Sanzo Wada Combination No. 117: Hex Codes & Room Preview

Combination No. 117 in use

The palette applied to simple layouts. Colors are assigned to roles automatically; try other arrangements.

Color study

A dictionary of color

Background, surface, text and accent, taken from one of Wada’s combinations.

ExploreLearn more

Combination No. 117 as a living room

Painted following the 60-30-10 rule: about 60% wall color, 30% for the sofa, 10% for cushions, throw and vase. A fourth color goes to the rug and curtains; otherwise they stay undyed. Floor and ceiling stay neutral; the print shows the whole palette.

Readable text pairs

Harmony in contrastBlack · 3.3:1

Harmony in contrastCarmine · 3.3:1

Analysis

Character

Dark & moderate

Lightness 36 (range 18–54)
Colorfulness 0.107

Average OKLCH lightness (0–100) and chroma (colorfulness).

Harmony

Accented neutral

Neutral colors with a single colored accent.

A heuristic based on the painter’s color wheel. Wada’s combinations often ignore textbook rules, which is part of their appeal.

Temperature

Warm

CarmineWarm
BlackNeutral

Reds, oranges and yellows count as warm; greens, blues and violets as cool.

Distinctness

ΔE 40

Closest pair ΔE 39.6 · average ΔE 39.6

CIEDE2000 color difference. Below about 10 colors look related; above 30 they are clearly distinct.

Contrast

AaBest text pair: Black on Carmine (3.3:1)

Contrast	WCAG	APCA Lc
AaAaCarmine · Black	3.3:1AA large	25 / 27

WCAG 2 contrast ratio for text, and APCA lightness contrast (Lc) for each text/background direction.

Similar combinations

The closest palettes in perceptual color space (OKLab).

Export

Copy the palette as code or download it as an image.

/* Sanzo Wada, combination No. 117 */
:root {
  --carmine: #cc1236; /* Carmine */
  --black: #111314; /* Black */
}

/* Tailwind CSS v4 – Sanzo Wada, combination No. 117 */
@theme {
  --color-carmine: #cc1236;
  --color-black: #111314;
}

{
  "id": 117,
  "source": "Sanzo Wada, A Dictionary of Color Combinations",
  "colors": [
    {
      "name": "Carmine",
      "hex": "#cc1236",
      "rgb": [
        204,
        18,
        54
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        0,
        100,
        75,
        16
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Black",
      "hex": "#111314",
      "rgb": [
        17,
        19,
        20
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        20,
        10,
        15,
        100
      ]
    }
  ]
}

No. 117

Carmine

Black

Combination No. 117 in use

Combination No. 117 as a living room

Readable text pairs

Analysis

Character

Harmony

Temperature

Distinctness

Contrast

Similar combinations

Export

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