Harvard Crimson (#C90016)

HEX, RGB, HSL, CMYK values + mood/style/use-case color tags. Use this page to keep your colors consistent across web and print.

Preview

Sample Text

This is how text may look on this color.

Best text color: #FFFFFF
Contrast vs white: 6.01:1 — vs black: 3.50:1

Color values

HEX #C90016
RGB rgb(201, 0, 22)
HSL hsl(353, 100%, 39%)
CMYK cmyk( 0, 100, 89, 21 )
Websafe #CC0000

Convert this color Check contrast Extract from image Resize/Compress image

Tags

Mood

Energetic (215) Bold (205)

Style

Vivid (210) Warm (180)

Use case

Text (210) Button (200) Accent (185)

Tip: tags are heuristic suggestions (helpful for browsing and inspiration).

Color Harmonies

Colors that pair well with #C90016 based on color theory relationships.

Complementary

The color directly opposite on the color wheel — creates maximum contrast and vibrance.

Harvard Crimson
#C90016 Base

#00C9B3

Analogous

Colors adjacent on the wheel — naturally harmonious and pleasing to the eye.

Harvard Crimson
#C90016 Base

#C9007B

#C94E00

Triadic

Three colors equally spaced 120° apart — bold, balanced, and visually rich.

Harvard Crimson
#C90016 Base

#16C900

#0016C9

Split-Complementary

Two colors flanking the complement — high contrast with less tension than full complementary.

Harvard Crimson
#C90016 Base

#00C94E

#007BC9

Tetradic (Square)

Four colors at 90° intervals — rich variety, best when one color dominates.

Harvard Crimson
#C90016 Base

#7BC900

#00C9B3

#4E00C9

Monochromatic

Shades and tints of the same hue — cohesive, elegant, and easy to work with.

Harvard Crimson
#C90016 Base

#300005

#7D000E

#A00012

#F2001A

#FF1730

#FF6374

Shades & Tints

Darker shades and lighter tints of Harvard Crimson, generated by adjusting lightness while keeping the same hue and saturation.

Shades (darker)

— #1A0003

— #3D0007

— #60000A

— #83000E

— #A60012

Harvard Crimson #C90016 Base

— #FF031E

— #FF3B51

— #FF7483

— #FFADB6

— #FFE6E8

CSS & SCSS Snippets

Ready-to-use code snippets for #C90016. Click the copy button to copy any snippet to your clipboard.

/* Background */
.element {
    background-color: #C90016;
}

/* Text */
.element {
    color: #C90016;
}

/* Border */
.element {
    border: 1px solid #C90016;
}

/* Linear gradient to complementary */
.element {
    background: linear-gradient(
        to right,
        #C90016,
        #00C9B3
    );
}

/* Radial gradient */
.element {
    background: radial-gradient(
        circle,
        #C90016,
        #00C9B3
    );
}

// SCSS variable
$harvard-crimson: #C90016;

// With RGB channels (useful for rgba() usage)
$harvard-crimson-r: 201;
$harvard-crimson-g: 0;
$harvard-crimson-b: 22;

// Usage
.element {
    background-color: $harvard-crimson;
    color: rgba($harvard-crimson-r, $harvard-crimson-g, $harvard-crimson-b, 0.8);
}

Color Blindness Simulation

How Harvard Crimson appears to people with different types of color vision deficiency.

Normal Vision #C90016 How the color appears with full color vision.

Deuteranopia #727200 Deuteranopia affects ~8% of males. Green cones are absent, making it difficult to distinguish red from green. The most common form of color blindness.

Protanopia #47471A Protanopia affects ~1% of males. Red cones are absent, causing reds to appear dark and indistinguishable from greens and browns.

Tritanopia #C90303 Tritanopia is rare (~0.003%). Blue cones are absent, making blue and yellow difficult to distinguish. Blues may appear green, yellows appear pink.

Achromatopsia #636363 Achromatopsia is complete color blindness. The world is seen entirely in shades of grey. Affects ~1 in 30,000 people.

Similar Named Colors

The closest named colors to Harvard Crimson ranked by perceptual difference (Delta-E 2000 — lower = more similar).

Harvard Crimson #C90016 Base

Venetian Red #C80815 ΔE 0.50

Lava #CF1020 ΔE 2.16

International Orange (engineering) #BA160C ΔE 3.47

Fire Engine Red #CE2029 ΔE 3.61

How to use this color

Copy HEX for CSS and design tools, or RGB/HSL for UI adjustments.
Use CMYK when preparing print assets (posters, packaging, brochures).
Check contrast before using it for text or important UI elements.