Home Color Guides What Colors Make Maroon

What Colors Make Maroon

Maroon is red that has been darkened and slightly muddied — officially a brown-red, which is why the simplest recipe is red plus brown. There are three useful routes depending on which flavor of maroon you want: brick, true maroon, or the purple-leaning burgundy side. All three computed below.

deep maroon #ad1a19

Try the blend yourself

Ratio 1 : 1 · 50 / 50

#d12220

HEX: #d12220
RGB: rgb(209, 34, 32)
HSL: hsl(1, 73%, 47%)
CMYK: cmyk(0%, 84%, 85%, 18%)

Blend path between your colors

color-mix(in oklab, #ff0000 50%, #a52a2a)

What maroon actually is

On paper maroon is dark brownish red — think brick, oxblood, the color of a university hoodie. It sits between red and brown on the shade axis, which is why darkening red with its own family (brown, or a touch of black) is the cleanest route. Pull it toward purple instead and you slide into burgundy, maroon's cooler cousin.

The three routes below differ in exactly that bias. Pick by destination: brick and rust for the brown side, the deep route for hoodie maroon, the purple route for wine tones.

Three routes, computed

Every result below is computed in a perceptual color space: the swatch is the blend your eye sees, with the HEX code next to it. Click any code to copy it.

Red + brown (the direct route)

Equal parts land on brick — the bright, rusty end of maroon.

red brown Crimson

Because brown is dark orange, this is red warmed and deepened in one move. Equal parts give brick; this is the starting ratio for every other maroon on this page.

Red + brown + black (the deep route)

A whisper of black takes brick down to true hoodie maroon.

red brown black Firebrick

The computed landing spot is the maroon people mean when they say maroon — deep, slightly brown, unmistakably red family. Add the black last, in tiny passes.

Red + purple (the burgundy route)

The same darkness reached from the purple side — wine territory.

red purple Medium Violet Red

This is the one to use when the brief says burgundy or oxblood rather than maroon: equal parts read as a rich berry-maroon with a cool cast. Technically a different color; practically the same search.

Practical tips

Maroon vs. burgundy in one line. Maroon is red darkened by brown (warm); burgundy is red darkened by purple (cool). Same depth, different bias — pick your route above accordingly.
Fixing a maroon that went too dark. Walk it back with red, never with white — white pinks it out and kills the identity. If it went muddy instead, a small amount of red-orange revives the warmth.
Maroon frosting starts from chocolate. For icing and buttercream, start from a chocolate base and dose red gel — building maroon from white frosting costs drops and patience. The buttercream chart covers the base.

Frequently asked questions

What colors make maroon?

Red and brown in equal parts give brick maroon; add a small amount of black to deepen it to classic maroon. For the purple-leaning burgundy version, mix red with purple instead. All three computed above.

What is the difference between maroon and burgundy?

Both are dark reds. Maroon leans brown (warm, brick-like) and burgundy leans purple (cool, wine-like) — so maroon comes from red plus brown, burgundy from red plus purple. The routes above show both landings.

What colors make dark red?

Dark red is the same family one step lighter than maroon: red plus a touch of brown or black, kept red-dominant. Roughly two parts red to one part brown reads as dark red before it becomes maroon.

What colors make maroon paint?

In acrylic or oil, the red-brown route is most controllable: cadmium red plus burnt umber, deepened with a touch of black if needed. The red-purple route maps to quinacridone red plus dioxazine violet for the burgundy side.