Color Conversion
#490b0bWrought Garnet
About this color
Quiet luxury with solemn warmth
A near-black garnet with dense, quietly burning red that reads almost like polished iron with a warm core. It feels intimate, resolute, and quietly luxurious — like a closed room lit by candlelight in a historic cellar.
Designer tip: Use Wrought Garnet as a restrained anchor: apply it for primary accents (logo, spine of packaging, or header backgrounds) and pair with a warm mid-beige for body copy to maintain legibility and maintain a luxe contrast.
Best use case: Luxury wine label and boutique spirits packaging where the color conveys age, depth, and tannic richness on matte paper and foil embossing.
Psychology
Psychological traits and emotional associations
Effect
In a space or design, this color draws the eye inward and creates a sense of enclosure and privacy without feeling cold. It stabilizes palettes, reading as both vintage and refined, and slows visual tempo so details feel considered.
Emotional impact
Viewers feel calm, respectful, and slightly nostalgic when confronted with this hue.
Meaning & symbolism
Cultural symbolism and significance
Cultural significance
In Western fashion and heraldry, deep garnet tones signal nobility and academic tradition; in South Asian textiles and bridal wear, maroon and deep red connote marriage, fertility, and auspiciousness; in East Asia darker reds can reference antiquity and lacquerware rather than the bright celebratory red used for festivals.
Positive associations
Associated with luxury and ceremony in Western (academic robes, ecclesiastical vestments) and South Asian contexts (bridal saris, wedding textiles).
Negative associations
In some contexts, very dark red is associated with mourning or aged blood imagery (notably in certain Western folk symbolism) and can feel heavy or oppressive if used excessively (observed in conservative institutional interiors).
Design applications
How this color is used across different fields
Premium packaging (wine & spirits)
Works as the core brand color on matte labels and embossed seals where its density communicates age and tannin-like depth, and contrasts well with metallic foils.
Hospitality interiors (intimate dining rooms)
Use as an accent wall or upholstery color to create warmth and enclosure that encourages lingering and quiet conversation.
Luxury editorial (covers and mastheads)
Excellent for cover backgrounds and chapter headers paired with cream type, projecting seriousness and tactile richness.
Leather goods and accessories
As a dye it reads as aged, heirloom-quality when applied to matte or lightly patinated leathers.
Brand identity for heritage businesses
Signals craftsmanship and longevity for family-run wineries, bespoke tailors, and high-end carpentry workshops when used as primary or supporting brand color.
Design guidance
Practical tips for using this color effectively in your designs
Do this
- + Pair with a warm mid-beige or cream for accessible contrast (use a 70–30 ratio beige:Wrought Garnet for large fields).
- + Use as a focal accent (headers, spines, or cushions) rather than a full background to avoid visual heaviness.
- + Combine with a cool teal accent (#0B4949) for a sophisticated complementary pop in small doses (buttons, inlay, or piping).
Avoid this
- - Don’t place small light text (below 18px) directly on the color — contrast fails legibility tests.
- - Don’t mix with bright primary reds or oranges that will fight the nuance and make the palette feel muddled.
- - Avoid pairing with stark clinical whites for large areas — it creates an overly somber, institutional feel.
Fundamentals: Maintain contrast and breathing space: treat the color as an anchor, not the environment.
Overuse risk: If Wrought Garnet dominates a design it can make the composition feel heavy, enclosed, and aged — nuance and air are lost. To avoid visual fatigue, introduce lighter neutrals and occasional cool accents to lift the palette.
Brand fit
Industries and brand archetypes that align with this color
Trust level
high
Seriousness
serious
Trend
Color pairing
Colors that complement and enhance this shade
#0B4949
A true complementary/contrasting teal that cools and lifts Wrought Garnet while maintaining a sophisticated, high-contrast pairing (complementary harmony).
#7B1A1A
A slightly lighter, analogous burgundy that creates depth and layered tonality for interiors or layered branding (analogous harmony).
#490B49
A deep oxblood-to-plum that forms a rich split-analogous/triadic relationship, adding duskier purple accents without breaking the warm mood.
Typography hints: Headlines: high-contrast serif (e.g., Playfair Display, 700–900) in warm cream or light beige; body: humanist sans-serif (e.g., Source Sans Pro, 400–600) in a warm mid-gray for readability; avoid thin weights on this color and ensure sufficient contrast ratios.
Historical significance
The story and heritage of this color
Deep garnet shades like this one trace back to natural red dyes and pigments such as kermes and cochineal used since antiquity; artists and dyers would deepen reds with iron-rich earths and tamarind mordants to achieve low-light, durable crimsons accessible to medieval workshops and imperial textiles.
Throughout art and fashion history, very dark reds appear in Venetian and Flemish paintings (deep crimson glazes), Tudor and baroque textiles (velvets and serges), and ecclesiastical robes — signaling status through costly dyes and layered glazes in painting that created luminous dark reds rather than flat browns.
In contemporary practice the shade survives in luxury packaging, autumn/winter fashion, and interior accents where designers seek a vintage, tactile feeling; modern pigments and digital color management let us reproduce this dense garnet consistently across print, fabric, and digital screens while preserving its historical connotations of depth and age.
Variations
The purpose of this section is to accurately produce tints (pure white added) and shades (pure black added) of your selected color in 10% increments.
Pro Tip: Use shades for hover states and shadows, tints for highlights and backgrounds.
Shades
Darker variations created by adding black to your base color.
Tints
Lighter variations created by adding white to your base color.
Common Use Cases
- • UI component states (hover, active, disabled)
- • Creating depth with shadows and highlights
- • Building consistent color systems
Design System Tip
These variations form the foundation of a cohesive color palette. Export them to maintain consistency across your entire project.
Color Combinations
Each harmony has its own mood. Use harmonies to brainstorm color combos that work well together.
How to Use
Click on any color to copy its hex value. These combinations are mathematically proven to create visual harmony.
Why It Matters
Color harmonies create balance and evoke specific emotions in your designs.
Complement
A color and its opposite on the color wheel, +180 degrees of hue. High contrast.
Split-complementary
A color and two adjacent to its complement, +/-30 degrees of hue from the value opposite the main color. Bold like a straight complement, but more versatile.
Triadic
Three colors spaced evenly along the color wheel, each 120 degrees of hue apart. Best to allow one color to dominate and use the others as accents.
Analogous
Three colors of the same luminance and saturation with hues that are adjacent on the color wheel, 30 degrees apart. Smooth transitions.
Monochromatic
Three colors of the same hue with luminance values +/-50%. Subtle and refined.
Tetradic
Two sets of complementary colors, separated by 60 degrees of hue.
Color Theory Principles
Balance
Use one dominant color, support with secondary, and accent sparingly.
Contrast
Ensure sufficient contrast for readability and accessibility.
Harmony
Colors should work together to create a unified visual experience.
Color Contrast Checker
Test color combinations to ensure they meet WCAG accessibility standards for text readability.
Text Color
Background Color
Contrast
WCAG Standards
Advanced Contrast Checker
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Technical Formats
Practical Formats
Color Analysis
Blindness Simulator
Creative Aspects
Frequently asked questions
- What color is #490B0B?
- #490B0B is Wrought Garnet – A near-black garnet with dense, quietly burning red that reads almost like polished iron with a warm core. It feels intimate, resolute, and quietly luxurious — like a closed room lit by candlelight in a historic cellar.
- What does Wrought Garnet symbolize?
- nobility and heritage, maturity and age, intimacy and secrecy, bloodline and lineage, warmth tempered by restraint. In Western fashion and heraldry, deep garnet tones signal nobility and academic tradition; in South Asian textiles and bridal wear, maroon and deep red connote marriage, fertility, and auspiciousness; in East Asia darker reds can reference antiquity and lacquerware rather than the bright celebratory red used for festivals.
- Where is Wrought Garnet used in design?
- In a space or design, this color draws the eye inward and creates a sense of enclosure and privacy without feeling cold. It stabilizes palettes, reading as both vintage and refined, and slows visual tempo so details feel considered.