Crimson

#bc2b4e

Hex, rgb, cmyk and Pantone values for crimson, with shades, tints, matching colors and free print quality patterns.

Crimson lands in the red band, mid and strong. A mid red this confident is a natural for retail signage and calls to action. It pairs naturally with muted greens across the wheel and with off white for breathing room.

Crimson color values

Every conversion for #bc2b4e, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#bc2b4e

RGB188, 43, 78

HSL346, 63%, 45%

HSV346, 77%, 74%

CMYK0%, 77%, 59%, 26%

Lab42.72, 58.39, 15.76

XYZ22.98, 12.97, 8.5

Decimal12331854

Web safe#cc3366

Pantone214 C

Shades of crimson

#ac2747 #9b2440 #8b203a #7b1c33 #6a182c #5a1525 #4a111f #3a0d18 #290911 #19060a

Tints of crimson

#d03158 #d54669 #da5c7a #df718b #e3869d #e89bae #edb1bf #f2c6d1 #f7dbe2 #fcf0f3

Colors that go with crimson

Complementary#2bbc99 Analogous#bc2b96 Analogous#bc512b Triadic#4ebc2b Triadic#2b4ebc Split complementary#2bbc51 Split complementary#2b96bc

Crimson in print

It converts to cmyk cleanly and holds its character from screen to paper. The cmyk build is 0, 77, 59, 26.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #bc2b4e on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

0 77 59 26

Ink sits on the surface, so colors stay bright and close to screen.

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

4 75 58 32

The stock absorbs ink and gains dot, so it needs a heavier build and reads a touch softer.

This color converts to cmyk comfortably and should hold on press.

See how it converts in the rgb to cmyk converter, or read rgb vs cmyk for print and what the k in cmyk means.

Crimson in css

Copy #bc2b4e straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #bc2b4e; }
.text { color: #bc2b4e; }
.border { border: 2px solid #bc2b4e; }

How crimson looks on light and dark

Sample text on black

Sample text on white

Text on this color

Crimson and accessibility

Contrast ratios for #bc2b4e against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use white text on this color for readable body copy. To test #bc2b4e against any other color, not just black and white, run the pair through our contrast checker for a live WCAG reading.

Crimson on a business card, sticker and pattern

A quick look at how #bc2b4e sits on real print products. Start any of these in the maker.

Business card

Sticker

Repeat pattern

Building a full palette around crimson? Pull matching colors from any photo with the color palette generator, or check a design for print with the rgb to cmyk converter.

Turn crimson into a seamless pattern

Four patterns built from #bc2b4e and its shades, free at print quality. Click any one to keep editing in the pattern maker.

Arches Signature stripes Gem Shingles

Make posters, wallpaper and packaging art from crimson, free and print ready.

Open in pattern maker

How we calculate these values

Here is how the numbers for #bc2b4e are worked out. The rgb, hsl, hsv, cie-lab and xyz values follow the standard conversions from the sRGB color space. Two cmyk builds are shown because coated and uncoated papers behave differently, uncoated soaks up ink and needs more of it to hit the same target. For Pantone we return the nearest reference by perceptual distance, which gets you close but is not a substitute for a physical swatch book.