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Cadmium red is lighting up the design world. But how can we use it in our designs? Get the full lowdown on this bold, fiery hue.
Cadmium red is lighting up the design world. Blazing with a kiss of orange, this fiery hue was born in the 1920s from cadmium sulfide and a splash of selenium science. Tweak the selenium, and you get everything from deep crimson drama to bright orange heat.
For digital creatives, #E30022 is your go-to hex. Want something similar with a softer edge? Try vermilion (#E34234) — cadmium red’s slightly mellower cousin, with a bit more orange in its step.
TL;DR: Cadmium red is a warm, high-saturation red with hex code #E30022. It works as a standalone statement color or as an accent inside monochromatic, analogous, complementary, triadic, or tetradic palettes. It pairs cleanly with vivid greens, warm oranges, and cool blues, and it carries strong associations with passion, energy, and (in some cultures) good fortune.
Ready to see how we can use this bold, blazing hue in our designs? Here’s what we’ll look at:
Cadmium red is a warm, intense hue reminiscent of vivid poppy petals. The color is an excellent addition to your projects as a standalone or attention-grabbing accent. Here are five terrific cadmium red palettes to inspire your next moodboard.
A monochromatic palette creates harmony by using tints, tones, and shades of a single hue. This one demonstrates the effect of adding increasing percentages of black to cadmium red, producing progressively deeper shades.
The hex, CMYK, and RGB codes for this palette are:
| Cadmium Red | American Red | Red-Violet | Temptress | |
| Palette |  |  |  |  |
| Hex code | #E30022 | #B81F36 | #8E2F3E | #392629 |
| CMYK | 0 100 89 1 | 12 98 71 15 | 31 93 63 25 | 71 84 71 59 |
| RGB | 227 0 34 | 184 31 54 | 142 47 62 | 57 38 41 |
Analogous colors sit next to each other on the color wheel and create a harmonious and cohesive color story. This bright and fun analogous palette is made up of bright oranges, which lie next to cadmium red on the color wheel. The warm, upbeat palette is a great choice when you want to inject your project with buckets of energy and enthusiasm.
| Cadmium Red | Persimmon | Philippine Orange | Orange | |
| Palette |  |  |  |  |
| Hex code | #E30022 | #E34600 | #F67100 | #F69800 |
| CMYK | 0 100 89 1 | 0 82 100 1 | 0 66 98 0 | 0 46 98 0 |
| RGB | 227 0 34 | 227 70 0 | 246 113 0 | 246 152 0 |
Want to know more about color theory? Dive into this terrific video for beginners.
To create a complementary color scheme, pair cadmium red with the color opposite it on the color wheel, i.e., green. The two colors burst with vibrancy and offer a cohesive color scheme. In this example, cadmium red is paired with the equally intense vivid malachite, and we’ve added shades of vivid malachite to tone down the pairing. You could also add complementary shades of cadmium red if needed.
| Cadmium Red | Vivid Malachite | Forest Green | Phthalo Green | |
| Palette |  |  |  |  |
| Hex code | #E30022 | #00E32D | #258F3A | #1C3822 |
| CMYK | 0 100 89 1 | 62 0 95 0 | 78 14 98 8 | 89 59 97 54 |
| RGB | 227 0 34 | 0 227 45 | 37 143 58 | 28 56 34 |
Triadic color schemes offer more color complexity than the color schemes we’ve looked at so far. To create a triadic scheme, pick three colors equally spaced on the color wheel in a triangle shape. With a palette as vibrant as this one, add neutrals like white, gray, or black (or shades of any of your triadic colors) to add depth to your color story and offer a more nuanced palette.
| Cadmium Red | Peridot | Vivid Cerulean | Police Blue | |
| Palette |  |  |  |  |
| Hex code | #E30022 | #E3D900 | #009DE3 | #325463 |
| CMYK | 0 100 89 1 | 14 4 95 0 | 75 23 0 0 | 82 52 43 30 |
| RGB | 227 0 34 | 227 217 0 | 0 157 227 | 50 84 99 |
Tetradic color schemes are the most complex of all the color schemes offered here. Create one by using two pairs of complementary colors. Start with your primary color, in this case, cadmium red, and draw or place a square or rectangle over the color wheel. The other three corners will land on the colors that make up your tetradic color story.
This type of color scheme offers loads of contrast and vibrance. To keep your design from visually overwhelming your audience, you can include neutrals like white, gray, or black, and/or tints, tones, and shades of your triadic colors.
| Cadmium Red | Vivid Malachite | Bluebonnet | Mustard Yellow | |
| Palette |  |  |  |  |
| Hex code | #E30022 | #00E32D | #0026E3 | #E3AB00 |
| CMYK | 0 100 89 1 | 62 0 95 0 | 98 86 0 1 | 10 32 98 0 |
| RGB | 227 0 34 | 0 227 45 | 0 38 227 | 227 171 0 |
In Western culture, red is commonly associated with intense emotions like love, passion, aggression, and danger. In Chinese culture, it’s often associated with good fortune and joy. With its orange undertones, cadmium red communicates warmth, enthusiasm, and optimism.
If you want to learn more about color psychology, this video is a great place to start.
Cadmium red emerged in the early 20th century as a replacement for vermilion, a highly toxic red pigment. Its journey began with the discovery of cadmium sulfide in 1817 and the subsequent creation of cadmium yellow. Scientists then created cadmium red by heating cadmium yellow together with selenium. The result of all this experimentation was a brilliant and stable pigment.
Cadmium red is just one of the colors achievable from cadmium. In fact, cadmiums have an incredibly broad range of hues, from light to deep yellows, light and fiery oranges to deep ones, and light, bright scarlets to deep reds and maroons. Cadmium red quickly became the popular choice for artists after it was made commercially available in 1910.
Cadmium red isn’t just a color; it’s a creative mic drop. This isn’t your shy, retiring hue – we’re talking about a vibrant, saturated powerhouse that practically screams for attention. It’s the go-to for creatives who want to punch up their palette, making everything from a canvas to a brand logo utterly unforgettable. (Think: making a statement, not a suggestion.)
Red is a dominant color associated with powerful feelings, which is probably why artists are so attracted to it. When cadmium red became available in the early 1900s as an alternative to the toxic vermilion, painter Henri Matisse became an early adopter.
The pigment was also a favorite among artists as diverse as Edvard Munch, Francis Bacon, and Marc Chagall, who created the iconic The Triumph of Music for the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York.
Andy Warhol‘s Red Marilyn, which features cadmium red in the background, is just one of five silkscreen paintings of Marilyn Monroe that he created shortly after her death.
Josef Albers used cadmium red in his Homage to the Square: On an Early Sky (1964), part of a series in which he explored how color interacts and appears differently when juxtaposed within a geometric framework.
Thanks to cadmium red’s brilliant color and permanence, it continues to be a popular choice in the palette of contemporary artists like Annie Morris, who incorporated the hue in creations like Stack 3, Cadmium Red.
Cadmium red is one of those colors that never really goes out of style. Loved for its bold, passionate energy, it turns up regularly on handbags, shoes, and high fashion whenever a designer wants a look that lands.
Designers like Victoria Beckham have chosen to highlight red in their pre-fall 2025 collections.
The ready-to-wear space has also been embracing red, with Sportmax featuring it in its Spring 2025 Ready-To-Wear Collection.
It also seems to be a hit for spring, with street-style footwear brands like Nike, Vans, and Adidas making a statement with bright, powerful red designs.
It stands to reason that many contemporary brands are attracted to red’s bold and eye-catching nature. Netflix uses its brand signature color in the wordmark that spells out “Netflix” in a stylized font.
H&M is another brand that opted for both a stylized wordmark and red as its brand signature color.
With its simple white triangle within a rounded bright red rectangle, YouTube is one of the most ubiquitous and recognizable brands today.
A: Cadmium red is a bold, vibrant red pigment created in the early 20th century. It replaced vermilion because it is lightfast and has a much lower toxicity than vermilion.
A. Cadmium red pigments are created in a lab by heating cadmium sulfide and selenium. To recreate cadmium red digitally, you just need the hex code: #E30022.
A: Cadmium red paint used by painters is a pigment derived from cadmium sulfide, so yes, it contains cadmium.
A: Cadmium red light is a warm color.
A: Cadmium red is a warm color.
A: Cadmium red medium is a warm color.
A: Cadmium is a heavy metal and is toxic. However, the level of soluble cadmium in the paints is so low that they pose no greater risk to users than other pigment types.
A: Cadmium red is a bold, bright, and warm red pigment.
A: For painters, pyrrole red is a good substitute for cadmium red. For digital artists, there are many alternatives. Vermilion (hex code #E34234) is a great choice, although vermilion has more of an orange undertone and is a slightly less intense hue.
If you want a statement color to incorporate into your projects, you can’t go wrong with cadmium red. Learn how to incorporate it into your logo design and branding palettes, or why not discover some of the latest color trends?
For more inspiration, check out this collection of cadmium red creative assets available at Envato. Or explore more color articles, like our posts on summer color palette inspiration and the popularity of dark cherry red.
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