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red · warm

#af4952

a balanced, soft red · warm · closest name: Indian Red

Token name suggestion: Signal Cardinal

RGB
175, 73, 82
HSL
355°, 41%, 49%
CMYK
0, 58, 53, 31
Luminance
0.1449

#af4952 is a balanced soft red, 355° on the wheel and 20/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.39:1). As text it scores 5.39:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Indian Red, nearest Tailwind family is rose.

hsl(355 41% 49%)rgb(175 73 82)Base step 600AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #af4952 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#af4952
Hue
355°
red
Saturation
41%
soft
Lightness
49%
balanced
Brightness
69%
HSV value
Perceived
45%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1449
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
20/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
5.39:1
Closest name
Indian Red
ΔE2000 9.1
Chroma
45.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.542
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
rose
500 · ΔE 13.2
Web-safe
#993366
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue355° of 360°
Saturation41%
Lightness49%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #af4952.

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
Red63%
Green33%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#af4952
HEX (8-digit)#af4952ff
RGBrgb(175, 73, 82)
RGBArgba(175, 73, 82, 1)
HSLhsl(355, 41%, 49%)
HSV / HSBhsv(355, 58%, 69%)
HWBhwb(355 29% 31%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 58%, 53%, 31%)
LABlab(44.9 42.4 15.9)
LCHlch(44.9 45.3 20.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.542 0.133 17.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(21.59, 14.49, 9.64)
Decimal11487570
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.286 0.322)
Web-safe#993366

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #af4952;
background-color: #af4952;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #af4952;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#af4952] bg-[#af4952]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #af4952;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.286, blue: 0.322)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.286, blue: 0.322, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AF4952</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAF4952)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAF4952)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(82, 73, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 73, 82)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 73, 82)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 73, 82)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.2863f, 0.3216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,73,82}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #af4952 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #af4952 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5A262A, #EDD4D6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #af4952 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: #FAF5F5;
  --brand-100: #F5EBEC;
  --brand-200: #EAD2D4;
  --brand-300: #DEB0B4;
  --brand-400: #CD888E;
  --brand-500: #BD6169;
  --brand-600: #af4952;
  --brand-700: #903C43;
  --brand-800: #733036;
  --brand-900: #54262A;
  --brand-950: #35181A;
  --brand: #af4952;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF4F5;
  --brand-border: #E7C5C8;
  --brand-hover: #963E46;
  --brand-pressed: #7C343A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241415;
    --brand-ink: #EDD4D6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF5F5',
        100: '#F5EBEC',
        200: '#EAD2D4',
        300: '#DEB0B4',
        400: '#CD888E',
        500: '#BD6169',
        600: '#af4952',
        700: '#903C43',
        800: '#733036',
        900: '#54262A',
        950: '#35181A',
        DEFAULT: '#af4952',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF5F5,
  '100': #F5EBEC,
  '200': #EAD2D4,
  '300': #DEB0B4,
  '400': #CD888E,
  '500': #BD6169,
  '600': #af4952,
  '700': #903C43,
  '800': #733036,
  '900': #54262A,
  '950': #35181A,
);
$brand-base: #af4952;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF5F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F5EBEC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EAD2D4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DEB0B4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#CD888E", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#BD6169", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#af4952", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#903C43", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#733036", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#54262A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#35181A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #af4952 · 5.39:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.39:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.90:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #af4952 as text scores 5.39:1 on white and 3.90:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F7EDEE at 4.70:1.

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
#af4952 · 5.39:1
AA on whitealready passes
#af4952
The quick fox
#923D44 · 7.06:1
AAA on white−8% L
#923D44
The quick fox
#B95861 · 4.63:1
AA on black+5% L
#B95861
The quick fox
#CB838A · 7.15:1
AAA on black+17% L
#CB838A

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AF4952 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
#af4952 on white: 5.39:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#af4952 on black: 3.90:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #af4952 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #af4952.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.39:1AaAa
Slate 505.15:1AaAa
Slate 1004.92:1AaAa
Slate 2004.37:1AaAa
Slate 3003.63:1AaAa
Slate 4002.10:1AaAa
Slate 5001.13:1AaAa
Slate 6001.41:1AaAa
Slate 7001.92:1AaAa
Slate 8002.72:1AaAa
Slate 9003.31:1AaAa
Black3.90:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #605D52
deuteranopia · #7A7250
tritanopia · #BF394D

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. #af4952 is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FAF5F5
#F5EBEC
#EAD2D4
#DEB0B4
#CD888E
#BD6169
#af4952
#903C43
#733036
#54262A
#35181A
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FAF5F5Darkest = 950 · #35181AText 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 0.033 17.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.053 17.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.080 17.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.104 17.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.123 17.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.133 17.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.133 17.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.125 17.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.112 17.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.093 17.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.073 17.4);
}

Colors that work with #af4952

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#E7C5C8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B4B52
Captions on the surface
Accent#389475
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5A262A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7EDEE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241415
Dark-mode background
Hover#963E46
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7C343A
Two steps down
Disabled#C5A4A6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C44853
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 #af4952

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • 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 mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight51/100
  • 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#49AFA6
Analogous left#AF4985
Analogous right#AF7349
Split-complement 1#49AF73
Split-complement 2#4985AF
Triadic 1#52AF49
Triadic 2#4952AF
Tetradic#85AF49
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°355°

#af4952 sits at 355°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green28.6%
Blue32.2%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
73
0x49
B · 0–255
82
0x52

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta58.3%
Yellow53.1%
Key (black)31.4%

Total ink coverage is 143%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#af4952 text on a black background

contrast 3.90:1

Card sample

#af4952 text on a white background

contrast 5.39:1

Card sample

#af4952 on grey

4.92:1

#af4952 on its own surface

4.96:1

#af4952 on its dark surface

3.29:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #af4952;
Background color
Panel with #af4952 background
background-color: #af4952;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #af4952;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 73, 82, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 73, 82, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #af4952;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #af4952, #AF8449);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af4952, #AF9D49);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #af4952;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #af4952;
caret-color: #af4952;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #af4952;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7EDEE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #af4952;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#af4952 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #af4952 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(175, 73, 82, 0.5)
rgb(175 73 82 / 50%)
#af495280
hsl(355 41% 49% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #af4952 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#af49521a#F7EDEE
20%#af495233#EFDBDC
40%#af495266#DFB6BA
60%#af495299#CF9297
80%#af4952cc#BF6D75

Gradients from #af4952

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, #C47179, #af4952 45%, #5A262A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #af4952, #997B40);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af4952, #49AFA6);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CD878D 0%, #af4952 45%, #5A262A 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%, #C16AA4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BB8B5C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5A262A 0%, transparent 65%), #af4952;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #af4952

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.

#af4952 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 3.90:1 — lift it to #B95861 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.

#af4952, answered

What color is #af4952?

#af4952 is a balanced soft red, closest to Indian Red (ΔE2000 9.1). It sits at 355° on the hue wheel with 41% saturation and 49% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #af4952?

rgb(175, 73, 82) — 175 red, 73 green and 82 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 28.6% / 32.2% by channel.

What is #af4952 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(355, 41%, 49%) and hsv(355, 58%, 69%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #af4952 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1449 and perceived brightness is 45%, so white text on it reaches 5.39:1.

Should I use black or white text on #af4952?

White. It scores 5.39:1 against #af4952, versus 3.90:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #af4952 accessible on a white background?

#af4952 on white scores 5.39:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #af4952?

#49AFA6 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #49AF73 and #4985AF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #af4952?

For interface work: #FAF4F5 as the surface, #E7C5C8 for borders, #9B4B52 for secondary text, #389475 as an accent and #5A262A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AF4985 and #AF7349 stays calm, while #49AFA6 is the loudest partner.

What is #af4952 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 58%, 53%, 31%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #af4952 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 #AF6549; nudged cooler, #B14777.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #af4952?

The rose family — its 500 step is #f43f5e, ΔE2000 13.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #af4952 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #af4952 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#af4952] or text-[#af4952], 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 #af4952 with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 73, 82, 0.5), or #af495280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7A4A9; over black, #582529.

Is #af4952 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #993366, ΔE2000 14 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #af4952 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 #af4952?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C47179, #af4952 45%, #5A262A). For more colour, a short hue run to #997B40 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #af4952 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #af4952 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.