Red and White color palette
white · 0
Walk into any pharmacy, fast food chain, or sale rack and this pairing is doing the work. Red on white is the default language of urgency and clarity, which is why it shows up on stop signs, clearance tags, and emergency kits without anyone needing an explanation.
The red here (#EF4444) is warm and vibrant, sitting at a mid lightness. White gives it the brightest possible backdrop, so the red reads loud without any visual competition. The measured is 3.76 to 1, which is moderate. That is fine for large headlines, logos, and posters, but body text in red on white will feel weak and should be avoided. Mixed together, the two land on a soft pink (#FFA9A1) that can work as a quiet accent.
For branding, posters, and web hero sections, lean on size. Big red type, generous white space, and let the contrast carry the message.
See Red and White in use
better
Red Tailwind scale (50-900)
White Tailwind scale (50-900)
Red to White blend
A continuous interpolation from Red to White, sampled into the 10 steps below. Tap any swatch to copy its hex.
Why Red and White 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 Red text on White (or the reverse) for body copy. For readable text, pair a dark scale step such as red-800 or white-900 with a light one like white-50.
Contrast pairing grid
Rows are Red steps, columns are White steps. Each mark is a Red step shown on a White 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-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;
--color-white-50: #FFFFFF;
--color-white-100: #FFFFFF;
--color-white-200: #FFFFFF;
--color-white-300: #FFFFFF;
--color-white-400: #FFFFFF;
--color-white-500: #FFFFFF;
--color-white-600: #D1D1D1;
--color-white-700: #9E9E9E;
--color-white-800: #5D5D5D;
--color-white-900: #292929;
}
Tailwind v3 — tailwind.config.js
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'red': {
50: '#FFF5F4',
100: '#FFEBE8',
200: '#FFDAD5',
300: '#FFC2BB',
400: '#FFA098',
500: '#EF4444',
600: '#C43636',
700: '#942626',
800: '#571313',
900: '#260404',
},
'white': {
50: '#FFFFFF',
100: '#FFFFFF',
200: '#FFFFFF',
300: '#FFFFFF',
400: '#FFFFFF',
500: '#FFFFFF',
600: '#D1D1D1',
700: '#9E9E9E',
800: '#5D5D5D',
900: '#292929',
},
},
},
},
};
CSS variables
:root {
--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;
--white-50: #FFFFFF;
--white-100: #FFFFFF;
--white-200: #FFFFFF;
--white-300: #FFFFFF;
--white-400: #FFFFFF;
--white-500: #FFFFFF;
--white-600: #D1D1D1;
--white-700: #9E9E9E;
--white-800: #5D5D5D;
--white-900: #292929;
}SCSS variables
$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; $white-50: #FFFFFF; $white-100: #FFFFFF; $white-200: #FFFFFF; $white-300: #FFFFFF; $white-400: #FFFFFF; $white-500: #FFFFFF; $white-600: #D1D1D1; $white-700: #9E9E9E; $white-800: #5D5D5D; $white-900: #292929;
JSON tokens
{
"red": {
"50": "#FFF5F4",
"100": "#FFEBE8",
"200": "#FFDAD5",
"300": "#FFC2BB",
"400": "#FFA098",
"500": "#EF4444",
"600": "#C43636",
"700": "#942626",
"800": "#571313",
"900": "#260404"
},
"white": {
"50": "#FFFFFF",
"100": "#FFFFFF",
"200": "#FFFFFF",
"300": "#FFFFFF",
"400": "#FFFFFF",
"500": "#FFFFFF",
"600": "#D1D1D1",
"700": "#9E9E9E",
"800": "#5D5D5D",
"900": "#292929"
}
}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, Red and White); 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.