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red · warm

#d85539

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Cardinal

RGB
216, 85, 57
HSL
11°, 67%, 54%
CMYK
0, 61, 74, 15
Luminance
0.2139

#d85539 is a balanced vivid red, 11° on the wheel and 11/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (5.28:1). As text it scores 3.98:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Red, nearest Tailwind family is red.

hsl(11 67% 54%)rgb(216 85 57)Base step 500AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #d85539 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#d85539
Hue
11°
red
Saturation
67%
vivid
Lightness
54%
balanced
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
53%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2139
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
11/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
5.28:1
Closest name
Red
ΔE2000 8.1
Chroma
65.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.617
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
red
500 · ΔE 6.9
Web-safe
#CC6633
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue11° of 360°
Saturation67%
Lightness54%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #d85539.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool11% 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
Red68%
Green30%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#d85539
HEX (8-digit)#d85539ff
RGBrgb(216, 85, 57)
RGBArgba(216, 85, 57, 1)
HSLhsl(11, 67%, 54%)
HSV / HSBhsv(11, 74%, 85%)
HWBhwb(11 22% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 61%, 74%, 15%)
LABlab(53.4 49.9 42.3)
LCHlch(53.4 65.4 40.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.617 0.171 33.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(32.31, 21.40, 6.30)
Decimal14177593
Display P3color(display-p3 0.847 0.333 0.224)
Web-safe#CC6633

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #d85539;
background-color: #d85539;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #d85539;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#d85539] bg-[#d85539]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #d85539;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.847, green: 0.333, blue: 0.224)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.847, green: 0.333, blue: 0.224, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#D85539</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFD85539)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFD85539)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(57, 85, 216)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(216, 85, 57)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(216, 85, 57)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 216, 85, 57)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8471f, 0.3333f, 0.2235f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{216,85,57}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #d85539 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #d85539 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#6B2415, #EED7D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #d85539 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: #FBF5F3;
  --brand-100: #F8EBE8;
  --brand-200: #F1D1CA;
  --brand-300: #EDAFA1;
  --brand-400: #E38672;
  --brand-500: #d85539;
  --brand-600: #CD4528;
  --brand-700: #AA3A22;
  --brand-800: #882E1B;
  --brand-900: #632517;
  --brand-950: #3E170F;
  --brand: #d85539;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF5F4;
  --brand-border: #EDC8C0;
  --brand-hover: #C64327;
  --brand-pressed: #A83921;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241714;
    --brand-ink: #EED7D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF5F3',
        100: '#F8EBE8',
        200: '#F1D1CA',
        300: '#EDAFA1',
        400: '#E38672',
        500: '#d85539',
        600: '#CD4528',
        700: '#AA3A22',
        800: '#882E1B',
        900: '#632517',
        950: '#3E170F',
        DEFAULT: '#d85539',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF5F3,
  '100': #F8EBE8,
  '200': #F1D1CA,
  '300': #EDAFA1,
  '400': #E38672,
  '500': #d85539,
  '600': #CD4528,
  '700': #AA3A22,
  '800': #882E1B,
  '900': #632517,
  '950': #3E170F,
);
$brand-base: #d85539;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF5F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F8EBE8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F1D1CA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#EDAFA1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E38672", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#d85539", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#CD4528", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#AA3A22", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#882E1B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#632517", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3E170F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$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#000000 on #d85539 · 5.28:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.98:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 5.28:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #d85539 as text scores 3.98:1 on white and 5.28:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #6B2415 at 2.80:1.

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
#CF4629 · 4.60:1
AA on white−5% L
#CF4629
The quick fox
#9C351F · 7.14:1
AAA on white−17% L
#9C351F
The quick fox
#d85539 · 5.28:1
AA on blackalready passes
#d85539
The quick fox
#E07A63 · 7.13:1
AAA on black+10% L
#E07A63

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #D85539 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
#d85539 on white: 3.98:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#d85539 on black: 5.28:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #d85539 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #d85539.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.98:1AaAa
Slate 503.80:1AaAa
Slate 1003.63:1AaAa
Slate 2003.23:1AaAa
Slate 3002.68:1AaAa
Slate 4001.55:1AaAa
Slate 5001.20:1AaAa
Slate 6001.90:1AaAa
Slate 7002.60:1AaAa
Slate 8003.68:1AaAa
Slate 9004.49:1AaAa
Black5.28:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #796D35
deuteranopia · #9A8A35
tritanopia · #ED364F

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. #d85539 is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FBF5F3
#F8EBE8
#F1D1CA
#EDAFA1
#E38672
#d85539
#CD4528
#AA3A22
#882E1B
#632517
#3E170F
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FBF5F3Darkest = 950 · #3E170FText 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 0.043 33.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.068 33.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.102 33.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.133 33.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.157 33.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.171 33.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.171 33.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.160 33.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.143 33.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.119 33.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.094 33.7);
}

Colors that work with #d85539

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#FAF5F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDC8C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B594B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1DAFA4
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#6B2415
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FBEDEA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241714
Dark-mode background
Hover#C64327
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A83921
Two steps down
Disabled#CEB8B3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E65D3F
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 #d85539

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • 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
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • 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
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #6B2415
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
  • Weight47/100
  • 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#39BCD8
Analogous left#D8396C
Analogous right#D8A539
Split-complement 1#39D8A5
Split-complement 2#396CD8
Triadic 1#39D855
Triadic 2#5539D8
Tetradic#6CD839
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°11°

#d85539 sits at 11°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red84.7%
Green33.3%
Blue22.4%
R · 0–255
216
0xd8
G · 0–255
85
0x55
B · 0–255
57
0x39

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta60.6%
Yellow73.6%
Key (black)15.3%

Total ink coverage is 150%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#d85539 text on a black background

contrast 5.28:1

Card sample

#d85539 text on a white background

contrast 3.98:1

Card sample

#d85539 on grey

3.63:1

#d85539 on its own surface

3.68:1

#d85539 on its dark surface

4.37:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #d85539;
Background color
Panel with #d85539 background
background-color: #d85539;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #d85539;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(216, 85, 57, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(216, 85, 57, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #d85539;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #d85539, #D8BF39);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d85539, #C9D839);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #d85539;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #d85539;
caret-color: #d85539;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #d85539;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FBEDEA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #d85539;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#d85539 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #d85539 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(216, 85, 57, 0.5)
rgb(216 85 57 / 50%)
#d8553980
hsl(11 67% 54% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #d85539 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#d855391a#FBEEEB
20%#d8553933#F7DDD7
40%#d8553966#EFBBB0
60%#d8553999#E89988
80%#d85539cc#E07761

Gradients from #d85539

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, #E2816C, #d85539 45%, #6B2415);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #d85539, #CABE28);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d85539, #39BCD8);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E79786 0%, #d85539 45%, #6B2415 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%, #E06396 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DDBC52 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #6B2415 0%, transparent 65%), #d85539;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #d85539

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.

#d85539 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

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 5.28:1.

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.

#d85539, answered

What color is #d85539?

#d85539 is a balanced vivid red, closest to Red (ΔE2000 8.1). It sits at 11° on the hue wheel with 67% saturation and 54% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #d85539?

rgb(216, 85, 57) — 216 red, 85 green and 57 blue out of 255, or 84.7% / 33.3% / 22.4% by channel.

What is #d85539 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(11, 67%, 54%) and hsv(11, 74%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #d85539 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2139 and perceived brightness is 53%, so black text on it reaches 5.28:1.

Should I use black or white text on #d85539?

Black. It scores 5.28:1 against #d85539, versus 3.98:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #d85539 accessible on a white background?

#d85539 on white scores 3.98:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #CF4629 to reach 4.5:1, or #9C351F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #d85539?

#39BCD8 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #39D8A5 and #396CD8, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #d85539?

For interface work: #FAF5F4 as the surface, #EDC8C0 for borders, #9B594B for secondary text, #1DAFA4 as an accent and #6B2415 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #D8396C and #D8A539 stays calm, while #39BCD8 is the loudest partner.

What is #d85539 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 61%, 74%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #d85539 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 11 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D86C39; nudged cooler, #DA3656.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #d85539?

The red family — its 500 step is #ef4444, ΔE2000 6.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #d85539 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #d85539 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#d85539] or text-[#d85539], 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 #d85539 with 50% opacity?

rgba(216, 85, 57, 0.5), or #d8553980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #ECAA9C; over black, #6C2B1D.

Is #d85539 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC6633, ΔE2000 7.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #d85539 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 #d85539?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E2816C, #d85539 45%, #6B2415). For more colour, a short hue run to #CABE28 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #d85539 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #d85539 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.