Brand gradient

McDonald's gradient

The gradient McDonald's'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.

#ffc72c #da291c #006bae

Open in the maker McDonald's colors →Full brand page →food-bev

Source: mcdonalds.com
Extracted: 2 September 2026
Version: 6

McDonald's

black text · worst 4.32:1 · AA large

white 1.56 failsblack 4.32 AA largebanding medium

Hero and button

Hero background

Open in maker →

Chroma ×0.35 so it can carry text; ink black (inkFor at the midpoint). Passes AA for that ink at the worst point (4.64:1) without adjusting L.

white 1.55 failsblack 4.64 AAbanding medium

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #e1cea5 0%, #a0685f 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#e1cea5] to-[#a0685f]

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. Black ink passes AA on the surface and both states (worst 10.61:1).

white 1.42 failsblack 11.80 AAbanding high

Get started

hover

active

label ink passes AA on all three

css

linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #ffd443 0%, #f2ba0c 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-b/oklch from-[#ffd443] to-[#f2ba0c]

Variants

Tonal ramp

Open in maker →

white 1.09 failsblack 7.14 AAbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #fff6c2 0%, #ffc72c 50%, #c18e00 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#fff6c2] via-[#ffc72c] to-[#c18e00]

Analogous

Open in maker →

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

white 1.56 failsblack 13.28 AAbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #ffc72c 0%, #ffc195 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#ffc72c] to-[#ffc195]

Complementary

Open in maker →

Partner hue from the complementary rule at the source colour's lightness. ΔH 179° > 140° — interpolating in oklch (shorter hue) keeps the midpoint saturated.

white 1.55 failsblack 12.39 AAbanding medium

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #ffc72c 0%, #bbcfff 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#ffc72c] to-[#bbcfff]

Triadic

Open in maker →

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

white 1.47 failsblack 13.43 AAbanding medium

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #ffc72c 0%, #15eaff 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#ffc72c] to-[#15eaff]

Report — brand gradient

white ink: worst 1.56:1 at 0% (fails AA); black ink: worst 4.32:1 at 100% (AA-large only) → use black 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: ~9px bands at 1440px — add grain 18 (≈2% 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 1.56:1, black 4.32:1 AA-large */
  --brand-gradient: linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #ffc72c 0%, #da291c 100%);
  /* hero — worst-case contrast: white 1.55:1, black 4.64:1 AA; ink passes AA at the worst point */
  --brand-gradient-hero: linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #e1cea5 0%, #a0685f 100%);
  --brand-gradient-hero-ink: #000000;
  /* button — worst-case contrast: white 1.42:1, black 11.80:1 AA */
  --brand-gradient-button: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #ffd443 0%, #f2ba0c 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-hover: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #ffe17b 0%, #fcc426 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-active: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #ffca32 0%, #e7b000 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-ink: #000000;
}

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="#ffc72c"/><stop offset="7.14%" stop-color="#fdbd2b"/><stop offset="14.29%" stop-color="#fcb32a"/><stop offset="21.43%" stop-color="#faaa29"/><stop offset="28.57%" stop-color="#f8a028"/><stop offset="35.71%" stop-color="#f69627"/><stop offset="42.86%" stop-color="#f38c25"/><stop offset="50%" stop-color="#f18124"/><stop offset="57.14%" stop-color="#ee7723"/><stop offset="64.29%" stop-color="#eb6c22"/><stop offset="71.43%" stop-color="#e86121"/><stop offset="78.57%" stop-color="#e55520"/><stop offset="85.71%" stop-color="#e1491e"/><stop offset="92.86%" stop-color="#de3a1d"/><stop offset="100%" stop-color="#da291c"/></linearGradient></defs><rect width="1440" height="600" fill="url(#bs-gradient)"/></svg>

dtcg · tokens.json

{
  "gradient": {
    "brand": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              1,
              0.78,
              0.173
            ],
            "hex": "#ffc72c"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.855,
              0.161,
              0.11
            ],
            "hex": "#da291c"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #ffc72c 0%, #da291c 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklab",
          "angle": 135,
          "name": "brand",
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 1.56,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 4.315,
              "at": 1,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#000000"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "The canonical brand gradient (--brand-gradient)."
    },
    "hero": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.882,
              0.808,
              0.647
            ],
            "hex": "#e1cea5"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.627,
              0.408,
              0.373
            ],
            "hex": "#a0685f"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #e1cea5 0%, #a0685f 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklab",
          "angle": 135,
          "name": "hero",
          "ink": "#000000",
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 1.547,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 4.64,
              "at": 1,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#000000"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "Low-chroma hero background with a text-safe ink (--brand-gradient-hero)."
    },
    "button": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              1,
              0.831,
              0.263
            ],
            "hex": "#ffd443"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.949,
              0.729,
              0.047
            ],
            "hex": "#f2ba0c"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #ffd443 0%, #f2ba0c 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklch",
          "hue": "shorter",
          "angle": 180,
          "name": "button",
          "ink": "#000000",
          "states": {
            "hover": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #ffe17b 0%, #fcc426 100%)",
            "active": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #ffca32 0%, #e7b000 100%)"
          },
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 1.424,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 11.804,
              "at": 1,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#000000"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "Button / CTA surface with hover and active states (--brand-gradient-button)."
    }
  }
}

Colours

#ffc72c #da291c #006bae

mcpConnect your agent — McDonald's'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 mcdonalds-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.

McDonald's 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 McDonald's. Owner of this brand? Request a correction or removal → Machine-readable: gradients.md