Pastel Pop
Open in tool →Pastels pushed to the saturated end — pink, sky and lemon — for brands that want soft AND loud.
Color
#281c2c
#281c2c
hex
#281c2crgb
rgb(40, 28, 44)hsl
hsl(285, 22%, 14%)oklch
oklch(0.248 0.034 317.5)Closest name: Black Velvet (#222233)Relative luminance 0.0146
Colors that go with #281c2c
Charcoal, Dark Olive Green and Sea Green lead the list. Each partner is a real named colour with the reason it works — a wheel relationship, a neutral that carries it, or a pairing lifted from a palette or brand system that actually shipped — and every pair opens in the palette tool.
Charcoal #36454f
neutralshippedCharcoal is the text near-black for #281c2c: softer than #000 and cool enough to feel like part of the same palette.
Dark Olive Green #556b2f
split-complementshippedDark Olive Green is a split-complement of #281c2c: nearly opposite, so it still pops against it, without the vibrating edge of a true complement.
Sea Green #2e8b57
complementaryshippedSea Green sits directly opposite #281c2c on the wheel — the strongest contrast one hue can give another, so use it small: a button, a link colour, one highlight.
Sienna #a0522d
triadicshippedSienna completes a triad with #281c2c — three hues spaced evenly round the wheel, the classic way to get energy into a palette without a clash.
Slate Blue #6a5acd
analogousshippedSlate Blue is #281c2c's neighbour on the wheel, so the two read as one family — use it for hover states, gradients and secondary surfaces.
Teal #008080
split-complementshippedTeal is a split-complement of #281c2c: nearly opposite, so it still pops against it, without the vibrating edge of a true complement.
Amber #ffbf00
shippedAmber is paired with #281c2c in 18 real palettes, including Wikipedia's brand system and Google's brand system, as the accent.
Blue #0000ff
shipped23 real palettes, including Sketch's brand system and Rolex's brand system put Blue beside #281c2c, as the accent.
Real palettes that use #281c2c
Tints & shades
Harmonies
Contrast
| #281c2c as text | Ratio | AA | AA large | AAA | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aaon white | 16.25:1 | pass | pass | pass | Passes AAA — no fix needed. |
Aaon black | 1.29:1 | fail | fail | fail |
Fixes keep hue and saturation and move lightness only, so the suggestion stays on-brand. Ratios are symmetric: the same numbers apply with #281c2c as the background.
Brands using this color
Palettes built around it
Fonts for this mood
#281c2c reads as cool, muted, dark. The font library is tagged with the same vocabulary:
mcpConnect your agent — build around #281c2c
live endpointPoint any MCP client at the shared colors endpoint and your agent gets the same engine as this page — direct_palette, edit_direction, check_palette, check_contrast — read-only, no key. Every direction it proposes comes with a /colors/d/… link: open it, lock what you like, paste the link back, and the agent edits rather than re-rolls.
endpoint
https://mcp.brandsweets.com/colors/mcpclaude mcp add --transport http brandsweets-colors https://mcp.brandsweets.com/colors/mcp
try this prompt
›analyze #281c2c and generate a 5-color palette that keeps it as the primary; give me the /palettes/new link
tool url
/palettes/new/281c2c-bc9fc1-afcb62-2d1f2b-ebe9f1?lock=0&style=vibrantWant the agent to remember your picks and write them into a living brand? Create a free BrandSweets workspace.
Machine-readable: color.md