Gallery
Open in tool →Near-monochrome with one burnt-orange highlight — an art director's default because it never competes with the work.
Color
#c9451d
#c9451d
hex
#c9451drgb
rgb(201, 69, 29)hsl
hsl(14, 75%, 45%)oklch
oklch(0.571 0.175 36.4)Closest name: Bolognese (#bb4400)Relative luminance 0.1676
Colors that go with #c9451d
Charcoal, Royal Blue 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 body-text near-black for #c9451d: its slight blue cast keeps type crisp beside a warm colour where pure #000 looks heavy.
Royal Blue #4169e1
triadicshippedRoyal Blue completes a triad with #c9451d — three hues spaced evenly round the wheel, the classic way to get energy into a palette without a clash.
Sea Green #2e8b57
triadicshippedSea Green completes a triad with #c9451d — three hues spaced evenly round the wheel, the classic way to get energy into a palette without a clash.
Steel Blue #4682b4
split-complementshippedSteel Blue is a split-complement of #c9451d: nearly opposite, so it still pops against it, without the vibrating edge of a true complement.
Amber #ffbf00
shippedAmber is paired with #c9451d in 7 real palettes, including Trailhead and McDonald's's brand system, as the accent.
Blue #0000ff
shipped8 real palettes, including Tim Hortons's brand system and Doordash's brand system put Blue beside #c9451d, as the accent.
Cadet Blue #5f9ea0
shippedDesigners have shipped Cadet Blue with #c9451d: 4 real palettes, including Clean Beauty and Diner, as the lead colour.
Champagne #f7e7ce
shipped4 real palettes, including LG's brand system and BrandSweets's brand system put Champagne beside #c9451d, as the accent.
Real palettes that use #c9451d
Tints & shades
Harmonies
Contrast
| #c9451d as text | Ratio | AA | AA large | AAA | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aaon white | 4.82:1 | pass | pass | fail |
|
Aaon black | 4.35:1 | fail | pass | fail |
Fixes keep hue and saturation and move lightness only, so the suggestion stays on-brand. Ratios are symmetric: the same numbers apply with #c9451d as the background.
Brands using this color
Palettes built around it
Trailhead
Open in tool →Rust, pine and sun — high-visibility earth tones that read at a distance and on a trail sign.
Garnet
Open in tool →Garnet, carnelian and citrine on a wine-black — the warm jewel set for spirits, theatre and jewellery itself.
Fonts for this mood
#c9451d reads as warm, vivid, playful. The font library is tagged with the same vocabulary:
mcpConnect your agent — build around #c9451d
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 #c9451d and generate a 5-color palette that keeps it as the primary; give me the /palettes/new link
tool url
/palettes/new/c9451d-c4aa9c-62cbb1-2d291f-f1e9eb?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