Coral and Charcoal color palette
coral · 0
darkslategray · 0.033
Coral pulls almost all the weight in this pairing. It's a warm, vibrant orange that reads as cheerful and a little retro, while charcoal stays quiet in the background as a near-black with a faint cool tilt. Because the coral is so much lighter than the charcoal, the two separate cleanly even though the ratio is only 3.96 to 1, enough for large text but not body copy.
In interiors, charcoal walls or upholstery let coral cushions, throws, or art feel like the room's focal point without shouting. In branding, the same logic applies: charcoal for the wordmark and structure, coral for accents and calls to action. Mixed together you get a muted brown (#996556) that works well as a supporting tone.
See Coral and Charcoal in use
better
Coral Tailwind scale (50-900)
Charcoal Tailwind scale (50-900)
Coral to Charcoal blend
A continuous interpolation from Coral to Charcoal, sampled into the 10 steps below. Tap any swatch to copy its hex.
Why Coral and Charcoal 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
Do not place Coral text on Charcoal (or the reverse) for body copy. For readable text, pair a dark scale step such as coral-800 or charcoal-900 with a light one like charcoal-50.
Contrast pairing grid
Rows are Coral steps, columns are Charcoal steps. Each mark is a Coral step shown on a Charcoal 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-coral-50: #FFF8F5;
--color-coral-100: #FFF0EA;
--color-coral-200: #FFE4D9;
--color-coral-300: #FFD3C2;
--color-coral-400: #FFBBA1;
--color-coral-500: #FF7F50;
--color-coral-600: #D16740;
--color-coral-700: #9E4C2E;
--color-coral-800: #5D2A18;
--color-coral-900: #290F06;
--color-charcoal-50: #F2F3F4;
--color-charcoal-100: #E5E7E8;
--color-charcoal-200: #CFD3D5;
--color-charcoal-300: #B1B7BC;
--color-charcoal-400: #8A949A;
--color-charcoal-500: #36454F;
--color-charcoal-600: #2A373F;
--color-charcoal-700: #1E272E;
--color-charcoal-800: #0D1317;
--color-charcoal-900: #030406;
}
Tailwind v3 — tailwind.config.js
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'coral': {
50: '#FFF8F5',
100: '#FFF0EA',
200: '#FFE4D9',
300: '#FFD3C2',
400: '#FFBBA1',
500: '#FF7F50',
600: '#D16740',
700: '#9E4C2E',
800: '#5D2A18',
900: '#290F06',
},
'charcoal': {
50: '#F2F3F4',
100: '#E5E7E8',
200: '#CFD3D5',
300: '#B1B7BC',
400: '#8A949A',
500: '#36454F',
600: '#2A373F',
700: '#1E272E',
800: '#0D1317',
900: '#030406',
},
},
},
},
};
CSS variables
:root {
--coral-50: #FFF8F5;
--coral-100: #FFF0EA;
--coral-200: #FFE4D9;
--coral-300: #FFD3C2;
--coral-400: #FFBBA1;
--coral-500: #FF7F50;
--coral-600: #D16740;
--coral-700: #9E4C2E;
--coral-800: #5D2A18;
--coral-900: #290F06;
--charcoal-50: #F2F3F4;
--charcoal-100: #E5E7E8;
--charcoal-200: #CFD3D5;
--charcoal-300: #B1B7BC;
--charcoal-400: #8A949A;
--charcoal-500: #36454F;
--charcoal-600: #2A373F;
--charcoal-700: #1E272E;
--charcoal-800: #0D1317;
--charcoal-900: #030406;
}SCSS variables
$coral-50: #FFF8F5; $coral-100: #FFF0EA; $coral-200: #FFE4D9; $coral-300: #FFD3C2; $coral-400: #FFBBA1; $coral-500: #FF7F50; $coral-600: #D16740; $coral-700: #9E4C2E; $coral-800: #5D2A18; $coral-900: #290F06; $charcoal-50: #F2F3F4; $charcoal-100: #E5E7E8; $charcoal-200: #CFD3D5; $charcoal-300: #B1B7BC; $charcoal-400: #8A949A; $charcoal-500: #36454F; $charcoal-600: #2A373F; $charcoal-700: #1E272E; $charcoal-800: #0D1317; $charcoal-900: #030406;
JSON tokens
{
"coral": {
"50": "#FFF8F5",
"100": "#FFF0EA",
"200": "#FFE4D9",
"300": "#FFD3C2",
"400": "#FFBBA1",
"500": "#FF7F50",
"600": "#D16740",
"700": "#9E4C2E",
"800": "#5D2A18",
"900": "#290F06"
},
"charcoal": {
"50": "#F2F3F4",
"100": "#E5E7E8",
"200": "#CFD3D5",
"300": "#B1B7BC",
"400": "#8A949A",
"500": "#36454F",
"600": "#2A373F",
"700": "#1E272E",
"800": "#0D1317",
"900": "#030406"
}
}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, Coral and Charcoal); 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.