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red · warm

#cd3e17

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

Token name suggestion: Slate Rust

RGB
205, 62, 23
HSL
13°, 80%, 45%
CMYK
0, 70, 89, 20
Luminance
0.1649

#cd3e17 is a dark electric red, 13° on the wheel and 10/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (4.89:1). As text it scores 4.89:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Red, nearest Tailwind family is red.

hsl(13 80% 45%)rgb(205 62 23)Base step 600AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cd3e17 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cd3e17
Hue
13°
red
Saturation
80%
electric
Lightness
45%
dark
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
48%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1649
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
10/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
4.89:1
Closest name
Red
ΔE2000 8.5
Chroma
75.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.569
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
red
500 · ΔE 11.6
Web-safe
#CC3300
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue13° of 360°
Saturation80%
Lightness45%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cd3e17.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool10% 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
Red79%
Green21%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#cd3e17
HEX (8-digit)#cd3e17ff
RGBrgb(205, 62, 23)
RGBArgba(205, 62, 23, 1)
HSLhsl(13, 80%, 45%)
HSV / HSBhsv(13, 89%, 80%)
HWBhwb(13 9% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 70%, 89%, 20%)
LABlab(47.6 54.7 52.3)
LCHlch(47.6 75.7 43.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.569 0.186 35.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(27.06, 16.49, 2.57)
Decimal13450775
Display P3color(display-p3 0.804 0.243 0.090)
Web-safe#CC3300

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cd3e17;
background-color: #cd3e17;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cd3e17;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cd3e17] bg-[#cd3e17]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cd3e17;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.804, green: 0.243, blue: 0.090)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.804, green: 0.243, blue: 0.090, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CD3E17</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCD3E17)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCD3E17)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(23, 62, 205)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(205, 62, 23)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(205, 62, 23)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 205, 62, 23)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8039f, 0.2431f, 0.0902f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{205,62,23}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cd3e17 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cd3e17 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#73230D, #EED9D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cd3e17 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: #FCF5F3;
  --brand-100: #F9EAE6;
  --brand-200: #F5D1C7;
  --brand-300: #F4AD9A;
  --brand-400: #EE8568;
  --brand-500: #E85C35;
  --brand-600: #cd3e17;
  --brand-700: #B73815;
  --brand-800: #932C10;
  --brand-900: #6A2410;
  --brand-950: #42160A;
  --brand: #cd3e17;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F4;
  --brand-border: #EDC9C0;
  --brand-hover: #AD3413;
  --brand-pressed: #8D2B10;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241714;
    --brand-ink: #EED9D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF5F3',
        100: '#F9EAE6',
        200: '#F5D1C7',
        300: '#F4AD9A',
        400: '#EE8568',
        500: '#E85C35',
        600: '#cd3e17',
        700: '#B73815',
        800: '#932C10',
        900: '#6A2410',
        950: '#42160A',
        DEFAULT: '#cd3e17',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF5F3,
  '100': #F9EAE6,
  '200': #F5D1C7,
  '300': #F4AD9A,
  '400': #EE8568,
  '500': #E85C35,
  '600': #cd3e17,
  '700': #B73815,
  '800': #932C10,
  '900': #6A2410,
  '950': #42160A,
);
$brand-base: #cd3e17;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF5F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F9EAE6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F5D1C7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F4AD9A", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#EE8568", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E85C35", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#cd3e17", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B73815", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#932C10", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6A2410", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#42160A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cd3e17 · 4.89:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.89:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.30:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #cd3e17 as text scores 4.89:1 on white and 4.30:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #FCECE8 at 4.26:1.

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
#cd3e17 · 4.89:1
AA on whitealready passes
#cd3e17
The quick fox
#9F3012 · 7.23:1
AAA on white−10% L
#9F3012
The quick fox
#D64118 · 4.63:1
AA on black+2% L
#D64118
The quick fox
#EB714F · 7.01:1
AAA on black+17% L
#EB714F

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #CD3E17 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
#cd3e17 on white: 4.89:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cd3e17 on black: 4.30:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cd3e17 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cd3e17.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.89:1AaAa
Slate 504.67:1AaAa
Slate 1004.46:1AaAa
Slate 2003.96:1AaAa
Slate 3003.29:1AaAa
Slate 4001.91:1AaAa
Slate 5001.03:1AaAa
Slate 6001.55:1AaAa
Slate 7002.12:1AaAa
Slate 8002.99:1AaAa
Slate 9003.65:1AaAa
Black4.30:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #695D0E
deuteranopia · #8C7D0A
tritanopia · #E20037

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. #cd3e17 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.

#FCF5F3
#F9EAE6
#F5D1C7
#F4AD9A
#EE8568
#E85C35
#cd3e17
#B73815
#932C10
#6A2410
#42160A
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FCF5F3Darkest = 950 · #42160AText 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 35.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.074 35.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.112 35.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.145 35.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.171 35.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.186 35.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.186 35.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.175 35.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.156 35.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.130 35.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.102 35.1);
}

Colors that work with #cd3e17

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#FAF6F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDC9C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B5C4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#10BCB6
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#73230D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FCECE8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241714
Dark-mode background
Hover#AD3413
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8D2B10
Two steps down
Disabled#BD9F97
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#EC3D0D
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 #cd3e17

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
  • Weight55/100
  • 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#17A6CD
Analogous left#CD174B
Analogous right#CD9917
Split-complement 1#17CD99
Split-complement 2#174BCD
Triadic 1#17CD3E
Triadic 2#3E17CD
Tetradic#4BCD17
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°13°

#cd3e17 sits at 13°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.4%
Green24.3%
Blue9.0%
R · 0–255
205
0xcd
G · 0–255
62
0x3e
B · 0–255
23
0x17

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta69.8%
Yellow88.8%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 178%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cd3e17 text on a black background

contrast 4.30:1

Card sample

#cd3e17 text on a white background

contrast 4.89:1

Card sample

#cd3e17 on grey

4.46:1

#cd3e17 on its own surface

4.55:1

#cd3e17 on its dark surface

3.56:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cd3e17;
Background color
Panel with #cd3e17 background
background-color: #cd3e17;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cd3e17;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(205, 62, 23, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(205, 62, 23, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cd3e17;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cd3e17, #CDB717);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cd3e17, #B5CD17);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cd3e17;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cd3e17;
caret-color: #cd3e17;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cd3e17;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FCECE8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cd3e17;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cd3e17 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cd3e17 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(205, 62, 23, 0.5)
rgb(205 62 23 / 50%)
#cd3e1780
hsl(13 80% 45% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cd3e17 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cd3e171a#FAECE8
20%#cd3e1733#F5D8D1
40%#cd3e1766#EBB2A2
60%#cd3e1799#E18B74
80%#cd3e17cc#D76545

Gradients from #cd3e17

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, #E95E38, #cd3e17 45%, #73230D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cd3e17, #B1AC14);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cd3e17, #17A6CD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EC7554 0%, #cd3e17 45%, #73230D 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF6F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E82F73 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E6BD1D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #73230D 0%, transparent 65%), #cd3e17;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cd3e17

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.

#cd3e17 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 4.30:1 — lift it to #D64118 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.

#cd3e17, answered

What color is #cd3e17?

#cd3e17 is a dark electric red, closest to Red (ΔE2000 8.5). It sits at 13° on the hue wheel with 80% saturation and 45% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cd3e17?

rgb(205, 62, 23) — 205 red, 62 green and 23 blue out of 255, or 80.4% / 24.3% / 9% by channel.

What is #cd3e17 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(13, 80%, 45%) and hsv(13, 89%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cd3e17 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1649 and perceived brightness is 48%, so white text on it reaches 4.89:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cd3e17?

White. It scores 4.89:1 against #cd3e17, versus 4.30:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #cd3e17 accessible on a white background?

#cd3e17 on white scores 4.89:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #cd3e17?

#17A6CD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #17CD99 and #174BCD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cd3e17?

For interface work: #FAF6F4 as the surface, #EDC9C0 for borders, #9B5C4B for secondary text, #10BCB6 as an accent and #73230D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CD174B and #CD9917 stays calm, while #17A6CD is the loudest partner.

What is #cd3e17 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 70%, 89%, 20%). 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 #cd3e17 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 10 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CD5317; nudged cooler, #CF1531.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cd3e17?

The red family — its 500 step is #ef4444, ΔE2000 11.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cd3e17 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cd3e17 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cd3e17] or text-[#cd3e17], 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 #cd3e17 with 50% opacity?

rgba(205, 62, 23, 0.5), or #cd3e1780 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E69F8B; over black, #671F0C.

Is #cd3e17 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC3300, ΔE2000 2.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cd3e17 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 #cd3e17?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E95E38, #cd3e17 45%, #73230D). For more colour, a short hue run to #B1AC14 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cd3e17 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cd3e17 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.