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red · warm

#bc101c

a dark, electric red · warm · closest name: Firebrick

Token name suggestion: Dusk Ember

RGB
188, 16, 28
HSL
356°, 84%, 40%
CMYK
0, 92, 85, 26
Luminance
0.1115

#bc101c is a dark electric red, 356° on the wheel and 19/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (6.50:1). As text it scores 6.50:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Firebrick, nearest Tailwind family is red.

hsl(356 84% 40%)rgb(188 16 28)Base step 700AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bc101c is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bc101c
Hue
356°
red
Saturation
84%
electric
Lightness
40%
dark
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
41%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1115
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
19/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
6.50:1
Closest name
Firebrick
ΔE2000 2
Chroma
75.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.505
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
red
500 · ΔE 15
Web-safe
#CC0033
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue356° of 360°
Saturation84%
Lightness40%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bc101c.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool19% 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
Red96%
Green3%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#bc101c
HEX (8-digit)#bc101cff
RGBrgb(188, 16, 28)
RGBArgba(188, 16, 28, 1)
HSLhsl(356, 84%, 40%)
HSV / HSBhsv(356, 91%, 74%)
HWBhwb(356 6% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 92%, 85%, 26%)
LABlab(39.8 62.3 42.3)
LCHlch(39.8 75.3 34.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.505 0.199 26.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(21.14, 11.15, 2.14)
Decimal12324892
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.063 0.110)
Web-safe#CC0033

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bc101c;
background-color: #bc101c;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bc101c;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bc101c] bg-[#bc101c]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bc101c;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.063, blue: 0.110)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.063, blue: 0.110, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BC101C</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBC101C)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBC101C)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(28, 16, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 16, 28)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 16, 28)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 16, 28)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.0627f, 0.1098f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,16,28}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bc101c 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bc101c 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#750A12, #EED3D5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bc101c 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: #FCF2F3;
  --brand-100: #FAE6E7;
  --brand-200: #F6C5C9;
  --brand-300: #F6989E;
  --brand-400: #F2646E;
  --brand-500: #ED303D;
  --brand-600: #E21322;
  --brand-700: #bc101c;
  --brand-800: #960D16;
  --brand-900: #6D0E14;
  --brand-950: #44090D;
  --brand: #bc101c;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF4F5;
  --brand-border: #EDC0C3;
  --brand-hover: #9B0D17;
  --brand-pressed: #7A0A12;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241415;
    --brand-ink: #EED3D5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF2F3',
        100: '#FAE6E7',
        200: '#F6C5C9',
        300: '#F6989E',
        400: '#F2646E',
        500: '#ED303D',
        600: '#E21322',
        700: '#bc101c',
        800: '#960D16',
        900: '#6D0E14',
        950: '#44090D',
        DEFAULT: '#bc101c',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF2F3,
  '100': #FAE6E7,
  '200': #F6C5C9,
  '300': #F6989E,
  '400': #F2646E,
  '500': #ED303D,
  '600': #E21322,
  '700': #bc101c,
  '800': #960D16,
  '900': #6D0E14,
  '950': #44090D,
);
$brand-base: #bc101c;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF2F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FAE6E7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F6C5C9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F6989E", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F2646E", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#ED303D", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#E21322", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#bc101c", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#960D16", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6D0E14", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#44090D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bc101c · 6.50:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 6.50:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.23:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #bc101c as text scores 6.50:1 on white and 3.23:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #FDE8E9 at 5.54:1.

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
#bc101c · 6.50:1
AA on whitealready passes
#bc101c
The quick fox
#B30F1B · 7.00:1
AAA on white−2% L
#B30F1B
The quick fox
#EB1423 · 4.66:1
AA on black+10% L
#EB1423
The quick fox
#F26972 · 7.04:1
AAA on black+28% L
#F26972

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #BC101C 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
#bc101c on white: 6.50:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bc101c on black: 3.23:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bc101c as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bc101c.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White6.50:1AaAa
Slate 506.22:1AaAa
Slate 1005.94:1AaAa
Slate 2005.28:1AaAa
Slate 3004.38:1AaAa
Slate 4002.54:1AaAa
Slate 5001.37:1AaAa
Slate 6001.17:1AaAa
Slate 7001.59:1AaAa
Slate 8002.25:1AaAa
Slate 9002.75:1AaAa
Black3.23:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #504719
deuteranopia · #786A11
tritanopia · #D00019

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. #bc101c is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FCF2F3
#FAE6E7
#F6C5C9
#F6989E
#F2646E
#ED303D
#E21322
#bc101c
#960D16
#6D0E14
#44090D
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #FCF2F3Darkest = 950 · #44090DText 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 0.050 26.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.079 26.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.119 26.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.155 26.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.183 26.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.199 26.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.199 26.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.187 26.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.167 26.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.139 26.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.109 26.3);
}

Colors that work with #bc101c

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#EDC0C3
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B4B50
Captions on the surface
Accent#0CC086
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#750A12
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDE8E9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241415
Dark-mode background
Hover#9B0D17
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7A0A12
Two steps down
Disabled#B3898C
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DA0615
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 #bc101c

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
  • 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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight60/100
  • 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#10BCB0
Analogous left#BC1072
Analogous right#BC5A10
Split-complement 1#10BC5A
Split-complement 2#1072BC
Triadic 1#1CBC10
Triadic 2#101CBC
Tetradic#72BC10
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°356°

#bc101c sits at 356°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green6.3%
Blue11.0%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
16
0x10
B · 0–255
28
0x1c

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta91.5%
Yellow85.1%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 203%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bc101c text on a black background

contrast 3.23:1

Card sample

#bc101c text on a white background

contrast 6.50:1

Card sample

#bc101c on grey

5.94:1

#bc101c on its own surface

5.98:1

#bc101c on its dark surface

2.72:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bc101c;
Background color
Panel with #bc101c background
background-color: #bc101c;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bc101c;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 16, 28, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 16, 28, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bc101c;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bc101c, #BC7710);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc101c, #BCA210);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bc101c;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bc101c;
caret-color: #bc101c;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bc101c;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FDE8E9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bc101c;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bc101c 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bc101c 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(188, 16, 28, 0.5)
rgb(188 16 28 / 50%)
#bc101c80
hsl(356 84% 40% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bc101c 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bc101c1a#F8E7E8
20%#bc101c33#F2CFD2
40%#bc101c66#E49FA4
60%#bc101c99#D77077
80%#bc101ccc#C94049

Gradients from #bc101c

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, #EC1D2C, #bc101c 45%, #750A12);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bc101c, #A0710E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc101c, #10BCB0);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EE3A46 0%, #bc101c 45%, #750A12 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%, #EB14A0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D87812 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #750A12 0%, transparent 65%), #bc101c;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bc101c

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.

#bc101c 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 3.23:1 — lift it to #EB1423 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.

#bc101c, answered

What color is #bc101c?

#bc101c is a dark electric red, closest to Firebrick (ΔE2000 2). It sits at 356° on the hue wheel with 84% saturation and 40% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bc101c?

rgb(188, 16, 28) — 188 red, 16 green and 28 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 6.3% / 11% by channel.

What is #bc101c in HSL and HSV?

hsl(356, 84%, 40%) and hsv(356, 91%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bc101c a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1115 and perceived brightness is 41%, so white text on it reaches 6.50:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bc101c?

White. It scores 6.50:1 against #bc101c, versus 3.23:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #bc101c accessible on a white background?

#bc101c on white scores 6.50:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #bc101c?

#10BCB0 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #10BC5A and #1072BC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bc101c?

For interface work: #FAF4F5 as the surface, #EDC0C3 for borders, #9B4B50 for secondary text, #0CC086 as an accent and #750A12 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BC1072 and #BC5A10 stays calm, while #10BCB0 is the loudest partner.

What is #bc101c in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 92%, 85%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #bc101c warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 19 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BC3610; nudged cooler, #BE0E5B.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bc101c?

The red family — its 500 step is #ef4444, ΔE2000 15 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bc101c as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bc101c in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bc101c] or text-[#bc101c], 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 #bc101c with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 16, 28, 0.5), or #bc101c80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DE888E; over black, #5E080E.

Is #bc101c a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC0033, ΔE2000 6.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bc101c 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 #bc101c?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EC1D2C, #bc101c 45%, #750A12). For more colour, a short hue run to #A0710E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bc101c in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bc101c at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.