Colour to colour

Terracotta to Cadet Blue gradient

Terracotta (#e2725b) into Cadet Blue (#5f9ea0) — 165° 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 165° > 140° — interpolating in oklch (shorter hue) keeps the midpoint saturated.

Terracotta → Cadet Blue
black text · worst 6.79:1 · AA
white 2.93 failsblack 6.79 AAbanding high

OKLab and OKLCH, side by side

Aa

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.

white 3.04 AA largeblack 6.78 AAbanding high
css
linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #e2725b 0%, #5f9ea0 100%)
Aa

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.

white 2.93 failsblack 6.79 AAbanding high
css
linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #e2725b 0%, #5f9ea0 100%)

And the sRGB line most tools draw, for comparison — the number is the chroma that survives at the dullest point.

sRGB9%
OKLab11%
OKLCH62%

Eased and mesh

Aa

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.

white 2.93 failsblack 6.78 AAbanding high
css
linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #e2725b 0%, #e17357 8.28%, #dd774d 16.03%, #d77c3f 23.35%, #cb8432 30.32%, #bb8d2f 37.03%, #a89539 43.56%, #929c4d 50%, #7ca163 56.44%, #6ba376 62.97%, #60a387 69.68%, #5ca193 76.65%, #5ca09a 83.97%, #5e9e9f 91.72%, #5f9ea0 100%)
Aa

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.

white 3.05 AA largeblack 6.56 AAbanding low
css
background-color: #ab8d80;
background-image: radial-gradient(circle farthest-corner at 85.66% 5.04%, rgba(226, 114, 91, 0.737) 0%, rgba(226, 114, 91, 0) 58.33%), radial-gradient(circle farthest-corner at 34.63% 64.25%, rgba(95, 158, 160, 0.722) 0%, rgba(95, 158, 160, 0) 58.67%);
background-image: radial-gradient(circle farthest-corner at 85.66% 5.04%, oklch(from #e2725b l c h / 0.7367) 0%, rgb(from #e2725b r g b / 0) 58.33%), radial-gradient(circle farthest-corner at 34.63% 64.25%, oklch(from #5f9ea0 l c h / 0.7217) 0%, rgb(from #5f9ea0 r g b / 0) 58.67%);

Report

  • white ink: worst 2.93:1 at 60% (fails AA); black ink: worst 6.79:1 at 2% (AA) → use black text.
  • Banding high: ~11px bands at 1440px — add grain 23 (≈2% soft-light noise) or shorten the ramp.

Export

css
.gradient {
  background-image: linear-gradient(135deg, #e2725b 0%, #dc7849 7.14%, #d37f3a 14.29%, #c98631 21.43%, #bd8c2e 28.57%, #af9334 35.71%, #a0983f 42.86%, #929c4d 50%, #83a05b 57.14%, #75a26a 64.29%, #6aa378 71.43%, #61a384 78.57%, #5ca28f 85.71%, #5ca099 92.86%, #5f9ea0 100%);
  background-image: linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #e2725b 0%, #5f9ea0 100%);
}
tailwind v4
bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#e2725b] to-[#5f9ea0]
svg
<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="#e2725b"/><stop offset="7.14%" stop-color="#dc7849"/><stop offset="14.29%" stop-color="#d37f3a"/><stop offset="21.43%" stop-color="#c98631"/><stop offset="28.57%" stop-color="#bd8c2e"/><stop offset="35.71%" stop-color="#af9334"/><stop offset="42.86%" stop-color="#a0983f"/><stop offset="50%" stop-color="#929c4d"/><stop offset="57.14%" stop-color="#83a05b"/><stop offset="64.29%" stop-color="#75a26a"/><stop offset="71.43%" stop-color="#6aa378"/><stop offset="78.57%" stop-color="#61a384"/><stop offset="85.71%" stop-color="#5ca28f"/><stop offset="92.86%" stop-color="#5ca099"/><stop offset="100%" stop-color="#5f9ea0"/></linearGradient></defs><rect width="1440" height="600" fill="url(#bs-gradient)"/></svg>
dtcg
{
  "terracotta-to-cadetblue": {
    "$type": "gradient",
    "$value": [
      {
        "color": {
          "colorSpace": "srgb",
          "components": [
            0.886,
            0.447,
            0.357
          ],
          "hex": "#e2725b"
        },
        "position": 0
      },
      {
        "color": {
          "colorSpace": "srgb",
          "components": [
            0.373,
            0.62,
            0.627
          ],
          "hex": "#5f9ea0"
        },
        "position": 1
      }
    ],
    "$extensions": {
      "com.brandsweets": {
        "kind": "linear",
        "css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #e2725b 0%, #5f9ea0 100%)",
        "interpolation": "oklch",
        "hue": "shorter",
        "angle": 135,
        "name": "terracotta-to-cadetblue",
        "contrast": {
          "white": {
            "ratio": 2.934,
            "at": 0.5998,
            "passesAA": false,
            "passesAALarge": false
          },
          "black": {
            "ratio": 6.788,
            "at": 0.0188,
            "passesAA": true,
            "passesAALarge": true
          },
          "suggestedInk": "#000000"
        }
      }
    },
    "$description": "Terracotta to Cadet Blue, interpolated in oklch."
  }
}

More from Terracotta

mcpConnect your agent to the gradient engine
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

make a terracotta to cadet 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