#231016 is a muted, temperate red. On the Color Lab it reads clean and engineered, quietly premium. It holds up as a large surface and is too dark to lead as a primary accent.
Not just a swatch — here's how #231016 works with other colors. Named schemes with #231016 in its natural role, and a note on why the supporting colors balance it.
Graphite plays the worn-leather lead, deepened by saddle brown and an oxblood anchor, softened by aged cream and cooled by a muted forest green.
This palette keeps Graphite as the dominant warm neutral, balanced by muted terracotta and olive earth tones and grounded by a deep espresso anchor.
Graphite sets a calm, sun-bleached base here, wrapped in bone and paper off-whites and a soft greige, with a single ink accent for wabi-sabi restraint.
Graphite carries the depth in this luxury scheme, offset by a brass accent and near-black and held together by a deep neutral and an off-white surface.
Graphite is the single accent in this high-contrast editorial system — set on near-white paper against near-black ink, with a warm grey and a desaturated tint of Graphite carrying the quiet middle.
How #231016 actually behaves in design work — read from its OKLCH lightness, chroma and hue, not just its raw numbers. Ten signals to help you decide where this color earns its place.
Not a swatch to memorise — a color to build with. Here is #231016 at work across the surfaces designers actually ship.
:root {
--color-base: #231016;
--color-base-rgb: 35 16 22;
--color-base-oklch: oklch(20.3% 0.033 0.2);
--color-50: #FAF4F6;
--color-100: #F3E3E8;
--color-200: #E5C7D1;
--color-300: #CFA0AF;
--color-400: #B87A8E;
--color-500: #9B5A6E;
--color-600: #784A58;
--color-700: #563842;
--color-800: #39282D;
--color-900: #241A1D;
--color-on-base: #FFFFFF;
}
// tailwind.config.js
colors: {
graphite: {
50: '#FAF4F6',
100: '#F3E3E8',
200: '#E5C7D1',
300: '#CFA0AF',
400: '#B87A8E',
500: '#9B5A6E',
600: '#784A58',
700: '#563842',
800: '#39282D',
900: '#241A1D',
},
}
$base: #231016; $base-ink: #FFFFFF; $base-50: #FAF4F6; $base-100: #F3E3E8; $base-200: #E5C7D1; $base-300: #CFA0AF; $base-400: #B87A8E; $base-500: #9B5A6E; $base-600: #784A58; $base-700: #563842; $base-800: #39282D; $base-900: #241A1D; $base-hover: #1C0D12; $base-subtle: #CEA7B3;
{
"color": {
"base": {
"value": "#231016",
"type": "color"
},
"onBase": {
"value": "#FFFFFF",
"type": "color"
},
"scale": {
"50": {
"value": "#FAF4F6",
"type": "color"
},
"100": {
"value": "#F3E3E8",
"type": "color"
},
"200": {
"value": "#E5C7D1",
"type": "color"
},
"300": {
"value": "#CFA0AF",
"type": "color"
},
"400": {
"value": "#B87A8E",
"type": "color"
},
"500": {
"value": "#9B5A6E",
"type": "color"
},
"600": {
"value": "#784A58",
"type": "color"
},
"700": {
"value": "#563842",
"type": "color"
},
"800": {
"value": "#39282D",
"type": "color"
},
"900": {
"value": "#241A1D",
"type": "color"
}
}
}
}