72:1). As text it scores 9.72:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Maroon, nearest Tailwind family is red.

hsl(354 73% 31%)rgb(135 21 33)Base step 800AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #871521 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#871521
Hue
354°
red
Saturation
73%
vivid
Lightness
31%
dark
Brightness
53%
HSV value
Perceived
30%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0580
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
20/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
9.72:1
Closest name
Maroon
ΔE2000 7.2
Chroma
52.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.405
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
red
500 · ΔE 24.4
Web-safe
#990033
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue354° of 360°
Saturation73%
Lightness31%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #871521.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool20% 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
Red89%
Green9%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#871521
HEX (8-digit)#871521ff
RGBrgb(135, 21, 33)
RGBArgba(135, 21, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(354, 73%, 31%)
HSV / HSBhsv(354, 84%, 53%)
HWBhwb(354 8% 47%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 84%, 76%, 47%)
LABlab(28.9 46.6 24.6)
LCHlch(28.9 52.7 27.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.405 0.147 22.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(10.54, 5.80, 2.00)
Decimal8852769
Display P3color(display-p3 0.529 0.082 0.129)
Web-safe#990033

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #871521;
background-color: #871521;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #871521;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#871521] bg-[#871521]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #871521;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.529, green: 0.082, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.529, green: 0.082, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#871521</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF871521)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF871521)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 21, 135)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(135, 21, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(135, 21, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 135, 21, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5294f, 0.0824f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{135,21,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #871521 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #871521 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#6E111B, #EED3D6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #871521 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: #FCF3F4;
  --brand-100: #F8E7E9;
  --brand-200: #F3C9CD;
  --brand-300: #F09EA7;
  --brand-400: #E86D7A;
  --brand-500: #E13D4E;
  --brand-600: #D42134;
  --brand-700: #B11B2B;
  --brand-800: #871521;
  --brand-900: #66141D;
  --brand-950: #400D12;
  --brand: #871521;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF4F5;
  --brand-border: #EDC0C4;
  --brand-hover: #681019;
  --brand-pressed: #490B12;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241415;
    --brand-ink: #EED3D6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF3F4',
        100: '#F8E7E9',
        200: '#F3C9CD',
        300: '#F09EA7',
        400: '#E86D7A',
        500: '#E13D4E',
        600: '#D42134',
        700: '#B11B2B',
        800: '#871521',
        900: '#66141D',
        950: '#400D12',
        DEFAULT: '#871521',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF3F4,
  '100': #F8E7E9,
  '200': #F3C9CD,
  '300': #F09EA7,
  '400': #E86D7A,
  '500': #E13D4E,
  '600': #D42134,
  '700': #B11B2B,
  '800': #871521,
  '900': #66141D,
  '950': #400D12,
);
$brand-base: #871521;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF3F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F8E7E9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F3C9CD", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F09EA7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E86D7A", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E13D4E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#D42134", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B11B2B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#871521", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#66141D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#400D12", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #871521 · 9.72:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 9.72:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.16:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #871521 as text scores 9.72:1 on white and 2.16:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #FCE9EB at 8.33:1.

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
#871521 · 9.72:1
AA on whitealready passes
#871521
The quick fox
#871521 · 9.72:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#871521
The quick fox
#DE2E40 · 4.57:1
AA on black+22% L
#DE2E40
The quick fox
#E9707D · 7.08:1
AAA on black+37% L
#E9707D

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #871521 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
#871521 on white: 9.72:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#871521 on black: 2.16:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #871521 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #871521.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White9.72:1AaAa
Slate 509.29:1AaAa
Slate 1008.88:1AaAa
Slate 2007.89:1AaAa
Slate 3006.55:1AaAa
Slate 4003.79:1AaAa
Slate 5002.04:1AaAa
Slate 6001.28:1AaAa
Slate 7001.06:1AaAa
Slate 8001.50:1AaAa
Slate 9001.84:1AaAa
Black2.16:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #3A3520
deuteranopia · #564D1D
tritanopia · #95001B

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. #871521 is pinned to step 800; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FCF3F4
#F8E7E9
#F3C9CD
#F09EA7
#E86D7A
#E13D4E
#D42134
#B11B2B
#871521
#66141D
#400D12
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #FCF3F4Darkest = 950 · #400D12Text 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 0.037 22.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.059 22.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.088 22.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.115 22.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.136 22.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.147 22.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.147 22.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.138 22.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.124 22.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.103 22.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.081 22.2);
}

Colors that work with #871521

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#EDC0C4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B4B53
Captions on the surface
Accent#128A5F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#6E111B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FCE9EB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241415
Dark-mode background
Hover#681019
One step down in lightness
Pressed#490B12
Two steps down
Disabled#A16C71
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A20F1E
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 #871521

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
  • Weight69/100
  • 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#15877B
Analogous left#87155A
Analogous right#874215
Split-complement 1#158742
Split-complement 2#155A87
Triadic 1#218715
Triadic 2#152187
Tetradic#5A8715
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°354°

#871521 sits at 354°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red52.9%
Green8.2%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
135
0x87
G · 0–255
21
0x15
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta84.4%
Yellow75.6%
Key (black)47.1%

Total ink coverage is 207%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#871521 text on a black background

contrast 2.16:1

Card sample

#871521 text on a white background

contrast 9.72:1

Card sample

#871521 on grey

8.88:1

#871521 on its own surface

8.95:1

#871521 on its dark surface

1.82:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #871521;
Background color
Panel with #871521 background
background-color: #871521;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #871521;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(135, 21, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(135, 21, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #871521;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #871521, #875515);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #871521, #877215);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #871521;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #871521;
caret-color: #871521;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #871521;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FCE9EB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #871521;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#871521 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #871521 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(135, 21, 33, 0.5)
rgb(135 21 33 / 50%)
#87152180
hsl(354 73% 31% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #871521 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#8715211a#F3E8E9
20%#87152133#E7D0D3
40%#87152166#CFA1A6
60%#87152199#B7737A
80%#871521cc#9F444D

Gradients from #871521

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, #BC1D2E, #871521 45%, #6E111B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #871521, #6D4C11);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #871521, #15877B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D72134 0%, #871521 45%, #6E111B 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%, #B31C84 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A25A19 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #6E111B 0%, transparent 65%), #871521;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #871521

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.

#871521 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 2.16:1 — lift it to #DE2E40 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.

#871521, answered

What color is #871521?

#871521 is a dark vivid red, closest to Maroon (ΔE2000 7.2). It sits at 354° on the hue wheel with 73% saturation and 31% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #871521?

rgb(135, 21, 33) — 135 red, 21 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 52.9% / 8.2% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #871521 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(354, 73%, 31%) and hsv(354, 84%, 53%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #871521 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0580 and perceived brightness is 30%, so white text on it reaches 9.72:1.

Should I use black or white text on #871521?

White. It scores 9.72:1 against #871521, versus 2.16:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #871521 accessible on a white background?

#871521 on white scores 9.72:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #871521?

#15877B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #158742 and #155A87, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #871521?

For interface work: #FAF4F5 as the surface, #EDC0C4 for borders, #9B4B53 for secondary text, #128A5F as an accent and #6E111B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #87155A and #874215 stays calm, while #15877B is the loudest partner.

What is #871521 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 84%, 76%, 47%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #871521 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 20 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #873215; nudged cooler, #89134B.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #871521?

The red family — its 500 step is #ef4444, ΔE2000 24.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #871521 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #871521 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#871521] or text-[#871521], 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 #871521 with 50% opacity?

rgba(135, 21, 33, 0.5), or #87152180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C38A90; over black, #440B11.

Is #871521 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #990033, ΔE2000 6.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #871521 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 #871521?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #BC1D2E, #871521 45%, #6E111B). For more colour, a short hue run to #6D4C11 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #871521 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #871521 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.