Brand gradient

Taco Bell gradient

The gradient Taco Bell'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.

#501098 #9a23f8 #5cb8b2

Open in the maker Taco Bell colors →Full brand page →food-bev

Source: tacobell.com
Extracted: 2 September 2026
Version: 3

Taco Bell

white text · worst 5.29:1 · AA

white 5.29 AAblack 1.87 failsbanding high

Hero and button

Hero background

Open in maker →

Chroma ×0.35 so it can carry text; ink white (inkFor at the midpoint). Passes AA for that ink at the worst point (4.69:1) without adjusting L.

white 4.69 AAblack 2.01 failsbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #453961 0%, #8268a6 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#453961] to-[#8268a6]

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 8.35:1).

white 9.52 AAblack 1.63 failsbanding high

Get started

hover

active

label ink passes AA on all three

css

linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #5a22a5 0%, #46008b 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-b/oklch from-[#5a22a5] to-[#46008b]

Variants

Tonal ramp

Open in maker →

white 5.13 AAblack 1.15 failsbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #8152d4 0%, #501098 50%, #1f0047 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#8152d4] via-[#501098] to-[#1f0047]

Analogous

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

white 11.17 AAblack 1.86 failsbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #501098 0%, #1115bd 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#501098] to-[#1115bd]

Complementary

Open in maker →

Partner hue from the complementary rule at the source colour's lightness. ΔH 180° > 140° — interpolating in oklch (shorter hue) keeps the midpoint saturated.

white 10.01 AAblack 1.86 failsbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #501098 0%, #3f4608 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#501098] to-[#3f4608]

Triadic

Open in maker →

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

white 10.40 AAblack 1.87 failsbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #501098 0%, #633308 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#501098] to-[#633308]

Report — brand gradient

white ink: worst 5.29:1 at 100% (AA); black ink: worst 1.87:1 at 0% (fails AA) → use white text.
Banding high: ~15px bands at 1440px — add grain 31 (≈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 5.29:1 AA, black 1.87:1 */
  --brand-gradient: linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #501098 0%, #9a23f8 100%);
  /* hero — worst-case contrast: white 4.69:1 AA, black 2.01:1; ink passes AA at the worst point */
  --brand-gradient-hero: linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #453961 0%, #8268a6 100%);
  --brand-gradient-hero-ink: #ffffff;
  /* button — worst-case contrast: white 9.52:1 AA, black 1.63:1 */
  --brand-gradient-button: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #5a22a5 0%, #46008b 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-hover: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #622daf 0%, #4d0a95 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-active: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #53159b 0%, #3e0080 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="#501098"/><stop offset="7.14%" stop-color="#55119f"/><stop offset="14.29%" stop-color="#5a13a5"/><stop offset="21.43%" stop-color="#5f14ac"/><stop offset="28.57%" stop-color="#6416b3"/><stop offset="35.71%" stop-color="#6917b9"/><stop offset="42.86%" stop-color="#6f18c0"/><stop offset="50%" stop-color="#741ac7"/><stop offset="57.14%" stop-color="#791bce"/><stop offset="64.29%" stop-color="#7f1cd5"/><stop offset="71.43%" stop-color="#841edc"/><stop offset="78.57%" stop-color="#891fe3"/><stop offset="85.71%" stop-color="#8f20ea"/><stop offset="92.86%" stop-color="#9422f1"/><stop offset="100%" stop-color="#9a23f8"/></linearGradient></defs><rect width="1440" height="600" fill="url(#bs-gradient)"/></svg>

dtcg · tokens.json

{
  "gradient": {
    "brand": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.314,
              0.063,
              0.596
            ],
            "hex": "#501098"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.604,
              0.137,
              0.973
            ],
            "hex": "#9a23f8"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #501098 0%, #9a23f8 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklab",
          "angle": 135,
          "name": "brand",
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 5.29,
              "at": 1,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 1.869,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#ffffff"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "The canonical brand gradient (--brand-gradient)."
    },
    "hero": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.271,
              0.224,
              0.38
            ],
            "hex": "#453961"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.51,
              0.408,
              0.651
            ],
            "hex": "#8268a6"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #453961 0%, #8268a6 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklab",
          "angle": 135,
          "name": "hero",
          "ink": "#ffffff",
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 4.688,
              "at": 1,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 2.011,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#ffffff"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "Low-chroma hero background with a text-safe ink (--brand-gradient-hero)."
    },
    "button": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.353,
              0.133,
              0.647
            ],
            "hex": "#5a22a5"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.275,
              0,
              0.545
            ],
            "hex": "#46008b"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #5a22a5 0%, #46008b 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklch",
          "hue": "shorter",
          "angle": 180,
          "name": "button",
          "ink": "#ffffff",
          "states": {
            "hover": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #622daf 0%, #4d0a95 100%)",
            "active": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #53159b 0%, #3e0080 100%)"
          },
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 9.516,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 1.633,
              "at": 1,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#ffffff"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "Button / CTA surface with hover and active states (--brand-gradient-button)."
    }
  }
}

Colours

#501098 #9a23f8 #5cb8b2

mcpConnect your agent — Taco Bell'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 tacobell-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.

Taco Bell 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 Taco Bell. Owner of this brand? Request a correction or removal → Machine-readable: gradients.md