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red · warm

#cb3549

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Cardinal

RGB
203, 53, 73
HSL
352°, 59%, 50%
CMYK
0, 74, 64, 20
Luminance
0.1572

#cb3549 is a balanced vivid red, 352° on the wheel and 21/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.07:1). As text it scores 5.07:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Crimson, nearest Tailwind family is rose.

hsl(352 59% 50%)rgb(203 53 73)Base step 600AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cb3549 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cb3549
Hue
352°
red
Saturation
59%
vivid
Lightness
50%
balanced
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
47%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1572
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
21/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
5.07:1
Closest name
Crimson
ΔE2000 3.9
Chroma
64.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.563
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
rose
500 · ΔE 9.4
Web-safe
#CC3333
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue352° of 360°
Saturation59%
Lightness50%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cb3549.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool21% 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
Red81%
Green16%
Blue3%

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

Every format

HEX#cb3549
HEX (8-digit)#cb3549ff
RGBrgb(203, 53, 73)
RGBArgba(203, 53, 73, 1)
HSLhsl(352, 59%, 50%)
HSV / HSBhsv(352, 74%, 80%)
HWBhwb(352 21% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 74%, 64%, 20%)
LABlab(46.6 59.2 24.5)
LCHlch(46.6 64.1 22.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.563 0.185 18.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(27.11, 15.73, 7.91)
Decimal13317449
Display P3color(display-p3 0.796 0.208 0.286)
Web-safe#CC3333

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cb3549;
background-color: #cb3549;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cb3549;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cb3549] bg-[#cb3549]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cb3549;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.796, green: 0.208, blue: 0.286)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.796, green: 0.208, blue: 0.286, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CB3549</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCB3549)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCB3549)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(73, 53, 203)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(203, 53, 73)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(203, 53, 73)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 203, 53, 73)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7961f, 0.2078f, 0.2863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{203,53,73}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cb3549 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cb3549 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#651A24, #EED3D6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cb3549 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: #FBF4F5;
  --brand-100: #F7E9EB;
  --brand-200: #EFCDD1;
  --brand-300: #E8A6AF;
  --brand-400: #DD7986;
  --brand-500: #D14C5E;
  --brand-600: #cb3549;
  --brand-700: #A22A3A;
  --brand-800: #82212E;
  --brand-900: #5E1C25;
  --brand-950: #3B1117;
  --brand: #cb3549;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF4F5;
  --brand-border: #EDC0C6;
  --brand-hover: #AF2D3E;
  --brand-pressed: #932634;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241416;
    --brand-ink: #EED3D6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF4F5',
        100: '#F7E9EB',
        200: '#EFCDD1',
        300: '#E8A6AF',
        400: '#DD7986',
        500: '#D14C5E',
        600: '#cb3549',
        700: '#A22A3A',
        800: '#82212E',
        900: '#5E1C25',
        950: '#3B1117',
        DEFAULT: '#cb3549',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF4F5,
  '100': #F7E9EB,
  '200': #EFCDD1,
  '300': #E8A6AF,
  '400': #DD7986,
  '500': #D14C5E,
  '600': #cb3549,
  '700': #A22A3A,
  '800': #82212E,
  '900': #5E1C25,
  '950': #3B1117,
);
$brand-base: #cb3549;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF4F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F7E9EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EFCDD1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E8A6AF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#DD7986", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#D14C5E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#cb3549", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#A22A3A", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#82212E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5E1C25", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3B1117", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cb3549 · 5.07:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.07:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.14:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #cb3549 as text scores 5.07:1 on white and 4.14:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #FAEBED at 4.38:1.

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
#cb3549 · 5.07:1
AA on whitealready passes
#cb3549
The quick fox
#A32A3A · 7.12:1
AAA on white−10% L
#A32A3A
The quick fox
#CE4154 · 4.51:1
AA on black+3% L
#CE4154
The quick fox
#DD7A87 · 7.21:1
AAA on black+17% L
#DD7A87

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #CB3549 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
#cb3549 on white: 5.07:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cb3549 on black: 4.14:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cb3549 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cb3549.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.07:1AaAa
Slate 504.84:1AaAa
Slate 1004.62:1AaAa
Slate 2004.11:1AaAa
Slate 3003.41:1AaAa
Slate 4001.98:1AaAa
Slate 5001.06:1AaAa
Slate 6001.50:1AaAa
Slate 7002.04:1AaAa
Slate 8002.89:1AaAa
Slate 9003.52:1AaAa
Black4.14:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #5F5A49
deuteranopia · #857A45
tritanopia · #DF003E

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. #cb3549 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.

#FBF4F5
#F7E9EB
#EFCDD1
#E8A6AF
#DD7986
#D14C5E
#cb3549
#A22A3A
#82212E
#5E1C25
#3B1117
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FBF4F5Darkest = 950 · #3B1117Text 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 18.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.074 18.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.111 18.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.145 18.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.171 18.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.185 18.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.185 18.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.174 18.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.156 18.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.130 18.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.102 18.4);
}

Colors that work with #cb3549

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#EDC0C6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B4B55
Captions on the surface
Accent#26A675
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#651A24
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FAEBED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241416
Dark-mode background
Hover#AF2D3E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#932634
Two steps down
Disabled#C8A9AD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DB3A4F
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 #cb3549

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
  • Weight50/100
  • 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#35CBB7
Analogous left#CB3594
Analogous right#CB6C35
Split-complement 1#35CB6C
Split-complement 2#3594CB
Triadic 1#49CB35
Triadic 2#3549CB
Tetradic#94CB35
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°352°

#cb3549 sits at 352°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.6%
Green20.8%
Blue28.6%
R · 0–255
203
0xcb
G · 0–255
53
0x35
B · 0–255
73
0x49

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta73.9%
Yellow64.0%
Key (black)20.4%

Total ink coverage is 158%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cb3549 text on a black background

contrast 4.14:1

Card sample

#cb3549 text on a white background

contrast 5.07:1

Card sample

#cb3549 on grey

4.62:1

#cb3549 on its own surface

4.66:1

#cb3549 on its dark surface

3.49:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cb3549;
Background color
Panel with #cb3549 background
background-color: #cb3549;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cb3549;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(203, 53, 73, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(203, 53, 73, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cb3549;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cb3549, #CB8535);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cb3549, #CBAB35);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cb3549;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cb3549;
caret-color: #cb3549;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cb3549;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FAEBED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cb3549;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cb3549 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cb3549 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(203, 53, 73, 0.5)
rgb(203 53 73 / 50%)
#cb354980
hsl(352 59% 50% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cb3549 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cb35491a#FAEBED
20%#cb354933#F5D7DB
40%#cb354966#EAAEB6
60%#cb354999#E08692
80%#cb3549cc#D55D6D

Gradients from #cb3549

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, #D86675, #cb3549 45%, #651A24);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cb3549, #B3802E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cb3549, #35CBB7);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DE7E8B 0%, #cb3549 45%, #651A24 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%, #D55EB4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D1894D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #651A24 0%, transparent 65%), #cb3549;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cb3549

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.

#cb3549 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 4.14:1 — lift it to #CE4154 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.

#cb3549, answered

What color is #cb3549?

#cb3549 is a balanced vivid red, closest to Crimson (ΔE2000 3.9). It sits at 352° on the hue wheel with 59% saturation and 50% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cb3549?

rgb(203, 53, 73) — 203 red, 53 green and 73 blue out of 255, or 79.6% / 20.8% / 28.6% by channel.

What is #cb3549 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(352, 59%, 50%) and hsv(352, 74%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cb3549 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1572 and perceived brightness is 47%, so white text on it reaches 5.07:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cb3549?

White. It scores 5.07:1 against #cb3549, versus 4.14:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #cb3549 accessible on a white background?

#cb3549 on white scores 5.07:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #cb3549?

#35CBB7 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #35CB6C and #3594CB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cb3549?

For interface work: #FAF4F5 as the surface, #EDC0C6 for borders, #9B4B55 for secondary text, #26A675 as an accent and #651A24 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CB3594 and #CB6C35 stays calm, while #35CBB7 is the loudest partner.

What is #cb3549 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 74%, 64%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cb3549 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 21 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CB5535; nudged cooler, #CE3280.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cb3549?

The rose family — its 500 step is #f43f5e, ΔE2000 9.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cb3549 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cb3549 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cb3549] or text-[#cb3549], 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 #cb3549 with 50% opacity?

rgba(203, 53, 73, 0.5), or #cb354980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E59AA4; over black, #661B25.

Is #cb3549 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC3333, ΔE2000 6.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cb3549 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 #cb3549?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D86675, #cb3549 45%, #651A24). For more colour, a short hue run to #B3802E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cb3549 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cb3549 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.