Brand gradient

Apple gradient

The gradient Apple's published colour tokens imply, derived by a pure function of the palette: primary → secondary in OKLab (OKLCH shorter hue when the hues are more than 140° apart; a tonal ramp when they are within ΔE 0.15), then a hero background with an ink that passes AA at the worst point along the line, a button surface with hover and active states, and the variant contact sheet. Same inputs, same gradients, forever — which is what makes them citable; the same values are served as --brand-gradient in the brand's brand.css.

#221e1f #2997ff #0066cc

Open in the maker Apple colors →Full brand page →consumer

Source: apple.com
Extracted: 2 September 2026
Version: 2

Apple

white text · worst 3.02:1 · AA large

white 3.02 AA largeblack 1.27 failsbanding medium

Hero and button

Hero background

Open in maker →

Chroma ×0.35 so it can carry text; ink white (inkFor at the midpoint). L shifted −0.11 until the ink passes AA at the worst point (4.65:1).

white 4.65 AAblack 1.06 failsbanding medium

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #0a0909 0%, #58779a 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#0a0909] to-[#58779a]

Button / CTA

Open in maker →

ΔL 0.08 top→bottom in the primary's hue (a lit surface, not a rainbow); hover L +0.03, active L −0.03. White ink passes AA on the surface and both states (worst 13.21:1).

white 14.56 AAblack 1.16 failsbanding high

Get started

hover

active

label ink passes AA on all three

css

linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #2c2829 0%, #191516 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-b/oklch from-[#2c2829] to-[#191516]

Variants

Tonal ramp

Open in maker →

white 8.46 AAblack 1.01 failsbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #504c4d 0%, #221e1f 50%, #010101 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#504c4d] via-[#221e1f] to-[#010101]

Analogous

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Partner hue from the analogous rule at the source colour's lightness.

white 16.48 AAblack 1.27 failsbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #221e1f 0%, #211e21 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#221e1f] to-[#211e21]

Complementary

Open in maker →

Partner hue from the complementary rule at the source colour's lightness. ΔH 164° > 140° — interpolating in oklch (shorter hue) keeps the midpoint saturated.

white 16.33 AAblack 1.27 failsbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #221e1f 0%, #1e201f 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#221e1f] to-[#1e201f]

Triadic

Open in maker →

Partner hue from the triadic rule at the source colour's lightness.

white 16.40 AAblack 1.27 failsbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #221e1f 0%, #1f1f1e 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#221e1f] to-[#1f1f1e]

Report — brand gradient

white ink: worst 3.02:1 at 100% (AA-large only); black ink: worst 1.27:1 at 0% (fails AA) → use white text.
Body text fails AA everywhere on this gradient; large text (≥24px / 19px bold) is fine. Add a scrim or lower the chroma for body copy.
Banding medium: ~6px bands at 1440px — add grain 12 (≈1% soft-light noise) or shorten the ramp.

Export

The custom properties below are byte-identical to the gradient block in brand.css; the DTCG token is what tokens.json carries.

css custom properties · brand.css

:root {
  /* Brand gradient (derived) */
  /* worst-case contrast: white 3.02:1 AA-large, black 1.27:1 */
  --brand-gradient: linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #221e1f 0%, #2997ff 100%);
  /* hero — worst-case contrast: white 4.65:1 AA, black 1.06:1; ink passes AA at the worst point */
  --brand-gradient-hero: linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #0a0909 0%, #58779a 100%);
  --brand-gradient-hero-ink: #ffffff;
  /* button — worst-case contrast: white 14.56:1 AA, black 1.16:1 */
  --brand-gradient-button: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #2c2829 0%, #191516 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-hover: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #332f30 0%, #201c1d 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-active: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #242021 0%, #120e0f 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-ink: #ffffff;
}

svg · brand gradient

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="1440" height="600" viewBox="0 0 1440 600"><defs><linearGradient id="bs-gradient" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse" x1="210" y1="-210" x2="1230" y2="810"><stop offset="0%" stop-color="#221e1f"/><stop offset="7.14%" stop-color="#25262d"/><stop offset="14.29%" stop-color="#282e3b"/><stop offset="21.43%" stop-color="#2a3649"/><stop offset="28.57%" stop-color="#2c3f58"/><stop offset="35.71%" stop-color="#2e4767"/><stop offset="42.86%" stop-color="#2f5077"/><stop offset="50%" stop-color="#305887"/><stop offset="57.14%" stop-color="#316197"/><stop offset="64.29%" stop-color="#316aa8"/><stop offset="71.43%" stop-color="#3172b9"/><stop offset="78.57%" stop-color="#307bca"/><stop offset="85.71%" stop-color="#2f85db"/><stop offset="92.86%" stop-color="#2c8eed"/><stop offset="100%" stop-color="#2997ff"/></linearGradient></defs><rect width="1440" height="600" fill="url(#bs-gradient)"/></svg>

dtcg · tokens.json

{
  "gradient": {
    "brand": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.133,
              0.118,
              0.122
            ],
            "hex": "#221e1f"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.161,
              0.592,
              1
            ],
            "hex": "#2997ff"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #221e1f 0%, #2997ff 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklab",
          "angle": 135,
          "name": "brand",
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 3.015,
              "at": 1,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 1.274,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#ffffff"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "The canonical brand gradient (--brand-gradient)."
    },
    "hero": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.039,
              0.035,
              0.035
            ],
            "hex": "#0a0909"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.345,
              0.467,
              0.604
            ],
            "hex": "#58779a"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #0a0909 0%, #58779a 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklab",
          "angle": 135,
          "name": "hero",
          "ink": "#ffffff",
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 4.646,
              "at": 1,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 1.056,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#ffffff"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "Low-chroma hero background with a text-safe ink (--brand-gradient-hero)."
    },
    "button": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.173,
              0.157,
              0.161
            ],
            "hex": "#2c2829"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.098,
              0.082,
              0.086
            ],
            "hex": "#191516"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #2c2829 0%, #191516 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklch",
          "hue": "shorter",
          "angle": 180,
          "name": "button",
          "ink": "#ffffff",
          "states": {
            "hover": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #332f30 0%, #201c1d 100%)",
            "active": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #242021 0%, #120e0f 100%)"
          },
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 14.557,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 1.16,
              "at": 0.9841,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#ffffff"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "Button / CTA surface with hover and active states (--brand-gradient-button)."
    }
  }
}

Colours

#221e1f #2997ff #0066cc

mcpConnect your agent — Apple's gradients on demand

live endpoint

Point any MCP client at the shared gradients endpoint and your agent gets the same engine as this page — make_gradient returns CSS with the interpolation space, Tailwind v4, SVG, a PNG URL, a DTCG token and the contrast report in one call; brand_gradients derives the whole contact sheet from a brand or a palette. Read-only, no key. Every gradient is a /gradients/new/… link: open it, refine, paste it back.

endpointhttps://mcp.brandsweets.com/gradients/mcp

claude mcp add --transport http brandsweets-gradients https://mcp.brandsweets.com/gradients/mcp

try this prompt

›brand_gradients for apple-com — give me the hero CSS and the ink that passes AA, then a version in oklch

Want the agent to remember your picks and write them into a living brand? Create a free BrandSweets workspace.

Apple and its marks belong to their owner. This page uses the name nominatively to describe gradients derived from the brand's published colour values; it does not reproduce logos or other brand assets, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple. Owner of this brand? Request a correction or removal → Machine-readable: gradients.md