Cordovan Color Codes
Cordovan is a dark, muted red with the hex code #893F45, RGB values of 137, 63, 69 and an HSL value of hsl(355, 37%, 39%).
| HEX | #893F45 |
|---|---|
| RGB | 137, 63, 69 |
| HSL | hsl(355, 37%, 39%) |
| HSV | 355°, 54%, 54% |
| CMYK | 0%, 54%, 50%, 46% |
| LAB | 36.56, 32.16, 11.55 |
| CIELCHuv | 36.56, 51.31, 8.47° |
- Nearest Pantone
- PMS 696 C ΔE 3.4 · approximate
- Nearest CSS name
-
indianredΔE 23.6
Source Wikipedia, List of colors (cites Pantone)
Cordovan Color Hex Code
The Cordovan color hex code is #893F45. Those six digits are three pairs, 89 for red, 3F for green and 45 for blue, which is the same triplet a browser reads from the CSS value below.
#893F45
Cordovan Color RGB Code
The Cordovan RGB code is rgb(137, 63, 69). Red carries the most light at 137 of 255, which is what puts this color where it sits on the wheel.
rgb(137, 63, 69)
Cordovan Color HSV Code
The Cordovan HSV code is 355°, 54%, 54%. Read it as a hue of 355 degrees, 54% saturation and 54% value, which is the form most color pickers use because moving one number changes one thing.
355°, 54%, 54%
Cordovan Color CIELChuv Code
The Cordovan CIELCHuv code is 36.56, 51.31, 8.47°. Unlike hex or RGB this one is perceptual: lightness 37 means mid-toned to the eye rather than to the screen, and chroma 51 is how far it sits from grey.
36.56, 51.31, 8.47°
Tonal scale
What are Cordovan Color Palettes?
A shade mixes toward black, a tint toward white, a tone toward grey. Every step keeps the hue and is copy-ready.
Shades, toward black
Tints, toward white
Tones, toward grey
Palettes
What are Cordovan Color Palette Codes?
Each of these is a hue rotation from #893F45. They are generated, not curated, so they are exact.
Complementary
Half a turn away is #3F8983, a mid-tone, muted teal. This is the widest separation the wheel offers, and the reason complementary pairs are the default for anything that must stand out. Neither is especially saturated, so this pairing stays calm enough for large areas of both.
Analogous
Either side sit #893F6A and #895E3F, 30 degrees out. Low tension by construction: useful when you need several related tones that still feel like one choice.
Triadic
#45893F and #3F4589 complete an even 120 degree split. Three fully independent hues, so one has to lead: keep this base dominant and let the other two appear in small quantities.
Split-complementary
Instead of the direct complement, this takes the two hues either side of it: #3F895E and #3F6A89. Almost the same contrast, without the edge shimmer a true complementary pair produces at high saturation.
Tetradic
Two complementary pairs forming a rectangle: this base with #3F8983, and #6A893F with #5E3F89. The richest of the five and the hardest to balance, so treat this base as the lead and hold the other three well back.
Accessibility
Contrast checker: is Cordovan accessible?
Measured against white and against black, with a separate verdict for each element type. Small text, large text and UI components have different thresholds, so one pass or fail for the whole color would be wrong roughly a third of the time.
White background
7.34:17.34
contrast ratio on white background
| Element | AA | AAA |
|---|---|---|
| Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1 | Passes | Passes |
| Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1 | Passes | Passes |
| UI component needs 3:1 | Passes | n/a |
Black background
2.86:12.86
contrast ratio on black background
| Element | AA | AAA |
|---|---|---|
| Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1 | Fails | Fails |
| Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1 | Fails | Fails |
| UI component needs 3:1 | Fails | n/a |
Cordovan clears WCAG AA against white at 7.34:1, so it is safe for body copy as well as headings. Text placed on it should be white, which gives 7.34:1.
Color vision
How Cordovan looks with color blindness
Around 300 million people see color differently from the way it is specified. Each card shows the actual color beside how it appears, and how common that form of vision is.
Protanopia
About 1% of men#707044
Cordovan changes substantially here. ΔE 42.6
No working red cones. Reds darken sharply and drift toward the same muddy olive as green.
Deuteranopia
About 1% of men#747943
Cordovan changes substantially here. ΔE 47.9
No working green cones. With the milder deuteranomaly at nearer 6% of men, this is by far the most common form, and the one worth designing around.
Tritanopia
About 1 in 10,000#864242
Cordovan shifts slightly here. ΔE 3.7
No working blue cones. Blues shift toward green and yellows toward pink. Rare, and unlike the others it is not sex-linked, so it affects men and women equally.
Achromatopsia
About 1 in 30,000#565656
Cordovan changes substantially here. ΔE 34.2
No color vision at all. Also a fair proxy for how the color survives a greyscale print or a failing screen.
To a deuteranope, the most common form, Cordovan reads as #747943. That is a shift of ΔE 47.9, so it is a different color to roughly one man in sixteen. It sits in the red end of the spectrum, which is exactly where red-green deficiency does its damage. Never pair it with a green of similar lightness to signal a difference in meaning: to a large minority the two become one color. The widest shift is under deuteranopia, at ΔE 47.9. The rule this leads to needs no simulator: never let color be the only thing carrying a message. Add a label, an icon, or a clear difference in lightness, and the problem disappears for everyone.
Snippets
Using Cordovan in code
:root {
--cordovan: #893F45;
}
.example {
color: var(--cordovan);
}// tailwind.config.js
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'cordovan': '#893F45',
},
},
}// SwiftUI takes 0–1 components, not 0–255.
let cordovan = Color(
red: 0.537,
green: 0.247,
blue: 0.271
)<!-- res/values/colors.xml -->
<color name="cordovan">#893F45</color>// Flutter wants ARGB: FF for full opacity, then the hex.
const cordovan = Color(0xFF893F45);