Crimson

#bc474e

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

This is Crimson, a soft red sitting at 356 degrees on the wheel. 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 #bc474e, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#bc474e

RGB188, 71, 78

HSL356, 47%, 51%

HSV356, 62%, 74%

CMYK0%, 62%, 59%, 26%

Lab46.64, 47.63, 21.0

XYZ24.37, 15.75, 8.96

Decimal12339022

Web safe#cc3366

Pantone703 C

Shades of crimson

#ad3f46 #9c393f #8c3338 #7b2d31 #6a272b #592124 #491a1d #381416 #270e10 #160809

Tints of crimson

#c2585e #c8696f #cf7a7f #d58b90 #db9ca0 #e1aeb1 #e8bfc1 #eed0d2 #f4e1e2 #faf2f2

Colors that go with crimson

Complementary#47bcb5 Analogous#bc4789 Analogous#bc7a47 Triadic#4ebc47 Triadic#474ebc Split complementary#47bc7b Split complementary#4789bc

Crimson in print

It sits in a comfortable part of the gamut and reproduces reliably on press. The cmyk build is 0, 62, 59, 26.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #bc474e on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C

0 62 59 26

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

Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U

4 61 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 #bc474e straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #bc474e; }
.text { color: #bc474e; }
.border { border: 2px solid #bc474e; }

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 #bc474e against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Use white text on this color for readable body copy. To test #bc474e 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 #bc474e 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 #bc474e 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

The figures for #bc474e come from standard color math, shown so you can check them. We convert from sRGB to each space with the standard formulas, so the codes match what design tools show. The uncoated cmyk build carries more ink than the coated one, which is what a printer would compensate for when the same color runs on a rougher stock. The Pantone figure is the nearest match in our reference set by perceptual distance and it is an approximation, not an exact spot color.