#DC2012

sRGB: 220 / 32 / 18

Thunderous oceans pierce eternal darkness
Withered branches fade beyond remembrance
Pale reflections disappear into mist

#DC2012 belongs to the red family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 220 red, 32 green and 18 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 4.2° lands in the red region. Its 84.9% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 46.7% on a scale from black (0%) to white (100%). Of black and white lettering, white has the clearer light-to-dark separation on this background (4.93:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 220, 32, 18
HSL: 4.16°, 84.87%, 46.67%
HSV / HSB: 4.16°, 91.82%, 86.27%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 85.45%, 91.82%, 13.73%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 30.140, 16.295, 2.131
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 47.359, 67.863, 55.349
WCAG relative luminance: 0.16292
24-bit decimal: 14426130

CMYK uses a profile-free approximation. Printed output depends on the press, ink and paper. Lab uses a D65 white point.

Text contrast

Contrast tells you how clearly lettering separates from #DC2012 in light and dark. The ratio compares relative luminance, a measure of light weighted for human vision. Identical colors give 1:1 and black against white gives 21:1. A ratio of 2.99:1 falls just below the 3:1 AA minimum for large text. Body text needs at least 4.5:1 because its finer strokes are harder to distinguish.

Black text: 4.26:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: AA

White text: 4.93:1

Normal text: AA
Large text: AAA

AA and AAA are WCAG accessibility levels. AAA sets a higher bar: 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Large text begins at 18 pt regular or 14 pt bold. Ratings use the unrounded ratio.

Reference: WCAG text contrast guidance

Palettes & scales

Harmonies rotate the hue. Scales mix the starting color with white, black or middle gray in 20% steps in encoded sRGB.

Complementary

#12CEDC sits half a turn (180°) from #DC2012 on the HSL wheel. Keeping saturation and lightness steady while crossing to the opposite hue gives you a contrasting accent. Check text contrast separately before using the pair for lettering.

#DC2012 #12CEDC

Analogous

#DC1269 and #DC8512 sit 30° to either side of #DC2012. The three hues are neighbors on the wheel, so you can change the color of a border or highlight while keeping it close to the original.

#DC1269 #DC2012 #DC8512

Triadic

#DC2012, #12DC20 and #2012DC are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#DC2012 #12DC20 #2012DC

Split complementary

Start at #DC2012 and look across the wheel. #12DC85 and #1269DC sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#DC2012 #12DC85 #1269DC

Square

Starting with #DC2012, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #69DC12, #12CEDC, then #8512DC. Across the square, #DC2012 pairs with #12CEDC, and #69DC12 with #8512DC.

#DC2012 #69DC12 #12CEDC #8512DC

Tetradic

#DC2012 and #12CEDC are opposites, as are #CEDC12 and #2012DC. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#DC2012 #CEDC12 #12CEDC #2012DC

Tints

Mixing #DC2012 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #E34D41, keeps 80% of the original. By #F8D2D0, the mixture is 80% white.

#DC2012 #E34D41 #EA7971 #F1A6A0 #F8D2D0 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #DC2012 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #B01A0E, keeps 80% of the original. By #2C0604, the mixture is 80% black.

#DC2012 #B01A0E #84130B #580D07 #2C0604 #000000

Tones

Mixing #DC2012 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #CA3328, keeps 80% of the original. By #926D6A, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#DC2012 #CA3328 #B7463E #A55A54 #926D6A #808080

Copy color codes

Hex, RGB and HSL are three ways to write this screen color. Paste any of them into a CSS color property.

Hex

#DC2012

RGB

rgb(220 32 18)

HSL

hsl(4.158 84.874% 46.667%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #DC2012;
  color: #FFFFFF;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#DC2012 uses 220 red, 32 green and 18 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 86.3%

Green 12.5%

Blue 7.1%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #DC2012 is 0.0% cyan, 85.5% magenta, 91.8% yellow and 13.7% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 85.5%

Yellow 91.8%

Black 13.7%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #DD2211. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #D21 in CSS. For a modern design, keep #DC2012 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CC3300, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #DD2211 Nearest web-safe: #CC3300

Gradient to complement

#DC2012 #BA3D34 #995A55 #777777 #559499 #34B1BA #12CEDC

Color vision previews

Compare how #DC2012 appears in each simulation. When two chart lines or status indicators become hard to tell apart, a label, shape or line pattern gives readers another way to distinguish them. Individual perception varies.

Protanopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from long-wavelength cones, some reds and greens can look alike, and reds can appear darker.

#62560A

Deuteranopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from medium-wavelength cones, some greens can be difficult to distinguish from reds or browns.

#8F7F00

Tritanopia

A blue–yellow color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from short-wavelength cones, blue can resemble green, and yellow can resemble pink.

#F30021

Protanomaly (50%)

An altered long-wavelength cone response can make reds appear dimmer and harder to distinguish from greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#9D4F02

Deuteranomaly (50%)

An altered medium-wavelength cone response can reduce the visible difference between reds and greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#AA6900

Tritanomaly (50%)

An altered short-wavelength cone response can make blue harder to distinguish from green. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#DE191E

Grayscale (luminance)

This design check removes hue and preserves relative luminance so you can compare light and dark areas.

#707070

Partial grayscale (50% blend)

This design check mixes the original color halfway toward its grayscale equivalent in linear light. Use it to see how a design holds up as color fades.

#B15452

Reference: National Eye Institute: Types of Color Vision Deficiency

Technical reference

CAM16 and CIECAM02 below assume D65 white, an average surround, background Y of 20 against white at 100, and adapting luminance of 4.07 cd/m².

Linear sRGB

These channels scale with emitted light. Use them for lighting calculations and physically meaningful blends.

R 0.71569 G 0.01444 B 0.00605

Display P3

P3 displays can reproduce a wider range of reds and greens. These coordinates reproduce this same sRGB swatch on a color-managed P3 display.

R 0.79250 G 0.21425 B 0.14635

Linear Display P3

These P3 channels are proportional to light, before display encoding.

R 0.59120 G 0.03772 B 0.01878

CIE xyY

The x and y coordinates locate chromaticity on a diagram. Y gives relative luminance on a scale where white is 100.

x 0.621 y 0.336 Y 16.295

CMY

Ideal cyan, magenta and yellow are the complements of the encoded red, green and blue channels.

C % 13.725 M % 87.451 Y % 92.941

Binary RGB

Each eight-bit group represents one channel. Together they store the 24-bit hex color.

11011100 00100000 00010010