#251216 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 #251216 works with other colors. Named schemes with #251216 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 #251216 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 #251216 at work across the surfaces designers actually ship.
:root {
--color-base: #251216;
--color-base-rgb: 37 18 22;
--color-base-oklch: oklch(21.1% 0.032 6.6);
--color-50: #FAF4F6;
--color-100: #F2E3E6;
--color-200: #E4C8CE;
--color-300: #CEA1AB;
--color-400: #B67C89;
--color-500: #995C69;
--color-600: #774B55;
--color-700: #56393F;
--color-800: #39282C;
--color-900: #231A1C;
--color-on-base: #FFFFFF;
}
// tailwind.config.js
colors: {
graphite: {
50: '#FAF4F6',
100: '#F2E3E6',
200: '#E4C8CE',
300: '#CEA1AB',
400: '#B67C89',
500: '#995C69',
600: '#774B55',
700: '#56393F',
800: '#39282C',
900: '#231A1C',
},
}
$base: #251216; $base-ink: #FFFFFF; $base-50: #FAF4F6; $base-100: #F2E3E6; $base-200: #E4C8CE; $base-300: #CEA1AB; $base-400: #B67C89; $base-500: #995C69; $base-600: #774B55; $base-700: #56393F; $base-800: #39282C; $base-900: #231A1C; $base-hover: #1E0F12; $base-subtle: #CDA9B1;
{
"color": {
"base": {
"value": "#251216",
"type": "color"
},
"onBase": {
"value": "#FFFFFF",
"type": "color"
},
"scale": {
"50": {
"value": "#FAF4F6",
"type": "color"
},
"100": {
"value": "#F2E3E6",
"type": "color"
},
"200": {
"value": "#E4C8CE",
"type": "color"
},
"300": {
"value": "#CEA1AB",
"type": "color"
},
"400": {
"value": "#B67C89",
"type": "color"
},
"500": {
"value": "#995C69",
"type": "color"
},
"600": {
"value": "#774B55",
"type": "color"
},
"700": {
"value": "#56393F",
"type": "color"
},
"800": {
"value": "#39282C",
"type": "color"
},
"900": {
"value": "#231A1C",
"type": "color"
}
}
}
}