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red · warm

#da1521

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Cardinal

RGB
218, 21, 33
HSL
356°, 82%, 47%
CMYK
0, 90, 85, 15
Luminance
0.1555

#da1521 is a balanced electric red, 356° on the wheel and 19/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.11:1). As text it scores 5.11:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Crimson, nearest Tailwind family is red.

hsl(356 82% 47%)rgb(218 21 33)Base step 600AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #da1521 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#da1521
Hue
356°
red
Saturation
82%
electric
Lightness
47%
balanced
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
47%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1555
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
19/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
5.11:1
Closest name
Crimson
ΔE2000 6.7
Chroma
84.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.565
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
red
500 · ΔE 9.1
Web-safe
#CC0033
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue356° of 360°
Saturation82%
Lightness47%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #da1521.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool19% 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
Red96%
Green3%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#da1521
HEX (8-digit)#da1521ff
RGBrgb(218, 21, 33)
RGBArgba(218, 21, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(356, 82%, 47%)
HSV / HSBhsv(356, 90%, 85%)
HWBhwb(356 8% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 90%, 85%, 15%)
LABlab(46.4 69.5 47.9)
LCHlch(46.4 84.4 34.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.565 0.222 26.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(29.46, 15.56, 2.89)
Decimal14292257
Display P3color(display-p3 0.855 0.082 0.129)
Web-safe#CC0033

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #da1521;
background-color: #da1521;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #da1521;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#da1521] bg-[#da1521]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #da1521;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.855, green: 0.082, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.855, green: 0.082, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DA1521</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDA1521)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDA1521)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 21, 218)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(218, 21, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(218, 21, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 218, 21, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8549f, 0.0824f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{218,21,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #da1521 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #da1521 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#740B12, #EED3D4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #da1521 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: #FCF2F3;
  --brand-100: #FAE6E7;
  --brand-200: #F6C6C9;
  --brand-300: #F5999E;
  --brand-400: #F0666E;
  --brand-500: #EB323E;
  --brand-600: #da1521;
  --brand-700: #BA121C;
  --brand-800: #950E17;
  --brand-900: #6C0F15;
  --brand-950: #43090D;
  --brand: #da1521;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF4F5;
  --brand-border: #EDC0C3;
  --brand-hover: #BA121C;
  --brand-pressed: #990F17;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241415;
    --brand-ink: #EED3D4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF2F3',
        100: '#FAE6E7',
        200: '#F6C6C9',
        300: '#F5999E',
        400: '#F0666E',
        500: '#EB323E',
        600: '#da1521',
        700: '#BA121C',
        800: '#950E17',
        900: '#6C0F15',
        950: '#43090D',
        DEFAULT: '#da1521',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF2F3,
  '100': #FAE6E7,
  '200': #F6C6C9,
  '300': #F5999E,
  '400': #F0666E,
  '500': #EB323E,
  '600': #da1521,
  '700': #BA121C,
  '800': #950E17,
  '900': #6C0F15,
  '950': #43090D,
);
$brand-base: #da1521;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF2F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FAE6E7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F6C6C9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F5999E", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F0666E", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#EB323E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#da1521", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#BA121C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#950E17", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6C0F15", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#43090D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #da1521 · 5.11:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.11:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.11:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #da1521 as text scores 5.11:1 on white and 4.11:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #FDE8E9 at 4.35:1.

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
#da1521 · 5.11:1
AA on whitealready passes
#da1521
The quick fox
#B0111B · 7.14:1
AAA on white−9% L
#B0111B
The quick fox
#E81623 · 4.57:1
AA on black+3% L
#E81623
The quick fox
#F16A72 · 7.04:1
AAA on black+21% L
#F16A72

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #DA1521 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
#da1521 on white: 5.11:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#da1521 on black: 4.11:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #da1521 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #da1521.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.11:1AaAa
Slate 504.88:1AaAa
Slate 1004.66:1AaAa
Slate 2004.14:1AaAa
Slate 3003.44:1AaAa
Slate 4001.99:1AaAa
Slate 5001.07:1AaAa
Slate 6001.48:1AaAa
Slate 7002.03:1AaAa
Slate 8002.86:1AaAa
Slate 9003.49:1AaAa
Black4.11:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #5E541E
deuteranopia · #8C7C14
tritanopia · #F1001E

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. #da1521 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.

#FCF2F3
#FAE6E7
#F6C6C9
#F5999E
#F0666E
#EB323E
#da1521
#BA121C
#950E17
#6C0F15
#43090D
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FCF2F3Darkest = 950 · #43090DText 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 0.055 26.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.089 26.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.133 26.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.173 26.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.204 26.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.222 26.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.222 26.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.208 26.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.186 26.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.155 26.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.122 26.5);
}

Colors that work with #da1521

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#EDC0C3
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B4B50
Captions on the surface
Accent#0EBE88
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#740B12
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDE8E9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241415
Dark-mode background
Hover#BA121C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#990F17
Two steps down
Disabled#C19EA0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F50E1C
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 #da1521

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight53/100
  • 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#15DACE
Analogous left#DA1584
Analogous right#DA6B15
Split-complement 1#15DA6B
Split-complement 2#1584DA
Triadic 1#21DA15
Triadic 2#1521DA
Tetradic#84DA15
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°356°

#da1521 sits at 356°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.5%
Green8.2%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
218
0xda
G · 0–255
21
0x15
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta90.4%
Yellow84.9%
Key (black)14.5%

Total ink coverage is 190%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#da1521 text on a black background

contrast 4.11:1

Card sample

#da1521 text on a white background

contrast 5.11:1

Card sample

#da1521 on grey

4.66:1

#da1521 on its own surface

4.70:1

#da1521 on its dark surface

3.47:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #da1521;
Background color
Panel with #da1521 background
background-color: #da1521;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #da1521;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(218, 21, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(218, 21, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #da1521;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #da1521, #DA8C15);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #da1521, #DABE15);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #da1521;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #da1521;
caret-color: #da1521;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #da1521;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FDE8E9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #da1521;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#da1521 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #da1521 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(218, 21, 33, 0.5)
rgb(218 21 33 / 50%)
#da152180
hsl(356 82% 47% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #da1521 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#da15211a#FBE8E9
20%#da152133#F8D0D3
40%#da152166#F0A1A6
60%#da152199#E9737A
80%#da1521cc#E1444D

Gradients from #da1521

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, #ED404A, #da1521 45%, #740B12);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #da1521, #BE8912);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #da1521, #15DACE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EF5C65 0%, #da1521 45%, #740B12 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%, #EC37AB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #EA8B24 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #740B12 0%, transparent 65%), #da1521;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #da1521

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.

#da1521 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 4.11:1 — lift it to #E81623 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.

#da1521, answered

What color is #da1521?

#da1521 is a balanced electric red, closest to Crimson (ΔE2000 6.7). It sits at 356° on the hue wheel with 82% saturation and 47% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #da1521?

rgb(218, 21, 33) — 218 red, 21 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 85.5% / 8.2% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #da1521 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(356, 82%, 47%) and hsv(356, 90%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #da1521 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1555 and perceived brightness is 47%, so white text on it reaches 5.11:1.

Should I use black or white text on #da1521?

White. It scores 5.11:1 against #da1521, versus 4.11:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #da1521 accessible on a white background?

#da1521 on white scores 5.11:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #da1521?

#15DACE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #15DA6B and #1584DA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #da1521?

For interface work: #FAF4F5 as the surface, #EDC0C3 for borders, #9B4B50 for secondary text, #0EBE88 as an accent and #740B12 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DA1584 and #DA6B15 stays calm, while #15DACE is the loudest partner.

What is #da1521 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 90%, 85%, 15%). 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 #da1521 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 19 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DA3E15; nudged cooler, #DD1369.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #da1521?

The red family — its 500 step is #ef4444, ΔE2000 9.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #da1521 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #da1521 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#da1521] or text-[#da1521], 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 #da1521 with 50% opacity?

rgba(218, 21, 33, 0.5), or #da152180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #ED8A90; over black, #6D0B11.

Is #da1521 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC0033, ΔE2000 7.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #da1521 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 #da1521?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ED404A, #da1521 45%, #740B12). For more colour, a short hue run to #BE8912 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #da1521 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #da1521 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.