Color Details and Palettes for #8B0000

Details about the color Dark Red

Closest web-safe match: #990000

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 #8B0000
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About Color Hex #8b0000

The color Dark Red, with hexadecimal code #8b0000, falls within the red color family, a hue strongly linked to passion, urgency, and primal energy. Across cultures, red ranges from the luck of Chinese New Year to the romance of Western Valentine's Day. Additionally, it evokes emotions such as Passion, Energy, Love, Excitement, Danger and Desire. In many Eastern cultures, red symbolizes luck, prosperity, and happiness, often used in festivals and weddings. In Western cultures, red can symbolize passion, love, and sometimes danger. With a high saturation of 100%, this color is intensely vivid—demanding attention and ideal for focal elements like buttons, banners, and brand marks. Its low lightness of 27% produces a deep, rich appearance—conveying gravity and luxury, particularly effective in dark-mode designs and premium packaging. This color is ideal for designs that aim to express Passion, Energy, Love, Excitement, Danger, or Desire. It can be effectively used in web design, branding, and marketing materials to attract attention and convey specific messages.

The RGB values for Dark Red are (139, 0, 0), providing a combination of red: 139, green: 0, and blue: 0. In HSL format, it has a hue of 0.00°, saturation of 100.00%, and lightness of 27.00%.

The HSV representation includes a hue of 0.00°, saturation of 100.00%, and value of 55.00%. Its CMYK composition is cyan: 0.00%, magenta: 100.00%, yellow: 100.00%, and black: 45.00%.

The calculated luminance of #8b0000 is 0.055, offering a brightness level suitable for various design requirements.

This color is not part of the web-safe color palette. The closest web-safe color to this is the color HEX #990000. Its contrast ratio is 2.10:1 against black and 10.01:1 against white. It works well on light backgrounds but may be challenging on darker ones.

In terms of color temperature, #8b0000 reads as warm. When it comes to accessibility, testing against standard guidelines suggests that using white text meets typical WCAG contrast standards. Additionally, the ideal foreground color for improved legibility on #8b0000 is white.

Considering its saturation and lightness, #8b0000 appears more vivid and energetic, making it stand out in designs that aim to capture attention.

History, Usage, Psychology & Design Ideas for #8B0000

Dark Red (#8B0000) belongs to the Red color family.

This deep, saturated shade conveys authority and richness. Deep tones are favored in luxury packaging, evening-event branding, and dark-mode interfaces where they provide dramatic contrast against lighter elements.

Historical Background

Red ochre is among the earliest pigments used by humans, found in cave paintings over 40,000 years old. The precious cochineal dye—extracted from scale insects—was so valuable in colonial-era trade that it rivaled gold. In imperial China, vermilion lacquer adorned thrones and temples, while Roman generals painted their faces red for triumphal processions through the streets of Rome.

Design & Usage Tips

Red commands instant attention, making it the top choice for call-to-action buttons, sale banners, and emergency signage. Use it selectively to avoid overwhelming users—pair red accents with neutral backgrounds (white, light gray, or cream) to create high-impact focal points that guide the eye without fatigue.

Positioned on the warm side of the color wheel (hue 0°), it naturally draws the eye and creates a sense of closeness—making it effective for calls to action, food photography, and hospitality branding. At 100% saturation, this is a highly vivid color that demands attention. Use it where maximum visual impact is needed—feature banners, accent buttons, and data-visualization highlights.

Psychological Impact

Red accelerates heart rate and triggers primal alertness, linking it to passion, urgency, and excitement. In marketing, red increases impulse buying; in UX, red signals errors or critical states. Culturally, red spans love (Western Valentine's Day) and luck (Chinese New Year).

Its low lightness of 27% gives it a deep, intense presence. Deep tones like this excel as dark-mode backgrounds, header bars, and anywhere a sense of gravity or luxury is desired.

Creative Design Ideas

Combine a rich crimson with gold foil for luxury packaging. In web design, use a single red accent button on a monochrome page for maximum conversion impact. For sports branding, pair red with black and white for aggressive, high-energy team identities.

#8B0000 Color Conversions

Every way to write Dark Red — copy Dark Red as RGB, HSL, HSV, HWB, CMYK, OKLCH, OKLab, CIELAB, LCH, XYZ or a decimal integer. One-tap copy on every format; tap on any card to learn what it is and when to use it.

12 formats
HEX Web
#8B0000

Hexadecimal is the web’s universal color notation — two digits each for red, green and blue. Drop it straight into HTML, CSS or any design tool.

RGB Screen
rgb(139, 0, 0)

RGB is the additive Red-Green-Blue model every screen uses to emit light. The default choice for websites, apps and on-screen UI.

HSL Web
hsl(0, 100%, 27%)

HSL breaks a color into Hue, Saturation and Lightness — the most intuitive way to lighten, darken or mute a color in CSS.

HSV HSB Design
hsv(0, 100%, 55%)

HSV (also called HSB) maps Hue, Saturation and Value/Brightness. It is the model behind the color pickers in Photoshop, Figma and most design apps.

HWB CSS 4
hwb(0 0% 45%)

HWB blends a pure hue with Whiteness and Blackness — a painter-friendly model added in CSS Color 4 for quick tints and shades.

CMYK Print
cmyk(0%, 100%, 100%, 45%)

CMYK is the subtractive Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black ink model. Use these values when preparing artwork for a printer or commercial press.

OKLCH Modern
oklch(39.99% 0.164 29.23)

OKLCH is a modern, perceptually-uniform space (Lightness, Chroma, Hue). It powers smooth gradients and accessible palettes in today’s CSS.

OKLab Modern
oklab(39.99% 0.143 0.080)

OKLab is the Cartesian form of OKLCH — ideal for blending and interpolating colors without the muddy midpoints older spaces produce.

CIELAB L*a*b* Perceptual
L: 28.08, a: 51.01, b: 41.29

CIELAB is a device-independent, perceptually-uniform space. It is the standard for measuring color difference (ΔE) and matching across devices.

LCH Perceptual
L: 28.08, C: 65.63, H: 38.99

LCH is CIELAB in cylindrical form — Lightness, Chroma and Hue — letting you adjust vividness and hue while staying perceptually even.

XYZ CIE Science
X: 10.65, Y: 5.49, Z: 0.50

CIE XYZ is the 1931 master space that underpins every other model here — the scientific bridge used to convert between color systems.

Decimal int Code
9109504

The 24-bit integer value of the color — handy for databases, APIs, game engines and low-level graphics code.

RGB Color Percentages for #8b0000

RGB Color Percentages for Dark Red (HEX Code: #8b0000) display the relative contribution of Red, Green, and Blue in forming the color. Understanding these percentages provides insight into the color's visual balance and primary components.

This color is primarily dominated by Red, making up 100% of the total composition. The complete breakdown of RGB contributions is:

Red:
100%
Green:
0%
Blue:
0%

This analysis highlights the influence of each primary color, offering a deeper understanding of the visual characteristics of Dark Red.

CMYK Ink Levels & Print Guide for #8b0000

CMYK Ink Levels for Dark Red (HEX Code: #8b0000) provide a breakdown of the percentages of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black inks needed for accurate print reproduction. The composition of Dark Red prominently features Magenta, reflecting its dominant color characteristic. This information is invaluable for optimizing ink usage and achieving precise color results in printed materials.

The exact CMYK values are: Cyan: 0%, Magenta: 100%, Yellow: 100%, and Black: 45.49%.

Luminance & Contrast for #8B0000

Relative luminance gauges how bright Dark Red is, while the WCAG contrast ratios show how legible black or white text is on it — and which accessibility levels (AA / AAA) it passes.

Relative luminance 0.055
0 · dark1 · light
Aa
Black text 2.10:1
AA AAA Large
Aa
White text 10.01:1
AA AAA Large

Quick CSS Snippets for #8B0000

Copy-and-paste CSS for Dark Red — backgrounds, text, borders and a custom property. Each line is ready to drop into your stylesheet.

Background background-color: #8B0000;
Text color: #8B0000;
Border border: 2px solid #8B0000;
RGB background-color: rgb(139, 0, 0);
HSL background-color: hsl(0, 100%, 27%);
Variable --color: #8B0000;

#8b0000 Monochrome Palette

The Monochrome Palette consists of shades created by adjusting the brightness. These include lighter, original, and darker shades of the color. This layout helps to visualize the color's range and its potential use in design.

#f3e5e5
#e2bfbf
#d19999
#bf7373
#ae4d4d
#9c2626
#8b0000 Original
#760000
#610000
#4c0000
#380000
#230000
#0e0000

#8b0000 Complementary Palette

The Complementary Palette is made up of two colors that sit opposite each other on the color wheel. These colors create high contrast and vibrant designs, making them perfect for attention-grabbing elements and dynamic visuals.

#8b0000 Original
#008a8a

#8b0000 Analogic Palette

The Analogic Palette consists of colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. These colors typically create harmonious and subtle designs, often used to evoke calmness and unity in your visual projects.

#8b0000 Original
#8a4500
#8a0045
#8a8a00
#8a008a
#458a00
#45008a

#8b0000 Triadic Palette

The Triadic Palette is made up of three colors evenly spaced on the color wheel. This combination provides a vibrant and balanced color scheme, often used for dynamic and energetic designs while maintaining harmony.

#8b0000 Original
#008a00
#00008a

#8b0000 Quad Palette

The Quad Palette, also known as tetradic, consists of four colors evenly spaced on the color wheel. This combination offers a diverse and bold color scheme, ideal for creating rich, complex designs with multiple accents while still maintaining balance.

#8b0000 Original
#458a00
#008a8a
#45008a

Color Blindness Simulation for #8b0000

Colors are perceived differently by individuals with various forms of color blindness. Use the dropdown below to see how this color may look through the eyes of someone with color vision deficiency. Explore how Dark Red (#8b0000) might appear to people with different visual experiences, and gain deeper insights into color accessibility for your designs!

Each color box displays a "Friendly" or "Not Friendly" tag in the bottom-right corner. A "Friendly" tag indicates that the color difference is distinguishable to individuals with the specific type of color blindness. Conversely, a "Not Friendly" tag means that the color difference might not be distinguishable, potentially causing accessibility issues in your design.

Normal Vision

Deuteranopia (Green Weakness)

Not Friendly

Protanopia (Red Weakness)

Not Friendly

Tritanopia (Blue-Yellow Weakness)

Friendly

Achromatopsia (Total Color Blindness)

Not Friendly

Color Harmonies for #8b0000

Color harmonies refer to the visually pleasing combinations of colors that are derived from specific relationships on the color wheel. These harmonious schemes, such as complementary, triadic, and analogous colors, create a balanced and engaging visual experience in design.

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Tetradic (Quad)

#8B0000 Nearby Colors

A handful of colors just a step away from #8B0000 — each one nudges the brightness, richness, or shade a little while still feeling like the same color. Use the buttons on any swatch to copy its hex or open its full color page.

#992211 Tabasco
#770000 Maroon
#aa3322 Sugo Della Nonna
#660000 Spikey Red
#990000 Cacodemon Red
#881111 Netherworld
#881100 Dark Red
#990011 Vampire Fiction

Colors Similar to #8b0000

These colors are close neighbours of #8B0000 in the RGB color space. Each subtle variation can produce a noticeably different mood in your design while remaining harmonious with the original Red tone.

#8c0000 Dark Red
#8b0100 Dark Red
#8b0001 Dark Red
#8a0000 Dark Red
#9c0000 Cacodemon Red
#8b1100 Dark Red
#8b0011 Bloodthirsty
#7a0000 Maroon
#930000 Dark Red
#8b0800 Dark Red
#8b0008 Dark Red
#830000 Maroon

Looking for more Red shades? Browse Red colors →

Explore Vibrant Images Featuring Dark Red (#8b0000)

Discover a vibrant gallery of images that not only showcase the captivating hue of Dark Red, but also embody its unique mood and personality. Each carefully curated photo is selected to highlight the richness and diversity of this color, offering inspiration for design, art, and creative projects.