#38292F is a muted, temperate red. On the Color Lab it reads clean and engineered, quietly premium. It is too muted to lead as a primary accent and reproduces cleanly in print.
Not just a swatch — here's how #38292F works with other colors. Named schemes with #38292F in its natural role, and a note on why the supporting colors balance it.
Bistre plays the worn-leather lead, deepened by saddle brown and an oxblood anchor, softened by aged cream and cooled by a muted forest green.
Bistre 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.
Bistre 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.
Bistre 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 Bistre carrying the quiet middle.
Bistre sits between cream and a deep berry here, softened by a blush accent and grounded by charcoal.
How #38292F 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 #38292F at work across the surfaces designers actually ship.
:root {
--color-base: #38292F;
--color-base-rgb: 56 41 47;
--color-base-oklch: oklch(30.1% 0.024 352.8);
--color-50: #F9F6F7;
--color-100: #EEE7EA;
--color-200: #DCD0D5;
--color-300: #C1AEB6;
--color-400: #A58D97;
--color-500: #886D78;
--color-600: #6A585F;
--color-700: #4D4146;
--color-800: #342D30;
--color-900: #211D1E;
--color-on-base: #FFFFFF;
}
// tailwind.config.js
colors: {
bistre: {
50: '#F9F6F7',
100: '#EEE7EA',
200: '#DCD0D5',
300: '#C1AEB6',
400: '#A58D97',
500: '#886D78',
600: '#6A585F',
700: '#4D4146',
800: '#342D30',
900: '#211D1E',
},
}
$base: #38292F; $base-ink: #FFFFFF; $base-50: #F9F6F7; $base-100: #EEE7EA; $base-200: #DCD0D5; $base-300: #C1AEB6; $base-400: #A58D97; $base-500: #886D78; $base-600: #6A585F; $base-700: #4D4146; $base-800: #342D30; $base-900: #211D1E; $base-hover: #2D2126; $base-subtle: #C8BAC0;
{
"color": {
"base": {
"value": "#38292F",
"type": "color"
},
"onBase": {
"value": "#FFFFFF",
"type": "color"
},
"scale": {
"50": {
"value": "#F9F6F7",
"type": "color"
},
"100": {
"value": "#EEE7EA",
"type": "color"
},
"200": {
"value": "#DCD0D5",
"type": "color"
},
"300": {
"value": "#C1AEB6",
"type": "color"
},
"400": {
"value": "#A58D97",
"type": "color"
},
"500": {
"value": "#886D78",
"type": "color"
},
"600": {
"value": "#6A585F",
"type": "color"
},
"700": {
"value": "#4D4146",
"type": "color"
},
"800": {
"value": "#342D30",
"type": "color"
},
"900": {
"value": "#211D1E",
"type": "color"
}
}
}
}