The Brick Red Color Code: HEX, RGB, CMYK

Few colors carry as much visual weight as brick red, and yet it stays approachable enough to work across interiors, fashion, and digital design.

Brick red is a warm, tertiary color that sits between red and brown on the color wheel, combining red pigment with earthy brown undertones derived from iron oxide. The color reads as grounded and confident, functioning as a muted warm tone in color theory with RGB values around (203, 65, 84).

This article covers everything from hex codes and color palettes to psychology, pairings, and how to mix this earthy red hue across different mediums.

Brick Red Color Codes

Brick red sits in the warm red spectrum, carrying brown undertones that separate it from brighter, more saturated reds. It reads as grounded and rich without being aggressive.

Below are the standard color codes used across digital and print applications.

• RGB: 203, 65, 84
• HEX: #CB4154
• CMYK: 0%, 68%, 59%, 20%
• HSL: 352deg, 57%, 53%
• Pantone: PMS 2033 C

In the RGB color model, brick red is dominated by its red channel (203 out of 255). The green and blue channels are low, which is what gives it that warm, earthy quality. In CMYK, the 0% cyan and high magenta (68%) confirm this is a warm-dominant tone with no cool interference.

The hue sits at 352 degrees, just inside the red zone on the color wheel, leaning slightly toward the red-pink edge rather than red-orange. That is part of what makes brick red a bit tricky to match in print if you are not careful with your profile settings.

When converting between systems, an RGB to HEX converter or a RGB to CMYK converter can help you keep values consistent across mediums. And if you are working in web and need to double-check your values going the other way, a HEX to RGB converter is worth bookmarking.

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Brick Red Color Palettes

These are the main color palette types built around brick red (#CB4154). Each harmony type produces a different visual effect depending on how much contrast or cohesion you want.

If you want to experiment further with these combinations, a color palette generator can help you quickly test variations and export them for your project.

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Brick Red Shades

Brick red covers a broader range than most people assume. It spans from pale, washed-out tints to very deep, almost maroon tones.

Each shade shifts in lightness and saturation, giving designers a flexible range to work across backgrounds, accents, and large surfaces.

Brick red encompasses multiple variations including pale brick tint, light brick red, medium brick red, original brick red, deep brick red, and dark brick red.

Each variation differs in lightness and saturation composition, with some tints leaning toward soft pink-white and darker tones pushing toward near-maroon. This creates very different aesthetic effects depending on application.

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What Are the Primary Attributes of Brick Red?

Brick red has five primary attributes: warm undertone (derived from iron oxide pigments), moderate saturation (not overly vivid), medium-dark value (lightness around 53%), earthy character (clay association), and strong historical resonance (millennia of architectural use).

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How Is Brick Red Used in Interior Design?

Brick red functions as both a statement and an accent in interior design, creating warm, grounded spaces that feel lived-in and deliberate.

Designers apply it to accent walls, upholstery, textiles, and tile. It works well in rustic, industrial, and mid-century modern styles, adding depth without demanding a full room commitment.

Pairing brick red with cream or off-white softens the contrast. With dark wood or charcoal, it reads bolder. The color sits naturally in dining rooms and living spaces where warmth and energy are welcome.

Understanding color psychology helps here: brick red encourages activity and conversation, which is why it works better in social rooms than in bedrooms.

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What Psychology and Emotions Does Brick Red Evoke?

Brick red evokes feelings of comfort, warmth, resilience, and groundedness through its association with natural clay and centuries of architectural tradition.

Color psychology research indicates brick red reduces the cold, clinical quality of pure red. It encourages belonging and security, and creates inviting environments that support conversation and relaxed social interaction.

There is a stimulating quality to it too. Used in excess, it can feel heavy or intense. At the right scale, though, it reads as confident without being aggressive. Cultural associations run deep: the color has been tied to durability and craft since ancient civilizations used fired clay brick in construction.

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How Is Brick Red Applied in Fashion and Clothing?

Brick red serves as both a wardrobe staple and a seasonal statement color, offering an earthy warmth through outerwear, knitwear, and tailored pieces.

Fashion designers use it for its cross-season versatility, compatibility with neutral skin undertones, and capacity to anchor earth-tone palettes. It pairs well with khaki, olive green, and mustard yellow for a cohesive autumn palette.

On the runway, brick red has appeared consistently in autumn/winter collections because it reads as both warm and grounded. It flatters a wide range of skin tones, especially warm and neutral undertones. Street style tends to use it in relaxed pieces like oversized coats, chunky knits, and wide-leg trousers.

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What Colors Complement and Contrast With Brick Red?

Brick red complements cream, navy blue, sage green, warm gold, and charcoal, while contrasting effectively with teal, turquoise, and bright white.

These combinations create grounded palettes that use brick red’s warm, earthy character to produce either harmony or sharp visual tension depending on the goal.

Complementary Colors

Brick Red + Cream

• Color Theory Basis: Warm tone on warm neutral. No hue competition, only value contrast.
• Visual Effect: Soft, inviting, and traditional. Feels handcrafted.
• Best Applications: Interior walls, textile pairings, packaging design.
• Ratio Recommendations: 70% cream background, 30% brick red accent.
• Example Uses: Linen cushions on brick red sofas, cream walls with brick red trim.

Brick Red + Navy Blue

• Color Theory Basis: Warm/cool contrast. Navy pulls out the orange undertones in brick red.
• Visual Effect: Classic, nautical, and authoritative.
• Best Applications: Branding, exterior design, fashion coordination.
• Ratio Recommendations: 60% navy, 40% brick red for balanced tension.
• Example Uses: Brand color systems, exterior shutters against brick facades.

Brick Red + Warm Gold

• Color Theory Basis: Analogous warm tones. Gold sits close on the color wheel, sharing red-orange warmth.
• Visual Effect: Rich, luxurious, and autumnal.
• Best Applications: Hospitality branding, wedding design, interior accents.
• Ratio Recommendations: 50/50 works well here. Both colors are strong enough to hold their own.
• Example Uses: Table settings, event branding, product packaging.

Brick Red + Sage Green

• Color Theory Basis: Muted warm vs. muted cool. Low-saturation pairing keeps both colors calm.
• Visual Effect: Natural, earthy, and relaxed.
• Best Applications: Interior spaces, botanical branding, lifestyle product design.
• Ratio Recommendations: 60% sage, 40% brick red. Sage provides breathing room.
• Example Uses: Kitchen color schemes, wellness brand palettes.

Contrasting Colors

Brick Red + Teal

• Contrast Type: Near-complementary. Teal sits across the warm/cool divide from brick red.
• Visual Impact: Bold and high-energy. The two colors push against each other.
• Best Applications: Poster design, editorial graphics, interior feature walls.
• Balance Strategies: Use a neutral (off-white or warm gray) as a third element to prevent visual overload.

Brick Red + Bright White

• Contrast Type: Value contrast. White amplifies the depth of brick red.
• Visual Impact: Clean, graphic, and modern when used with purpose.
• Best Applications: Web UI, print layouts, signage.
• Balance Strategies: Use white as the dominant background. Brick red as a call-to-action or header color.

Brick Red + Charcoal

• Contrast Type: Dark-on-dark with strong temperature contrast.
• Visual Impact: Moody, industrial, and sophisticated.
• Best Applications: Branding for food, spirits, and craft products. Interior design with exposed materials.
• Balance Strategies: Add a light neutral like warm white or sand to lift the overall palette.

Color Scheme Types

• Monochromatic: Use tints (pale brick) and shades (deep brick) to build depth without introducing other hues. Works well in minimal interior design.
• Analogous: Pair with terracotta and burnt orange for a fully warm, earthy palette. Low contrast but cohesive.
• Triadic: Brick red, teal-blue, and yellow-green. High energy, needs careful balancing with neutrals.
• Split-Complementary: Brick red with teal-green and cyan-blue. Less jarring than a straight complementary pair.
• Tetradic: Brick red, warm gold, teal, and violet-blue. Complex but rewarding when one color dominates.

Practical Pairing Guidelines

• 60-30-10 Rule: Use a neutral (cream or warm gray) for 60%, brick red for 30%, and a contrast color (teal or navy) for 10%.
• Accent Color Strategy: Brick red works best as the 30% mid-tone. It is too strong at 60% in most spaces.
• Neutral Bridging: Warm whites, taupe, and sand act as connectors between brick red and any cool accent. Without a neutral bridge, warm/cool pairings can feel jarring.

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How Does Brick Red Differ From Similar Warm Colors?

Brick red differs from terracotta (more orange, less saturated), burnt sienna (browner, lower lightness), maroon (deeper, more purple-red), and crimson (brighter, more blue-red) through its specific balance of red dominance, muted saturation, and medium lightness.

Knowing these differences matters in practice. I have seen clients request “brick red” and receive terracotta, which looks completely different on screen. When in doubt, share the hex code, not just the name. See the full list of color names to understand how loose naming conventions can get.

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How Do You Create Brick Red in Different Mediums?

Create brick red by mixing red oxide with small amounts of burnt sienna and gray in paint, or by setting RGB values to approximately (203, 65, 84) in digital applications, ensuring the red channel stays dominant throughout.

Acrylic Paint

Start with red oxide as the base. It is closer to the target than cadmium red. Add a small amount of burnt sienna to warm it, then mix a separate gray from black and white and introduce it gradually to mute the tone.

• Base colors: Red oxide, burnt sienna, titanium white, ivory black
• Mixing ratio: Roughly 60% red oxide, 20% burnt sienna, 15% gray, 5% white
• Common mistake: Adding too much black too fast. It goes muddy quickly.
• Adjustment tips: Add cadmium red for a brighter result. Add more gray for a more muted, neutral brick tone.

Oil Paint

Venetian red (PR101, iron oxide) is the closest single-pigment starting point. Mix with a touch of burnt umber to push it toward the warm-brown side, and use a trace of titanium white to open the lightness slightly.

Oil paints dry darker than they look wet. Mix a test swatch and let it cure before committing to large areas. Color shift with oils can be significant over 24 to 48 hours.

Watercolor

Use transparent iron oxide red as the base. Layer over a warm wash rather than mixing heavy pigment directly. Brick red in watercolor is better built up in glazes than mixed in one hit.

Start light. Add a second layer once dry. Dilution ratio around 1 part pigment to 3 parts water for the first wash, then reduce water for subsequent layers to deepen and mute the tone.

Gouache

Gouache is more forgiving than watercolor for this tone. Use cadmium red deep or red oxide, add a small amount of raw umber, and adjust with white. Gouache dries slightly lighter than it looks when wet, so mix to a slightly deeper tone than your target.

If you are working digitally and need to convert your values between systems, a RGB to CMYK converter will help you check print accuracy.

Print / CMYK

• Cyan: 0%
• Magenta: 68%
• Yellow: 59%
• Black: 20%
• Printing considerations: Matte coated stock will deepen the tone. Gloss stock makes it appear slightly brighter. Uncoated stock absorbs ink and the result often looks more muted than expected.
• Pantone matching: PMS 2033 C is the closest match for coated stock.

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What Are the Best Practices for Using Brick Red in Design?

Best practices for brick red include using it as a 30% mid-tone rather than a dominant background, pairing it with neutrals to avoid visual fatigue, checking contrast ratios against text, and matching HEX values precisely across print and digital to prevent color drift.

Designers should watch contrast carefully. Brick red on dark backgrounds often fails WCAG accessibility thresholds for body text. Use it for display elements, headings, or large UI components where size compensates for the reduced contrast ratio.

In web design, brick red works well for call-to-action buttons when the background is light. It reads as warmer and less aggressive than pure red, which reduces the “alarm” association some users have with bright red buttons. Still, always run it through a color contrast checker before shipping.

In print design and packaging design, brick red signals craft, warmth, and quality. Food and beverage brands use it frequently because it connects to earthy, artisanal associations. The color photographs well on kraft paper and against dark backgrounds.

One thing I always do: check the color on different screen profiles before finalizing. sRGB and Display P3 render brick red quite differently, and what looks right on one monitor can look washed out or too saturated on another. Good color theory knowledge helps, but physical proofing is still the safest bet for print work.

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What Role Does Brick Red Play in Branding and Marketing?

Brick red plays a grounding role in branding, communicating warmth, durability, and approachable confidence to consumers. Research indicates brick red reduces the urgency and aggression of pure red, making it effective for hospitality, food, and craft brands seeking a trustworthy and inviting perception.

It works particularly well for brands that want warmth without appearing overly casual. Think restaurants, artisan product lines, and heritage brands. The color carries historical weight, connecting to craft, construction, and tradition in ways that bright red simply does not.

In logo design, brick red reads well at small sizes because its medium darkness holds contrast. It is less likely to disappear on light backgrounds than terracotta and less intense than pure red. Pair it with a clean sans-serif font for a modern feel, or a serif font for a more traditional, heritage-driven identity.

Brands using earth tones in their visual identity often choose brick red as the accent that provides warmth without the loudness of orange. If you are building out a full brand system, having clear brand guidelines that specify the exact HEX, RGB, and CMYK values will prevent the color from drifting across applications.

FAQ on Brick Red Color

What Is Brick Red Color?

Brick red is a warm, earthy shade sitting between red and brown on the color wheel. It gets its tone from iron oxide pigments found in fired clay. The hex code is #CB4154, with RGB values of 203, 65, 84.

What Colors Go With Brick Red?

Brick red pairs well with cream, navy blue, warm gold, sage green, and charcoal. For contrast, teal and turquoise work well. Neutral tones like warm gray and off-white act as bridges when combining brick red with cooler accent colors.

Is Brick Red the Same as Terracotta?

No. Terracotta leans more orange and sits at a higher lightness value. Brick red is redder, slightly darker, and more saturated. They share earthy warmth, but the color difference is noticeable side by side, especially on screen or in print.

What Is the Brick Red Color Code?

The standard codes are: HEX #CB4154, RGB (203, 65, 84), CMYK (0, 68, 59, 20), and HSL (352deg, 57%, 53%). The closest Pantone match is PMS 2033 C, useful for consistent color reproduction across print and digital applications.

What Emotions Does Brick Red Evoke?

Brick red evokes warmth, comfort, resilience, and groundedness. It feels less aggressive than pure red because of its brown undertones. In color psychology, it encourages belonging and social connection, making it popular in hospitality, food, and home decor contexts.

How Do You Mix Brick Red Paint?

Start with red oxide as your base. Add burnt sienna for warmth, then introduce a small amount of mixed gray to mute the tone. Avoid adding black directly, as it muddies the result quickly. Adjust with white to reach the right lightness.

Is Brick Red a Warm or Cool Color?

Brick red is a warm color. Its hue sits at 352 degrees on the color wheel, close to red but with brown undertones that reinforce warmth. It contains zero cyan in CMYK, confirming there is no cool influence in its base composition.

Where Is Brick Red Used in Design?

Brick red appears in interior design, branding, fashion, packaging, and web design. It works as an accent wall color, a logo color for craft and food brands, and a seasonal fashion tone. It suits rustic, industrial, and mid-century modern aesthetics particularly well.

What Is the Difference Between Brick Red and Maroon?

Maroon is significantly darker and carries a purple-red undertone, with a hex value around #800000. Brick red is lighter and warmer, with a clear red-brown character. Maroon reads as formal and deep, while brick red feels more approachable and earthy in application.

Does Brick Red Work in Modern Design?

Yes. Brick red holds its own in modern design when paired with clean neutrals and minimal layouts. It works well as a call-to-action color in web UI and as an accent in contemporary interiors. The key is restraint, using it at 30% or less of the overall palette.

Conclusion

This article on brick red color has covered the full picture, from exact color codes and shade variations to pairings, psychology, and mixing techniques across different mediums.

What makes this muted warm red worth understanding is its range. It functions as a clay-toned accent in rustic interiors, a heritage signal in brand identity, and a versatile seasonal tone in fashion.

The color sits at an interesting intersection of warmth and restraint. Unlike brighter reds, its iron oxide character keeps it grounded, approachable, and easy to build around using analogous or complementary color schemes.

Whether you are working with CMYK values for print or matching hex codes for screen, brick red rewards precision. Get the balance right and it holds up across every application.

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Bogdan Sandu

Bogdan Sandu is a seasoned designer who has been designing websites since 2008.

Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.

His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.

He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.

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