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red · warm

#c91237

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

Token name suggestion: Slate Rust

RGB
201, 18, 55
HSL
348°, 84%, 43%
CMYK
0, 91, 73, 21
Luminance
0.1313

#c91237 is a dark electric red, 348° on the wheel and 23/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.79:1). As text it scores 5.79:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Crimson, nearest Tailwind family is red.

hsl(348 84% 43%)rgb(201 18 55)Base step 700AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c91237 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c91237
Hue
348°
red
Saturation
84%
electric
Lightness
43%
dark
Brightness
79%
HSV value
Perceived
44%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1313
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
23/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
5.79:1
Closest name
Crimson
ΔE2000 4.1
Chroma
73.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.534
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
red
500 · ΔE 12.7
Web-safe
#CC0033
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue348° of 360°
Saturation84%
Lightness43%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c91237.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool23% 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
Red95%
Green3%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#c91237
HEX (8-digit)#c91237ff
RGBrgb(201, 18, 55)
RGBArgba(201, 18, 55, 1)
HSLhsl(348, 84%, 43%)
HSV / HSBhsv(348, 91%, 79%)
HWBhwb(348 7% 21%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 91%, 73%, 21%)
LABlab(43.0 66.2 30.8)
LCHlch(43.0 73.0 25.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.534 0.207 19.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(25.00, 13.13, 4.83)
Decimal13177399
Display P3color(display-p3 0.788 0.071 0.216)
Web-safe#CC0033

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c91237;
background-color: #c91237;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c91237;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c91237] bg-[#c91237]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c91237;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.788, green: 0.071, blue: 0.216)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.788, green: 0.071, blue: 0.216, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C91237</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC91237)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC91237)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(55, 18, 201)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(201, 18, 55)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(201, 18, 55)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 201, 18, 55)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7882f, 0.0706f, 0.2157f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{201,18,55}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c91237 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c91237 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#750A20, #EED3D8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c91237 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: #FCF2F4;
  --brand-100: #FAE6EA;
  --brand-200: #F6C5CF;
  --brand-300: #F698AB;
  --brand-400: #F16581;
  --brand-500: #ED3157;
  --brand-600: #E1143D;
  --brand-700: #c91237;
  --brand-800: #960D29;
  --brand-900: #6C0E21;
  --brand-950: #440915;
  --brand: #c91237;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF4F6;
  --brand-border: #EDC0C9;
  --brand-hover: #A80F2E;
  --brand-pressed: #870C25;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241417;
    --brand-ink: #EED3D8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF2F4',
        100: '#FAE6EA',
        200: '#F6C5CF',
        300: '#F698AB',
        400: '#F16581',
        500: '#ED3157',
        600: '#E1143D',
        700: '#c91237',
        800: '#960D29',
        900: '#6C0E21',
        950: '#440915',
        DEFAULT: '#c91237',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF2F4,
  '100': #FAE6EA,
  '200': #F6C5CF,
  '300': #F698AB,
  '400': #F16581,
  '500': #ED3157,
  '600': #E1143D,
  '700': #c91237,
  '800': #960D29,
  '900': #6C0E21,
  '950': #440915,
);
$brand-base: #c91237;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF2F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FAE6EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F6C5CF", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F698AB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F16581", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#ED3157", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#E1143D", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#c91237", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#960D29", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6C0E21", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#440915", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c91237 · 5.79:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.79:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.63:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #c91237 as text scores 5.79:1 on white and 3.63:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #FDE8EC at 4.95:1.

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
#c91237 · 5.79:1
AA on whitealready passes
#c91237
The quick fox
#B11030 · 7.03:1
AAA on white−5% L
#B11030
The quick fox
#E5143E · 4.50:1
AA on black+6% L
#E5143E
The quick fox
#F26984 · 7.13:1
AAA on black+25% L
#F26984

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C91237 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
#c91237 on white: 5.79:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c91237 on black: 3.63:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c91237 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c91237.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.79:1AaAa
Slate 505.54:1AaAa
Slate 1005.29:1AaAa
Slate 2004.70:1AaAa
Slate 3003.90:1AaAa
Slate 4002.26:1AaAa
Slate 5001.22:1AaAa
Slate 6001.31:1AaAa
Slate 7001.79:1AaAa
Slate 8002.53:1AaAa
Slate 9003.08:1AaAa
Black3.63:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #534E37
deuteranopia · #7F7231
tritanopia · #DD0025

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. #c91237 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.

#FCF2F4
#FAE6EA
#F6C5CF
#F698AB
#F16581
#ED3157
#E1143D
#c91237
#960D29
#6C0E21
#440915
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #FCF2F4Darkest = 950 · #440915Text 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 0.052 19.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.083 19.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.124 19.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.162 19.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.191 19.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.207 19.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.207 19.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.195 19.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.174 19.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.145 19.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.114 19.8);
}

Colors that work with #c91237

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#FAF4F6
Tinted page background
Border#EDC0C9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B4B5B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0DBF6F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#750A20
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDE8EC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241417
Dark-mode background
Hover#A80F2E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#870C25
Two steps down
Disabled#B9929A
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E80835
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 #c91237

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
  • Weight57/100
  • 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#12C9A4
Analogous left#C91292
Analogous right#C94912
Split-complement 1#12C949
Split-complement 2#1292C9
Triadic 1#37C912
Triadic 2#1237C9
Tetradic#92C912
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°348°

#c91237 sits at 348°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red78.8%
Green7.1%
Blue21.6%
R · 0–255
201
0xc9
G · 0–255
18
0x12
B · 0–255
55
0x37

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta91.0%
Yellow72.6%
Key (black)21.2%

Total ink coverage is 185%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c91237 text on a black background

contrast 3.63:1

Card sample

#c91237 text on a white background

contrast 5.79:1

Card sample

#c91237 on grey

5.29:1

#c91237 on its own surface

5.33:1

#c91237 on its dark surface

3.05:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c91237;
Background color
Panel with #c91237 background
background-color: #c91237;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c91237;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(201, 18, 55, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(201, 18, 55, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c91237;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c91237, #C96712);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c91237, #C99512);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c91237;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c91237;
caret-color: #c91237;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c91237;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FDE8EC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c91237;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c91237 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c91237 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(201, 18, 55, 0.5)
rgb(201 18 55 / 50%)
#c9123780
hsl(348 84% 43% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c91237 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c912371a#FAE7EB
20%#c9123733#F4D0D7
40%#c9123766#E9A0AF
60%#c9123799#DF7187
80%#c91237cc#D4415F

Gradients from #c91237

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, #EC2C53, #c91237 45%, #750A20);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c91237, #AD660F);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c91237, #12C9A4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EF486A 0%, #c91237 45%, #750A20 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF4F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #EB22C0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E56414 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #750A20 0%, transparent 65%), #c91237;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c91237

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.

#c91237 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 3.63:1 — lift it to #E5143E 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.

#c91237, answered

What color is #c91237?

#c91237 is a dark electric red, closest to Crimson (ΔE2000 4.1). It sits at 348° on the hue wheel with 84% saturation and 43% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #c91237?

rgb(201, 18, 55) — 201 red, 18 green and 55 blue out of 255, or 78.8% / 7.1% / 21.6% by channel.

What is #c91237 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(348, 84%, 43%) and hsv(348, 91%, 79%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c91237 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1313 and perceived brightness is 44%, so white text on it reaches 5.79:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c91237?

White. It scores 5.79:1 against #c91237, versus 3.63:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #c91237 accessible on a white background?

#c91237 on white scores 5.79:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #c91237?

#12C9A4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #12C949 and #1292C9, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c91237?

For interface work: #FAF4F6 as the surface, #EDC0C9 for borders, #9B4B5B for secondary text, #0DBF6F as an accent and #750A20 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C91292 and #C94912 stays calm, while #12C9A4 is the loudest partner.

What is #c91237 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 91%, 73%, 21%). 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 #c91237 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 23 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C93012; nudged cooler, #CB107A.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c91237?

The red family — its 500 step is #ef4444, ΔE2000 12.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c91237 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c91237 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c91237] or text-[#c91237], 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 #c91237 with 50% opacity?

rgba(201, 18, 55, 0.5), or #c9123780 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E4899B; over black, #65091C.

Is #c91237 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC0033, ΔE2000 1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c91237 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 #c91237?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EC2C53, #c91237 45%, #750A20). For more colour, a short hue run to #AD660F keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c91237 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c91237 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.