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red · warm

#c8342d

a balanced, vivid red · warm · closest name: Firebrick

Token name suggestion: Studio Ember

RGB
200, 52, 45
HSL
3°, 63%, 48%
CMYK
0, 74, 78, 22
Luminance
0.1492

#c8342d is a balanced vivid red, 3° on the wheel and 15/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.27:1). As text it scores 5.27:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Firebrick, nearest Tailwind family is red.

hsl(3 63% 48%)rgb(200 52 45)Base step 600AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c8342d is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c8342d
Hue
red
Saturation
63%
vivid
Lightness
48%
balanced
Brightness
78%
HSV value
Perceived
46%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1492
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
15/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
5.27:1
Closest name
Firebrick
ΔE2000 5.9
Chroma
69.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.553
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
red
500 · ΔE 9.8
Web-safe
#CC3333
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue3° of 360°
Saturation63%
Lightness48%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c8342d.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool15% 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
Red82%
Green16%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#c8342d
HEX (8-digit)#c8342dff
RGBrgb(200, 52, 45)
RGBArgba(200, 52, 45, 1)
HSLhsl(3, 63%, 48%)
HSV / HSBhsv(3, 77%, 78%)
HWBhwb(3 18% 22%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 74%, 78%, 22%)
LABlab(45.5 57.3 39.5)
LCHlch(45.5 69.6 34.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.553 0.186 27.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(25.52, 14.93, 4.02)
Decimal13120557
Display P3color(display-p3 0.784 0.204 0.176)
Web-safe#CC3333

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c8342d;
background-color: #c8342d;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c8342d;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c8342d] bg-[#c8342d]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c8342d;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.784, green: 0.204, blue: 0.176)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.784, green: 0.204, blue: 0.176, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C8342D</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC8342D)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC8342D)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(45, 52, 200)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(200, 52, 45)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(200, 52, 45)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 200, 52, 45)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7843f, 0.2039f, 0.1765f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{200,52,45}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c8342d 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c8342d 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#681B17, #EED4D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c8342d 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: #FBF4F4;
  --brand-100: #F7E9E8;
  --brand-200: #F0CDCB;
  --brand-300: #EAA7A3;
  --brand-400: #E07A76;
  --brand-500: #D64E48;
  --brand-600: #c8342d;
  --brand-700: #A72B25;
  --brand-800: #85231E;
  --brand-900: #611D1A;
  --brand-950: #3D1210;
  --brand: #c8342d;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF5F4;
  --brand-border: #EDC2C0;
  --brand-hover: #AB2C26;
  --brand-pressed: #8E2520;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241414;
    --brand-ink: #EED4D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF4F4',
        100: '#F7E9E8',
        200: '#F0CDCB',
        300: '#EAA7A3',
        400: '#E07A76',
        500: '#D64E48',
        600: '#c8342d',
        700: '#A72B25',
        800: '#85231E',
        900: '#611D1A',
        950: '#3D1210',
        DEFAULT: '#c8342d',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF4F4,
  '100': #F7E9E8,
  '200': #F0CDCB,
  '300': #EAA7A3,
  '400': #E07A76,
  '500': #D64E48,
  '600': #c8342d,
  '700': #A72B25,
  '800': #85231E,
  '900': #611D1A,
  '950': #3D1210,
);
$brand-base: #c8342d;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF4F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F7E9E8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F0CDCB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#EAA7A3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E07A76", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#D64E48", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#c8342d", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#A72B25", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#85231E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#611D1A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3D1210", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c8342d · 5.27:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.27:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.98:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #c8342d as text scores 5.27:1 on white and 3.98:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #FAEBEA at 4.55:1.

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
#c8342d · 5.27:1
AA on whitealready passes
#c8342d
The quick fox
#A22A24 · 7.26:1
AAA on white−9% L
#A22A24
The quick fox
#D3423B · 4.61:1
AA on black+5% L
#D3423B
The quick fox
#E07A76 · 7.21:1
AAA on black+19% L
#E07A76

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C8342D 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
#c8342d on white: 5.27:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c8342d on black: 3.98:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c8342d as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c8342d.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.27:1AaAa
Slate 505.04:1AaAa
Slate 1004.81:1AaAa
Slate 2004.27:1AaAa
Slate 3003.55:1AaAa
Slate 4002.06:1AaAa
Slate 5001.11:1AaAa
Slate 6001.44:1AaAa
Slate 7001.96:1AaAa
Slate 8002.78:1AaAa
Slate 9003.39:1AaAa
Black3.98:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #61572B
deuteranopia · #857727
tritanopia · #DC0034

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. #c8342d 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.

#FBF4F4
#F7E9E8
#F0CDCB
#EAA7A3
#E07A76
#D64E48
#c8342d
#A72B25
#85231E
#611D1A
#3D1210
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FBF4F4Darkest = 950 · #3D1210Text 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 0.046 27.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.074 27.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.112 27.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.145 27.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.171 27.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.186 27.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.186 27.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.175 27.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.156 27.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.130 27.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.102 27.8);
}

Colors that work with #c8342d

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#FAF5F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDC2C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B4E4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#21AB8E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#681B17
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FAEBEA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241414
Dark-mode background
Hover#AB2C26
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8E2520
Two steps down
Disabled#C3A3A2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DE332B
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 #c8342d

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
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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 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-high
  • Weight52/100
  • 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#2DC1C8
Analogous left#C82D73
Analogous right#C8812D
Split-complement 1#2DC881
Split-complement 2#2D73C8
Triadic 1#2DC834
Triadic 2#342DC8
Tetradic#73C82D
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°3°

#c8342d sits at 3°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red78.4%
Green20.4%
Blue17.6%
R · 0–255
200
0xc8
G · 0–255
52
0x34
B · 0–255
45
0x2d

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta74.0%
Yellow77.5%
Key (black)21.6%

Total ink coverage is 173%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c8342d text on a black background

contrast 3.98:1

Card sample

#c8342d text on a white background

contrast 5.27:1

Card sample

#c8342d on grey

4.81:1

#c8342d on its own surface

4.88:1

#c8342d on its dark surface

3.36:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c8342d;
Background color
Panel with #c8342d background
background-color: #c8342d;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c8342d;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(200, 52, 45, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(200, 52, 45, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c8342d;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c8342d, #C89B2D);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c8342d, #C8C22D);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c8342d;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c8342d;
caret-color: #c8342d;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c8342d;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FAEBEA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c8342d;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c8342d 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c8342d 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(200, 52, 45, 0.5)
rgb(200 52 45 / 50%)
#c8342d80
hsl(3 63% 48% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c8342d 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c8342d1a#FAEBEA
20%#c8342d33#F4D6D5
40%#c8342d66#E9AEAB
60%#c8342d99#DE8581
80%#c8342dcc#D35D57

Gradients from #c8342d

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, #DA5E58, #c8342d 45%, #681B17);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c8342d, #AF9327);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c8342d, #2DC1C8);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DF7671 0%, #c8342d 45%, #681B17 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF5F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D85099 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D49D3F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #681B17 0%, transparent 65%), #c8342d;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c8342d

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.

#c8342d 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 3.98:1 — lift it to #D3423B 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.

#c8342d, answered

What color is #c8342d?

#c8342d is a balanced vivid red, closest to Firebrick (ΔE2000 5.9). It sits at 3° on the hue wheel with 63% saturation and 48% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #c8342d?

rgb(200, 52, 45) — 200 red, 52 green and 45 blue out of 255, or 78.4% / 20.4% / 17.6% by channel.

What is #c8342d in HSL and HSV?

hsl(3, 63%, 48%) and hsv(3, 77%, 78%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c8342d a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1492 and perceived brightness is 46%, so white text on it reaches 5.27:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c8342d?

White. It scores 5.27:1 against #c8342d, versus 3.98:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #c8342d accessible on a white background?

#c8342d on white scores 5.27:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #c8342d?

#2DC1C8 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #2DC881 and #2D73C8, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c8342d?

For interface work: #FAF5F4 as the surface, #EDC2C0 for borders, #9B4E4B for secondary text, #21AB8E as an accent and #681B17 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C82D73 and #C8812D stays calm, while #2DC1C8 is the loudest partner.

What is #c8342d in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 74%, 78%, 22%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c8342d warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 15 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C8572D; nudged cooler, #CA2A5E.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c8342d?

The red family — its 500 step is #ef4444, ΔE2000 9.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c8342d as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c8342d in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c8342d] or text-[#c8342d], 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 #c8342d with 50% opacity?

rgba(200, 52, 45, 0.5), or #c8342d80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E49A96; over black, #641A17.

Is #c8342d a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC3333, ΔE2000 1.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c8342d 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 #c8342d?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DA5E58, #c8342d 45%, #681B17). For more colour, a short hue run to #AF9327 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c8342d in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c8342d at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.