Combination 245 from Wada's dictionary · contrasting hues, dark
Colour palette: Carmine Red, Oil Green, Dark Tyrian Blue and Slate Color.
One of the 348 combinations Sanzō Wada set down in 1933, with roles assigned, contrast checked and advice for using it.
Haishoku Sōkan · 1933
4 colours in equal parts, as in the book. It is the inspiration, not the interface. Click one to copy it.
Combination 245 · the plate, in four leaves
What each one is.
The hex codes come from the book's CMYK run through the FOGRA39 press profile. Under each colour we also list the hex other websites use, which comes from a direct formula and oversaturates.
Carmine Red
Carmín oscuro
CMYK 25 · 95 · 80 · 16
Elsewhere: #a10b2b
Wada uses it in 12 combinations.
Five palettes from this colour →Oil Green
Verde oliva vivo
CMYK 53 · 28 · 100 · 8
Elsewhere: #6ea900
Wada uses it in 3 combinations.
Five palettes from this colour →Dark Tyrian Blue
Azul marino oscuro
CMYK 90 · 66 · 36 · 50
Elsewhere: #0d2b52
Wada uses it in 7 combinations.
Five palettes from this colour →Slate Color
Azul pizarra
CMYK 85 · 70 · 62 · 30
Elsewhere: #1b3644
Wada uses it in 13 combinations.
Five palettes from this colour →
The four colours, mixed two by two
- 3 parts carmine red1 part oil green
- 3 parts oil green1 part dark tyrian blue
- 3 parts dark tyrian blue1 part slate color
- 3 parts slate color1 part carmine red
- 3 parts carmine red1 part dark tyrian blue
- 3 parts oil green1 part slate color
- 3 parts dark tyrian blue1 part carmine red
- 3 parts slate color1 part oil green
- 3 parts carmine red1 part slate color
- 3 parts oil green1 part carmine red
- 3 parts dark tyrian blue1 part oil green
- 3 parts slate color1 part dark tyrian blue
This is where the in-betweens the plate doesn’t carry come from: borders, card backgrounds, disabled states. The mix is done in OKLab, which is closer to mixing paint than to averaging numbers. Click the result to copy it.
Adapted for screen
The same hue as the plate with the lightness moved to where an interface needs it: the background rests, the surface keeps the colour from the book and the accent earns the button. Each role says which colour it comes from and what was done to it. Click any to copy.
- 60% BackgroundWhere the eye rests: most of the screen. The plate's #1c374f, darkened.
- 30% SurfaceCards, bands, headers. This is where the book's colour lives. From the plate, as is (#1c374f).
- 10% AccentOnly what gets clicked. The plate's #a8262e, lightened.
The roles the plate doesn’t carry
Measured, before and after
- On the plate, the best pair of colours reads at 3.6:1: only good for large text.Falls short
- On screen, the text #eeeee5 on the background #1c222a gives 13.7:1: AAA, reads with room to spare. APCA gives Lc 94: good for small text, the kind you read a paragraph of.Passes
- The accent #c03e40 stands 3.0:1 from the background (a button needs 3:1) and as a link reaches 4.6:1 (a word needs 4.5:1).Passes
- Under protanopia, your accent and your background drop to 2.3:1. The button stops standing out: give it a border, change the lightness, or don't rely on colour alone to mark it.Falls short
This is the plate with a whole screen to fill.
This paragraph is here so you can see real text on a real background, which is where half of the pretty palettes fall over. If it's hard to read, now you know. And this is a link.
A card
Secondary surfaces use the support colour. If it doesn't separate from the background, the hierarchy is gone.
How to use it
- ProportionDistribute, don't equalise: #1c222a on 60% of the screen, #1c374f on 30% (cards, bands, headers) and #c03e40 on 10%, only on buttons and links. A colour loses force the more surface it covers; what looks intense on the plate softens at full screen.
- TextNo pair on the plate read as text (the best gave 3.6:1). That is why body text goes in #eeeee5, a near-neutral ink tinted with the palette's hue: it is not in the book, and it is needed.
- The buttonThe accent #c03e40 stands 3.0:1 apart from the background: it works as a button, with text in #f2f7fd.
- TemperatureWarm and cool together: let one lead and the other point. Here the background #1c374f leads, and the accent #c03e40 is the first thing the eye will look for.
- How manyFour colours demand discipline: #1c374f and #eeeee5 are the base, the other two are detail. If in doubt, drop the support colour before the accent.
- In the dictionaryIn the dictionary it sits among the contrasting-hue sets: hues deliberately set against each other. The contrast is already there; don't force it with shadows or blacks. It is one of the dark ones: it needs light text and large surfaces; in small pieces it clogs.
The kit
A brand needs four colours; an interface needs a good deal more. This is what you'd otherwise invent by hand once you take four hex codes into the editor.
Click any swatch to copy it.
The accent’s tints
The neutrals, tinted with the accent
Button states and alerts
The same plate, by day
The same colour, by day.
The palette is born dark; this is its light version. The background is not pure white: it carries a little of its hue, just as the dark one was not black.
A buttonTake it with you
/* Wada combination 245 — bluenze.com/paletas */
:root {
--fondo: #1c222a;
--superficie: #1c374f;
--texto: #eeeee5;
--tinta: #eeeee5;
--texto-suave: #b1b1a3;
--titular: #869226;
--acento: #c03e40;
--acento-texto: #f2f7fd;
--enlace: #e55f5c;
--borde: #3f4752;
--apoyo-1: #36434a;
/* la lámina de Wada, tal cual */
--lamina-1: #a8262e;
--lamina-2: #869226;
--lamina-3: #1c374f;
--lamina-4: #36434a;
--acento-50: #f6f6f6;
--acento-100: #ffe5e3;
--acento-200: #fecbc6;
--acento-300: #ffa7a0;
--acento-400: #f7807a;
--acento-500: #e35d5b;
--acento-600: #c03e40;
--acento-700: #9e2f32;
--acento-800: #781f22;
--acento-900: #541013;
--neutro-50: #f8f6f6;
--neutro-100: #eeeaea;
--neutro-200: #dcd6d5;
--neutro-300: #c5bcbb;
--neutro-400: #aca19f;
--neutro-500: #928685;
--neutro-600: #796d6c;
--neutro-700: #5f5554;
--neutro-800: #463e3d;
--neutro-900: #2f2928;
--boton: #c03e40;
--boton-encima: #d65150;
--boton-pulsado: #e66864;
--boton-apagado: #473432;
--foco: #d41a33;
--exito: #66bf63;
--aviso: #d1b443;
--error: #fd8b73;
--info: #6eaefc;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: light) {
:root {
--fondo: #fff2f1;
--superficie: #fde2df;
--borde: #eacac7;
--texto: #2f201f;
--tinta: #2f201f;
--texto-suave: #735e5c;
--acento: #c03e40;
--acento-texto: #fff4f3;
}
}What this combination conveys, and why.
Wada tells you which colours go together. Goethe, a century earlier, explains why a combination means something or means nothing, and what each colour does depending on how much of the screen it takes. His circle has six colours and three oppositions, and every verdict below carries the paragraph it comes from.
What it conveys, by where each colour landed
The palette crosses both sides of the circle, active and passive. It carries the most tension and most needs one of the two to lead.
- Surface · blue
Blue recedes: it draws the eye inward rather than coming out to meet it. It holds a large surface without fighting whatever sits on top. § 781
- Accent · red
Red is the high point of the active side. In a small patch it does exactly what an accent is for: stopping the eye once. § 793
- Heading · yellow
Yellow points, but it loses the moment the ground stops being smooth and bright. On screen that means shadows, gradients and small type on top. § 771
How each pair reads on the circle
- Characteristic #a8262e · #869226
Yellow and red, with orange skipped between them. The characteristic pair he thinks best: serene and magnificent. § 820
- Characteristic #a8262e · #1c374f
Blue and red, with violet skipped. It approaches the effect of the violet their mixture would produce. § 821
- With a neutral #a8262e · #36434a
Next to black, a colour from the active side gains energy. § 831
- Characteristic #869226 · #1c374f
Yellow and blue, with green skipped. Goethe finds it poor: red is missing, and the nearness of green leaves it slight. § 819
- With a neutral #869226 · #36434a
Next to black, a colour from the active side gains energy. § 831
- With a neutral #1c374f · #36434a
Next to black, a colour from the passive side loses. § 831
Criteria taken from Zur Farbenlehre (1810), in Eastlake's 1840 translation, which is public domain. The explanations are ours: from a book you take the substance, not the wording. The light values usually credited to Goethe for working out surface proportions are not in the Farbenlehre — they are Itten's, 1961, and that is how they are credited in the adaptation rules.
The card, as it gets shared
They share a colour
Other dictionary combinations with these colours.
- 002Dark Tyrian Blue · Yellow Orange
- 027Corinthian Pink · Slate Color
- 033Raw Sienna · Slate Color
- 035Light Brown Drab · Carmine Red
- 051Carmine Red · Blue
- 057Taupe Brown · Slate Color
- 060Pale Lemon Yellow · Dark Tyrian Blue
- 067Olympic Blue · Dark Tyrian Blue
This combination also lives under a colour.
Chapter 3
From plate to screen: six rules that are not ours
Wada worked with ink. You work with light.
Wada designed for ink, cloth and pigment. A screen emits light, is read for minutes at a time and has a law. These are the rules colour for interfaces is built with, and the ones we adapt each plate with; none of them is ours, so each one carries its owner.
- Johannes Itten · Hype4 Academy (opens in a new tab)
Distribute 60 · 30 · 10
- Refactoring UI (opens in a new tab)
The background rests
- Material 3 · colour roles (opens in a new tab)
The book's colour lives on the surface
- GOV.UK Design System (opens in a new tab)
Paragraphs don't go in colour
- WCAG 2.2 · 1.4.3 and 1.4.11 (opens in a new tab)
The accent earns the button
- Evil Martians · OKLCH in CSS (opens in a new tab)
Move the lightness, not the hue
Colophon
Colour is where it starts, not the whole job
If it is for your brand, this is what we do: custom websites that start with colour and end in code.
And something Wada already warned about back then: the plate is not the application. His samples sit on equal surfaces only so they can be compared. On a website the background leads, the text reads and the accent points, and a colour loses strength the more surface it covers. That is why every palette comes with its roles and some advice, not four equal squares.
Combinations based on Sanzō Wada's system (Haishoku Sōkan, 1933-34; Seigensha selection, 2010). Colour values are checked against that edition; the Spanish names, each combination's character and the explanations are ours.