Exploring the Color #542020

#542020 sits at 0° on the color wheel, placing it in the red family of the warm half of the spectrum. With 45% saturation and 23% lightness, it reads as a moderately saturated, deep tone — a balanced mid-energy presence that sits comfortably alongside other UI tones. Its RGB mix of 84, 32, 32 produces a 13.09:1 contrast ratio against white, which clears WCAG AAA for body text in that pairing.

In RGB space #542020 is a distant relative of CSS maroon — about 63 units away from #800000. Designers reach for red hues at this saturation when the brief calls for a conversational, mid-energy register, and at this lightness when they want weight, depth, and grounded contrast. On screen the warm cast tends to pair best with cool neutrals around 210°-230° to balance temperature.

Darkening Shades

Lightening Shades