Coral color

Coral, salmon and peach side by side

All three are light, warm, pink-orange colours, and shops use the names loosely. The numbers make the order clear: salmon is the pinkest, coral is in the middle, and peach is the most orange and the palest.

One oddity: CSS lightcoral is not a lighter coral at all. It is a pinker colour at hue 0°, closer to salmon than to coral. If you need a paler coral, raise the lightness of #FF7F50 instead; the strip under the swatch shows how. There is more on the palest of the group on the peach page.

Text on coral

Coral is bright enough that white text fails (2.50:1). Black manages 8.40:1. A deep navy or charcoal is often nicer than pure black against such a warm colour and still passes comfortably.

What goes with coral

Coral's natural partners are blue-greens, its rough opposite on the wheel: teal and turquoise give a tropical, summery feel. Navy makes coral look grown-up and nautical. Pantone named “Living Coral” its Color of the Year for 2019, so a lot of late-2010s branding uses exactly these combinations.

One warning for text: coral and teal have similar lightness, so coral lettering on a teal background is hard to read even though the colours contrast in hue.

Questions