Black and Red color palette
black
Urgency is the first thing this pair signals. The black (#0A0A0A) is almost pure dark with no color cast, so the red (#EF4444) reads louder against it than it would on any other backdrop. With a lightness gap from 0.145 up to 0.637, the lands at 5.26 to 1, enough for body text to stay readable.
On posters and web hero sections, this is the combination for warnings, sales, sports, and anything that needs to grab attention fast. In branding it tends to suggest power or risk rather than warmth.
Use black as the dominant ground and let the red carry headlines, buttons, or a single accent shape. If you need a transition tone between them, their midpoint is a deep brick red (#732A27).
See Black and Red in use
better
Black Tailwind scale (50-900)
Red Tailwind scale (50-900)
Black to Red blend
A continuous interpolation from Black to Red, sampled into the 10 steps below. Tap any swatch to copy its hex.
Why Black and Red blend best in OKLab
The same two colors blended three ways. This site uses OKLab, which keeps the blend smooth and evenly lit. The other two are shown so you can see what to avoid: sRGB darkens and muddies the middle, and HSL detours through colors that are not in your palette.
Accessibility
Black and Red can be used together as text and background.
Contrast pairing grid
Rows are Black steps, columns are Red steps. Each mark is a Black step shown on a Red step: a check means it clears WCAG AA for text (4.5:1). If you can read the mark, the pairing is legible.
| 50 | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 | 600 | 700 | 800 | 900 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 100 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 200 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 300 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 400 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 500 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 600 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 700 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 800 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 900 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
✓ passes AA ✗ fails AA
Copy for Tailwind
Tailwind v4 — @theme (paste into your CSS)
@theme {
--color-black-50: #EEEEEE;
--color-black-100: #DDDDDD;
--color-black-200: #C1C1C1;
--color-black-300: #9C9C9C;
--color-black-400: #6C6C6C;
--color-black-500: #0A0A0A;
--color-black-600: #060606;
--color-black-700: #030303;
--color-black-800: #010101;
--color-black-900: #000000;
--color-red-50: #FFF5F4;
--color-red-100: #FFEBE8;
--color-red-200: #FFDAD5;
--color-red-300: #FFC2BB;
--color-red-400: #FFA098;
--color-red-500: #EF4444;
--color-red-600: #C43636;
--color-red-700: #942626;
--color-red-800: #571313;
--color-red-900: #260404;
}
Tailwind v3 — tailwind.config.js
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'black': {
50: '#EEEEEE',
100: '#DDDDDD',
200: '#C1C1C1',
300: '#9C9C9C',
400: '#6C6C6C',
500: '#0A0A0A',
600: '#060606',
700: '#030303',
800: '#010101',
900: '#000000',
},
'red': {
50: '#FFF5F4',
100: '#FFEBE8',
200: '#FFDAD5',
300: '#FFC2BB',
400: '#FFA098',
500: '#EF4444',
600: '#C43636',
700: '#942626',
800: '#571313',
900: '#260404',
},
},
},
},
};
CSS variables
:root {
--black-50: #EEEEEE;
--black-100: #DDDDDD;
--black-200: #C1C1C1;
--black-300: #9C9C9C;
--black-400: #6C6C6C;
--black-500: #0A0A0A;
--black-600: #060606;
--black-700: #030303;
--black-800: #010101;
--black-900: #000000;
--red-50: #FFF5F4;
--red-100: #FFEBE8;
--red-200: #FFDAD5;
--red-300: #FFC2BB;
--red-400: #FFA098;
--red-500: #EF4444;
--red-600: #C43636;
--red-700: #942626;
--red-800: #571313;
--red-900: #260404;
}SCSS variables
$black-50: #EEEEEE; $black-100: #DDDDDD; $black-200: #C1C1C1; $black-300: #9C9C9C; $black-400: #6C6C6C; $black-500: #0A0A0A; $black-600: #060606; $black-700: #030303; $black-800: #010101; $black-900: #000000; $red-50: #FFF5F4; $red-100: #FFEBE8; $red-200: #FFDAD5; $red-300: #FFC2BB; $red-400: #FFA098; $red-500: #EF4444; $red-600: #C43636; $red-700: #942626; $red-800: #571313; $red-900: #260404;
JSON tokens
{
"black": {
"50": "#EEEEEE",
"100": "#DDDDDD",
"200": "#C1C1C1",
"300": "#9C9C9C",
"400": "#6C6C6C",
"500": "#0A0A0A",
"600": "#060606",
"700": "#030303",
"800": "#010101",
"900": "#000000"
},
"red": {
"50": "#FFF5F4",
"100": "#FFEBE8",
"200": "#FFDAD5",
"300": "#FFC2BB",
"400": "#FFA098",
"500": "#EF4444",
"600": "#C43636",
"700": "#942626",
"800": "#571313",
"900": "#260404"
}
}How we name colors
There is no single official authority for naming colors. We use the common, widely recognized name as the primary label for each color (here, Black and Red); many common names are themselves W3C CSS named colors. For transparency we also show the nearest W3C CSS named color and the perceptual distance, ΔE, measured in OKLab. A small ΔE means the name is essentially exact; a larger one means it is the closest standard name rather than a perfect match.
Sources: W3C CSS Color Module Level 4 and the open color-name-list dataset, used to verify every color sits near a recognized name.