Dark Red And Black Color Palette – HEX, RGB & Design Inspiration
Color Details
HEX: #1B222C
RGB: 27, 34, 44
HEX: #12151C
RGB: 18, 21, 28
HEX: #661B1C
RGB: 102, 27, 28
HEX: #531516
RGB: 83, 21, 22
HEX: #191D26
RGB: 25, 29, 38
Text on White/Black Backgrounds
Color Pair Combinations (10 total)
WCAG Contrast Standards:
- AAA (7:1): Enhanced contrast for maximum readability
- AA (4.5:1): Minimum for normal text (under 18pt)
- AA Large (3:1): Acceptable for large text (18pt+ or 14pt+ bold)
- Fail: Below WCAG standards, not recommended for text
Recommended Text Colors
Horizontal (Left to Right)
background: linear-gradient(to right, #1B222C 0%, #12151C 25%, #661B1C 50%, #531516 75%, #191D26 100%);Vertical (Top to Bottom)
background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #1B222C 0%, #12151C 25%, #661B1C 50%, #531516 75%, #191D26 100%);Diagonal (Top Left to Bottom Right)
background: linear-gradient(to bottom right, #1B222C 0%, #12151C 25%, #661B1C 50%, #531516 75%, #191D26 100%);Usage Tips:
- Copy the CSS code and paste directly into your stylesheets
- Linear gradients work great for backgrounds and hero sections
- Radial gradients are perfect for spotlights and focus effects
- Conic gradients create eye-catching loading spinners and progress indicators
- Smooth transitions ensure seamless color blending
Normal Vision
No color vision deficiency
Color Swatches
#1B222C
#12151C
#661B1C
#531516
#191D26
Full Palette View
How people with Normal Vision see it:
Overall Mood & Feel
Calm, professional, and trustworthy, with a sophisticated and dramatic atmosphere
Emotional Impact
Calming and contemplative, promoting feelings of trust, stability, and peace. The dark tones establish a premium, sophisticated feel ideal for luxury positioning
Psychological Effect
This 5-color palette creates a calm, professional, and trustworthy, with a sophisticated and dramatic atmosphere. The combination works together to create memorable visual experiences that influence consumer perception, decision-making, and brand recall. The rich variety provides versatility while maintaining cohesive emotional messaging across touchpoints.
Brand Personality Traits
Perfect For These Industries
Target Audience
Business professionals and decision-makers seeking reliability and competence
Individual Color Psychology
#1B222C
Professional and authoritative
Emotions Evoked
Personality Traits
Brand Traits
Ideal Industries
Marketing Use
Most popular color globally. Builds trust and reduces stress. Ideal for corporate brands, financial services, and healthcare. Can suppress appetite.
Cultural Meanings
Color Harmony Analysis
Palette Mood
Temperature
This palette combines dark & bold moods with cool and warm tones, making it versatile for various design applications.
Professional Implementation Guide
This triadic dark red and black palette features 5 carefully selected cool tones that create a calm and professional aesthetic. With low contrast levels and moderate saturation, this palette is optimized for corporate branding and business websites.
Web Design & Development
For web development, implement this palette with CSS variables for easy theme switching. Consider adding darker variants for better text readability.
- Apply the 60-30-10 rule for visual hierarchy
- Use accent colors for CTAs and hover states
- Maintain consistent color usage across all pages
- Test responsive behavior on multiple devices
Mobile App Interfaces
In mobile applications, these cool tones provide excellent battery efficiency on OLED screens. Use the subtle color variations to define clear touch targets.
- Design both light and dark mode variants
- Consider thumb-reach zones for color placement
- Test under direct sunlight and low light
- Use color to indicate interactive elements
Brand Identity Systems
Build a cohesive brand identity by designating specific colors for specific purposes. Establish your primary brand color from the most distinctive shade and create comprehensive brand guidelines specifying exact usage scenarios.
- Define primary, secondary, and accent colors
- Create usage rules for marketing materials
- Specify minimum sizes and clear space
- Document do's and don'ts for consistency
Frontend Development
Developers can integrate this palette efficiently using modern CSS techniques. Export as CSS variables for maximum flexibility, allowing theme switching and dynamic color updates without rewriting stylesheets.
- Use CSS custom properties for theming
- Implement semantic color naming conventions
- Create utility classes for rapid prototyping
- Consider CSS-in-JS for component-scoped colors
Print Design
For print materials, convert to CMYK using #1B222C as the dominant color for headers and #191D26 for accents. These colors translate well to print with minimal adjustment.
- Add to your design software color library
- Create swatches for quick color access
- Use CMYK values for print production
- Request color proofs before final print
Marketing Campaigns
Marketing materials benefit from consistent color usage that reinforces brand recognition. Apply this palette across email campaigns, landing pages, advertisements, and social media for maximum impact and memorability.
- Maintain color consistency across channels
- A/B test color variations for conversion
- Consider cultural color associations
- Align colors with campaign messaging
Strategic Color Distribution
Professional designers follow the 60-30-10 rule for balanced color distribution. Here's how to apply this principle with the Dark Red And Black:
Dominant Color
#1B222CUse #1B222C as your primary color for headers, hero sections, and primary CTAs. This blue tone should occupy about 60% of your design space.
Secondary Color
#661B1CApply #661B1C as your secondary color for subtle backgrounds and card components. Allocate approximately 30% of your layout to this color.
Accent Color
#191D26Reserve #191D26 for accent elements like buttons, links, and important highlights. This blue accent should be used sparingly (10% of design) to draw attention to key actions.
Professional Best Practices
✓ Smart Usage Tips
- •Add white or black text overlays to improve readability on colored backgrounds
- •Add warm accent colors to create focal points and prevent designs from feeling too cold
- •Ensure sufficient lighting contrast for text elements—use light text on dark backgrounds
- •Test your palette across different devices and lighting conditions before finalizing
✗ Common Mistakes to Avoid
- •Don't use all colors equally—establish clear visual hierarchy through color weight
- •Avoid low-contrast text combinations that strain readability
- •Don't rely solely on color to convey meaning (use icons, text, and patterns too)
- •Avoid inconsistent color usage across different pages or screens
- •Don't assume screen colors match print output—always request physical proofs
Palette Overview & Statistics
5
Total Colors
2
Associated Tags
6
Categories
1082
Community Likes
Color Analysis & Technical Guide
Detailed breakdown of each color's role, characteristics, and optimal applications. This triadic palette creates a calm and professional aesthetic perfect for corporate branding and business websites.
Individual Color Breakdown
Each color in this cool palette has been analyzed for its properties and ideal usage scenarios. The low contrast and moderate saturation ensure harmonious visual relationships.
#1B222C
BLUE
#1B222C serves as the primary/dominant color in this palette. This dark blue (muted) brings professionalism and depth Use it for headers, navigation bars, and brand elements.
Dark toneH: 215°S: 24%L: 14%#12151C
BLUE
#12151C serves as the secondary/supporting color in this palette. This dark blue (muted) brings professionalism and depth Use it for cards, borders, section dividers, and supporting UI components.
Dark toneH: 222°S: 22%L: 9%#661B1C
RED
#661B1C serves as the secondary/supporting color in this palette. This dark red (moderately saturated) brings power and sophistication Use it for cards, borders, section dividers, and supporting UI components.
Dark toneH: 359°S: 58%L: 25%#531516
RED
#531516 serves as the secondary/supporting color in this palette. This dark red (moderately saturated) brings power and sophistication Use it for cards, borders, section dividers, and supporting UI components.
Dark toneH: 359°S: 60%L: 20%#191D26
BLUE
#191D26 serves as the accent/highlight color in this palette. This dark blue (muted) brings professionalism and depth Use it for call-to-action buttons, links, important notifications, and interactive elements.
Dark toneH: 222°S: 21%L: 12%
Palette Characteristics
This palette exhibits distinct characteristics that make it particularly suitable for specific design applications and industries.
Cool tones convey professionalism, trust, and calmness. Ideal for corporate and tech applications.
Low contrast creates subtle, sophisticated aesthetics but requires careful attention to text legibility.
Moderate saturation balances visual interest with professional restraint.
Dark tones create dramatic, sophisticated aesthetics and save battery on OLED displays.
💡 Pro Tips for This Palette
- Perfect for: corporate branding, business websites. The triadic color relationship creates natural visual flow.
- Mood & Psychology: This palette evokes a calm and professional feeling, making it ideal for brands seeking to convey those qualities.
- Accessibility: Test text combinations carefully with contrast checkers to ensure accessibility compliance.
- Extensions: Create tints (add white) and shades (add black) to expand this 5-color palette into a comprehensive design system.
- Cultural Context: Cool tones are generally perceived as professional worldwide but always research cultural color meanings.
Export Formats
Explore Dark Red And Black Palette
The Dark Red And Black color palette is a dramatic and sophisticated combination that evokes feelings of luxury, power, and elegance. At its core, this palette is about creating a sense of depth and mystery, drawing the viewer in with its rich, dark hues. The carefully selected colors work together to create a sense of balance and harmony, making it perfect for designs that require a sense of professionalism and sophistication. The palette features a range of deep, cool tones, including the dark navy blue of 191D26, which provides a sense of stability and calmness, while the 12151C adds a touch of darkness and subtlety, allowing the other colors to take center stage.
As we delve deeper into the palette, we can see that each color plays a unique role in creating the overall aesthetic. The 661B1C is a deep, cool red with a slightly blue undertone, giving it a sense of crimson luxury, while the 531516 is a slightly lighter, more muted version of the same shade, adding a sense of warmth and depth to the design. The 1B222C, on the other hand, is a dark, muted gray-blue that helps to balance out the boldness of the reds, adding a sense of professionalism and sophistication to the design. By combining these colors in different ways, designers can create a wide range of different effects, from the dramatic and attention-grabbing to the subtle and understated.
In terms of practical applications, the Dark Red And Black color palette is incredibly versatile, and can be used in a wide range of different design contexts. For example, it would be perfect for creating a professional and sophisticated website or app, particularly in industries such as finance, technology, or corporate consulting. It could also be used in branding and marketing materials, such as business cards, brochures, or social media graphics, to create a sense of consistency and cohesion across different platforms. Additionally, the palette's dark, muted tones make it ideal for use in designs that require a sense of drama or luxury, such as high-end product packaging or premium lifestyle branding.
The colors in the Dark Red And Black palette also have a significant impact on viewer perception and behavior. The use of dark, cool tones such as 191D26 and 12151C can create a sense of calmness and stability, while the deep reds of 661B1C and 531516 can stimulate feelings of energy and excitement. By combining these colors in different ways, designers can create a wide range of different emotional effects, from the dramatic and attention-grabbing to the subtle and understated. Additionally, the palette's professional and sophisticated aesthetic can help to establish trust and credibility with the viewer, making it perfect for use in designs that require a sense of authority or expertise.
To get the most out of the Dark Red And Black color palette, designers should consider pairing it with complementary colors such as golden yellow or bright green, which can help to create a sense of contrast and visual interest. It's also important to consider the specific design context and the message that you want to convey, and to use the colors in a way that is consistent with your overall brand identity and aesthetic. By following these tips and best practices, designers can unlock the full potential of the Dark Red And Black color palette, and create designs that are both beautiful and effective.
Palette Image
Below is the generated palette image showing all colors in a vertical layout. Perfect for sharing on social media or using as a reference.
Categories & Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about using and implementing the dark red and black palette effectively in your projects.