Brand gradient

Wired gradient

The gradient Wired'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.

#057dbc #eb0000 #e0c04e

Open in the maker Wired colors →Full brand page →media

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

Wired

white text · worst 4.48:1 · AA large

white 4.48 AA largeblack 4.39 AA largebanding 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 −0.02 until the ink passes AA at the worst point (4.61:1).

white 4.61 AAblack 4.26 AA largebanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #587489 0%, #a4645a 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#587489] to-[#a4645a]

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. L shifted −0.08 so white ink passes AA on the surface and both states (worst 4.68:1).

white 5.28 AAblack 2.86 failsbanding high

Get started

hover

active

label ink passes AA on all three

css

linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #0071af 0%, #005995 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-b/oklch from-[#0071af] to-[#005995]

Variants

Tonal ramp

Open in maker →

white 2.23 failsblack 2.22 failsbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #55b6f8 0%, #057dbc 50%, #00487d 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#55b6f8] via-[#057dbc] to-[#00487d]

Analogous

Open in maker →

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

white 4.35 AA largeblack 4.65 AAbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #057dbc 0%, #058597 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#057dbc] to-[#058597]

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 4.14 AA largeblack 4.42 AA largebanding medium

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #057dbc 0%, #aa6104 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#057dbc] to-[#aa6104]

Triadic

Open in maker →

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

white 4.49 AA largeblack 4.06 AA largebanding medium

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #057dbc 0%, #d5066c 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#057dbc] to-[#d5066c]

Report — brand gradient

white ink: worst 4.48:1 at 1% (AA-large only); black ink: worst 4.39:1 at 56% (AA-large only) → 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 11 (≈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 4.48:1 AA-large, black 4.39:1 AA-large */
  --brand-gradient: linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #057dbc 0%, #eb0000 100%);
  /* hero — worst-case contrast: white 4.61:1 AA, black 4.26:1 AA-large; ink passes AA at the worst point */
  --brand-gradient-hero: linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #587489 0%, #a4645a 100%);
  --brand-gradient-hero-ink: #ffffff;
  /* button — worst-case contrast: white 5.28:1 AA, black 2.86:1 */
  --brand-gradient-button: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #0071af 0%, #005995 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-hover: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #007ab9 0%, #00629f 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-active: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #0068a5 0%, #005089 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="#057dbc"/><stop offset="7.14%" stop-color="#2e78c6"/><stop offset="14.29%" stop-color="#4673cd"/><stop offset="21.43%" stop-color="#5c6cd2"/><stop offset="28.57%" stop-color="#6f65d3"/><stop offset="35.71%" stop-color="#815ed2"/><stop offset="42.86%" stop-color="#9256cc"/><stop offset="50%" stop-color="#a24ec3"/><stop offset="57.14%" stop-color="#b245b6"/><stop offset="64.29%" stop-color="#bf3ba6"/><stop offset="71.43%" stop-color="#cc3193"/><stop offset="78.57%" stop-color="#d7247c"/><stop offset="85.71%" stop-color="#e01662"/><stop offset="92.86%" stop-color="#e70542"/><stop offset="100%" stop-color="#eb0000"/></linearGradient></defs><rect width="1440" height="600" fill="url(#bs-gradient)"/></svg>

dtcg · tokens.json

{
  "gradient": {
    "brand": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.02,
              0.49,
              0.737
            ],
            "hex": "#057dbc"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.922,
              0,
              0
            ],
            "hex": "#eb0000"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #057dbc 0%, #eb0000 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklch",
          "hue": "shorter",
          "angle": 135,
          "name": "brand",
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 4.482,
              "at": 0.0085,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 4.391,
              "at": 0.5614,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#ffffff"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "The canonical brand gradient (--brand-gradient)."
    },
    "hero": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.345,
              0.455,
              0.537
            ],
            "hex": "#587489"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.643,
              0.392,
              0.353
            ],
            "hex": "#a4645a"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #587489 0%, #a4645a 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklch",
          "hue": "shorter",
          "angle": 135,
          "name": "hero",
          "ink": "#ffffff",
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 4.606,
              "at": 0.9823,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 4.26,
              "at": 0.0438,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#ffffff"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "Low-chroma hero background with a text-safe ink (--brand-gradient-hero)."
    },
    "button": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0,
              0.443,
              0.686
            ],
            "hex": "#0071af"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0,
              0.349,
              0.584
            ],
            "hex": "#005995"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #0071af 0%, #005995 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklch",
          "hue": "shorter",
          "angle": 180,
          "name": "button",
          "ink": "#ffffff",
          "states": {
            "hover": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #007ab9 0%, #00629f 100%)",
            "active": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #0068a5 0%, #005089 100%)"
          },
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 5.275,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 2.863,
              "at": 0.9841,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#ffffff"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "Button / CTA surface with hover and active states (--brand-gradient-button)."
    }
  }
}

Colours

#057dbc #eb0000 #e0c04e

mcpConnect your agent — Wired'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 wired-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.

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