Cardinal#FF002A, a warm vivid red
Cardinal in RGB, HSL, OKLCH & more
Ready to ship: every line pastes straight into your codebase, and the whole file copies at once.
ART is Rhapsody's perceptual model. How ART works
Why is it called Cardinal?
Cardinal's meaning, origin, and pronunciation, with sources.
Anchor: A04 · one of the 72 anchor hues of ART
Origin: Latin, via the Church
Meaning: "Hinge" → "the one others turn on" → the clergy → their robes → the bird → the color
KAR-dih-nul · /ˈkɑːrdɪnəl/
Latin cardo, "hinge" → cardinalis, "the thing others turn on" → the cardinals of the Church, the hinges it swings on → their red robes → the crested American bird, named for wearing the same color → the color itself.
Five leaps, and the last one is the strangest. The bird is named after clergy.
The robes carry a plot twist borrowed from elsewhere on the wheel. Cardinals originally wore Tyrian purple, and switched to kermes red, the insect dye behind Crimson, after the Byzantine dye works fell in 1453. So cardinal red exists, in part, because an empire's supply chain collapsed.
etymonline s.v. cardinal; OED; Royal Society "Perkin's Purple" (the 1453 supply collapse). Etymological dictionaries, cross-checked. Audio: Commander Keane, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Shades of Cardinal, lighter and darker
For hover states, washed backgrounds, and dark surfaces that still read as #FF002A. 13 steps, spaced evenly by eye, with the color itself sitting at its natural depth, cardinal-600.
Tints (light surfaces; dark text passes on every one)
Midtones (the color at full strength, for brand & accent work)
Shades (dark surfaces; light text passes on every one)
Most tools mix. Rhapsody measures.
Paste any color. The whole system comes back, contrast-checked before you see it.
The window on the right was generated from #FF002A, like this whole page.
Is Cardinal accessible? Contrast with white & black
Strong contrast makes your work readable by everyone, and meets the WCAG standard accessibility law points at. AA is the floor; AAA is the tier worth aiming for in body text. Black text on #FF002A passes AA. For AAA, use its scale. Every strip below is one surface, and the marks are the steps that reach AAA on it.
Rows are text, columns are background · 62 of 210 pairings reach WCAG 2.2 AAA, shown here.
Ship the audit, not screenshots.
Run #FF002A against the colors you actually ship, every pairing and any target, and export it: exact ratios, the AA tier, APCA, in one file.
The audit on the right was calibrated from #FF002A, like this whole page.
Cardinal in CMYK: one value for files, one per press
This color shifts further than a press run can hold, so expect a visible difference. The pairs below show where each standard lands.
In CMYK, #FF002A is . That is the value design tools and file formats use when no press is involved.
On press (what each standard prints)
shifts ΔE00 13.7, 5.5× the 2.5 a run varies by
shifts ΔE00 8.4, 3.4× the 2.5 a run varies by
shifts ΔE00 4.1, 1.7× the 2.5 a run varies by
shifts ΔE00 3.7, 1.5× the 2.5 a run varies by
shifts ΔE00 4.3, 1.7× the 2.5 a run varies by
Press values computed through the ICC characterization data each standard proofs against. Each CMYK above is the closest that standard can get.
No surprises at the printer.
Run any color through the major press standards: FOGRA51, GRACoL, Japan Color, FOGRA39. It's coming soon. Create a free account and you'll get a note the moment it's live.
The strip shows this page's tints and shades on screen, then through a standard GRACoL 2013 conversion.
Colors similar to Cardinal
"Hinge" → "the one others turn on" → the clergy → their robes → the bird → the color
Here are other colors similar to Cardinal along with accessible text pairings and whether or not they're print-safe. Explore The Reds
| Torch Red | Torch Red | #FD0E35 | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Neon Red | Neon Red | #FF073A | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Cherry Red | Cherry Red | #F7022A | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Strawberry | Strawberry | #FB2943 | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Pinky Red | Pinky Red | #FC2647 | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Crimson | Crimson | #FF004A | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Lightish Red | Lightish Red | #FE2F4A | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Pinkish Red | Pinkish Red | #F10C45 | black text · AA | ! within tolerance |
| Reddish Pink | Reddish Pink | #FE2C54 | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Red Ribbon | Red Ribbon | #ED0A3F | black text · AA | ! within tolerance |
| Red Pink | Red Pink | #FA2A55 | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Coral Red | Coral Red | #FF4040 | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Pink Red | Pink Red | #F5054F | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Light Red | Light Red | #FF474C | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Radical Red | Radical Red | #FF355E | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Alizarin Crimson | Alizarin Crimson | #E32636 | black text · AA | ✓ prints exactly |
| Watermelon | Watermelon | #FD4659 | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Amaranth | Amaranth | #E52B50 | black text · AA | ✓ prints exactly |
| Ruby | Ruby | #FF0062 | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Grapefruit | Grapefruit | #FD5956 | black text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Razzmatazz | Razzmatazz | #E30B5C | white text · AA | ! within tolerance |
| Lipstick | Lipstick | #D5174E | white text · AA | ! within tolerance |
| Persian Red | Persian Red | #CC3333 | white text · AA | ✓ prints exactly |
| Cherry | Cherry | #CF0234 | white text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Flush Mahogany | Flush Mahogany | #CA3435 | white text · AA | ✓ prints exactly |
| Monza | Monza | #C7031E | white text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Maroon Flush | Maroon Flush | #C32148 | white text · AA | ! within tolerance |
| Thunderbird | Thunderbird | #C02B18 | white text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Lipstick Red | Lipstick Red | #C0022F | white text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Rose Red | Rose Red | #BE013C | white text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Guardsman Red | Guardsman Red | #BA0101 | white text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Milano Red | Milano Red | #B81104 | white text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Firebrick | Firebrick | #B22222 | white text · AA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Shiraz | Shiraz | #B20931 | white text · AAA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Raspberry | Raspberry | #B00149 | white text · AAA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Darkish Red | Darkish Red | #A90308 | white text · AAA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Cranberry | Cranberry | #9E003A | white text · AAA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Carmine | Carmine | #9D0216 | white text · AAA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Tamarillo | Tamarillo | #991613 | white text · AAA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Scarlett | Scarlett | #950015 | white text · AAA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Sangria | Sangria | #92000A | white text · AAA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Pohutukawa | Pohutukawa | #8F021C | white text · AAA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Paprika | Paprika | #8D0226 | white text · AAA | ✕ shifts on press |
Colors that go with Cardinal
The complementary color, straight across the wheel, is a cool light blue #60BAE6. Rhapsody's pick is the split complement, just to one side of it, a livelier pair.
The accent is for the moments that need attention, the harmony for the ones that need calm; the neutral carries the text and surfaces in between.
Take Cardinal with you
The work on this page doesn't stay here. Save a card and the color arrives in your file, your deck or your board already decided.
Your system is already built.
Rhapsody built it before you even asked: the scale, the neutrals, the utilities, every pairing calibrated.
This page's whole theme is built from one color. Palette does the same for yours: every step calibrated, every pairing checked, press included.
Every color on this page was calibrated, not mixed.
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