#EE2421

sRGB: 238 / 36 / 33

Infinite horizons fracture ancient heavens
Withered branches breathe beneath silver clouds
Distant echoes surrender to silence

#EE2421 belongs to the red family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 238 red, 36 green and 33 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 0.9° lands in the red region. Its 85.8% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 53.1% on a scale from black (0%) to white (100%). Of black and white lettering, black has the clearer light-to-dark separation on this background (4.91:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 238, 36, 33
HSL: 0.88°, 85.77%, 53.14%
HSV / HSB: 0.88°, 86.13%, 93.33%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 84.87%, 86.13%, 6.67%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 36.164, 19.552, 3.309
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 51.327, 72.113, 53.674
WCAG relative luminance: 0.19549
24-bit decimal: 15606817

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 #EE2421 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: 4.91:1

Normal text: AA
Large text: AAA

White text: 4.28:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: AA

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

#21EBEE sits half a turn (180°) from #EE2421 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.

#EE2421 #21EBEE

Analogous

#EE2185 and #EE8B21 sit 30° to either side of #EE2421. 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.

#EE2185 #EE2421 #EE8B21

Triadic

#EE2421, #21EE24 and #2421EE are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#EE2421 #21EE24 #2421EE

Split complementary

Start at #EE2421 and look across the wheel. #21EE8B and #2185EE sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#EE2421 #21EE8B #2185EE

Square

Starting with #EE2421, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #85EE21, #21EBEE, then #8B21EE. Across the square, #EE2421 pairs with #21EBEE, and #85EE21 with #8B21EE.

#EE2421 #85EE21 #21EBEE #8B21EE

Tetradic

#EE2421 and #21EBEE are opposites, as are #EBEE21 and #2421EE. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#EE2421 #EBEE21 #21EBEE #2421EE

Tints

Mixing #EE2421 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #F1504D, keeps 80% of the original. By #FCD3D3, the mixture is 80% white.

#EE2421 #F1504D #F57C7A #F8A7A6 #FCD3D3 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #EE2421 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #BE1D1A, keeps 80% of the original. By #300707, the mixture is 80% black.

#EE2421 #BE1D1A #8F1614 #5F0E0D #300707 #000000

Tones

Mixing #EE2421 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #D83634, keeps 80% of the original. By #966E6D, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#EE2421 #D83634 #C24947 #AC5B5A #966E6D #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

#EE2421

RGB

rgb(238 36 33)

HSL

hsl(0.878 85.774% 53.137%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #EE2421;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#EE2421 uses 238 red, 36 green and 33 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 93.3%

Green 14.1%

Blue 12.9%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #EE2421 is 0.0% cyan, 84.9% magenta, 86.1% yellow and 6.7% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 84.9%

Yellow 86.1%

Black 6.7%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #EE2222. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #E22 in CSS. For a modern design, keep #EE2421 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #FF3333, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #EE2222 Nearest web-safe: #FF3333

Gradient to complement

#EE2421 #CC4543 #AA6665 #888888 #65A9AA #43CACC #21EBEE

Color vision previews

Compare how #EE2421 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.

#6B5F1C

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.

#9B8910

Tritanopia

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

#FF0028

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.

#AA5718

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.

#B87213

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#F01D28

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#7A7A7A

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.

#C05C5B

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 0.85499 G 0.01764 B 0.01521

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 0.85772 G 0.23596 B 0.18883

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.70633 G 0.04544 B 0.02973

CIE xyY

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

x 0.613 y 0.331 Y 19.552

CMY

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

C % 6.667 M % 85.882 Y % 87.059

Binary RGB

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

11101110 00100100 00100001