Colour to colour
Maroon to Steel Blue gradient
Maroon (#800000) into Steel Blue (#4682b4) — 143° apart on the OKLCH hue wheel. Below: the same two stops interpolated in OKLab and in OKLCH, side by side, because the difference is real and most generators never let you see it; then an eased version and a mesh, each with the worst-case contrast for white and black text. The engine's own pick for this pair is oklch: ΔH 143° > 140° — interpolating in oklch (shorter hue) keeps the midpoint saturated.
OKLab and OKLCH, side by side
OKLab
Open in maker →A straight line through the a/b plane: the two hues meet halfway and desaturate a little at the midpoint. The safe default — it is what CSS and Tailwind default to.
linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #800000 0%, #4682b4 100%)
OKLCH (shorter hue)
Open in maker →Chroma and hue interpolate separately, so the midpoint keeps its saturation and the hue travels the short way round the wheel — richer, and it can pass through hues neither colour has.
linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #800000 0%, #4682b4 100%)
And the sRGB line most tools draw, for comparison — the number is the chroma that survives at the dullest point.
Eased and mesh
Eased (soft)
Open in maker →A cubic-bezier(.4, 0, .6, 1) mix ratio baked into 15 stops: the transition lingers on each colour and moves faster through the middle, which is what makes a gradient read as designed rather than default.
linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #800000 0%, #810109 8.28%, #83071d 16.03%, #851132 23.35%, #861d48 30.32%, #852960 37.03%, #813677 43.56%, #7b448c 50%, #72519d 56.44%, #685ea9 62.97%, #5d6ab0 69.68%, #5374b4 76.65%, #4c7cb4 83.97%, #4780b4 91.72%, #4682b4 100%)
Mesh
Open in maker →Both colours as stacked radials over a base, laid out by a seeded Poisson-disc sampler — the same seed gives the same mesh forever. Exports as CSS, SVG and PNG.
background-color: #745362; background-image: radial-gradient(circle farthest-corner at 62.8% 92.63%, rgba(128, 0, 0, 0.772) 0%, rgba(128, 0, 0, 0) 50.68%), radial-gradient(circle farthest-corner at 85.1% 59.3%, rgba(70, 130, 180, 0.798) 0%, rgba(70, 130, 180, 0) 50.35%); background-image: radial-gradient(circle farthest-corner at 62.8% 92.63%, oklch(from #800000 l c h / 0.7721) 0%, rgb(from #800000 r g b / 0) 50.68%), radial-gradient(circle farthest-corner at 85.1% 59.3%, oklch(from #4682b4 l c h / 0.7983) 0%, rgb(from #4682b4 r g b / 0) 50.35%);
Report
- white ink: worst 4.11:1 at 100% (AA-large only); black ink: worst 1.92:1 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: ~8px bands at 1440px — add grain 16 (≈2% soft-light noise) or shorten the ramp.
Export
.gradient {
background-image: linear-gradient(135deg, #800000 0%, #830923 7.14%, #851539 14.29%, #861f4d 21.43%, #85285f 28.57%, #83326f 35.71%, #7f3b7f 42.86%, #7b448c 50%, #754d98 57.14%, #6f56a2 64.29%, #675faa 71.43%, #5f68af 78.57%, #5671b3 85.71%, #4e7ab4 92.86%, #4682b4 100%);
background-image: linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #800000 0%, #4682b4 100%);
}bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#800000] to-[#4682b4]
<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="#800000"/><stop offset="7.14%" stop-color="#830923"/><stop offset="14.29%" stop-color="#851539"/><stop offset="21.43%" stop-color="#861f4d"/><stop offset="28.57%" stop-color="#85285f"/><stop offset="35.71%" stop-color="#83326f"/><stop offset="42.86%" stop-color="#7f3b7f"/><stop offset="50%" stop-color="#7b448c"/><stop offset="57.14%" stop-color="#754d98"/><stop offset="64.29%" stop-color="#6f56a2"/><stop offset="71.43%" stop-color="#675faa"/><stop offset="78.57%" stop-color="#5f68af"/><stop offset="85.71%" stop-color="#5671b3"/><stop offset="92.86%" stop-color="#4e7ab4"/><stop offset="100%" stop-color="#4682b4"/></linearGradient></defs><rect width="1440" height="600" fill="url(#bs-gradient)"/></svg>
{
"maroon-to-steelblue": {
"$type": "gradient",
"$value": [
{
"color": {
"colorSpace": "srgb",
"components": [
0.502,
0,
0
],
"hex": "#800000"
},
"position": 0
},
{
"color": {
"colorSpace": "srgb",
"components": [
0.275,
0.51,
0.706
],
"hex": "#4682b4"
},
"position": 1
}
],
"$extensions": {
"com.brandsweets": {
"kind": "linear",
"css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #800000 0%, #4682b4 100%)",
"interpolation": "oklch",
"hue": "shorter",
"angle": 135,
"name": "maroon-to-steelblue",
"contrast": {
"white": {
"ratio": 4.108,
"at": 1,
"passesAA": false,
"passesAALarge": true
},
"black": {
"ratio": 1.918,
"at": 0,
"passesAA": false,
"passesAALarge": false
},
"suggestedInk": "#ffffff"
}
}
},
"$description": "Maroon to Steel Blue, interpolated in oklch."
}
}More from Maroon
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.
https://mcp.brandsweets.com/gradients/mcpclaude mcp add --transport http brandsweets-gradients https://mcp.brandsweets.com/gradients/mcp
›make a maroon to steel blue hero gradient in oklch that passes AA for white text, with grain if it bands
Want the agent to remember your picks and write them into a living brand? Create a free BrandSweets workspace.
Machine-readable: gradients.md