Get inspired with maroon design templates.
The color maroon brings enough confidence to go around.
Inspiration in the color maroon.
Learn the history and meaning of the color maroon, the dusky but intense dark red.
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How to use the color maroon.
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Maroon is versatile.
There’s a reason why maroon is so common in restaurant logos, home interiors, and official government documents. In fact, there are two. First, maroon shares a quality with other shades of red: it inspires appetite and elevates the heart rate. Second, the color maroon is considered a “sensible color” that has universal respect across industries, cultures, and eras.
Learn the psychology of maroon.
Picture a seductive maroon lipstick. Or imagine a maroon tie tucked beneath the buttons of an official’s fitted suit jacket. Maroon gives off so much confidence that it inspires instant emotional reactions. Try maroon in any project where you want to inspire passion or give an official vibe.
Burgundy versus maroon.
The color maroon is often compared to burgundy. They are similar shades, but their undertones are different. Burgundy is a mix of red and purple, similar to the British definition of maroon. Maroon color is a blend of red and brown instead. This makes burgundy a slightly brighter tone. Maroon color takes on a more natural tint.
Combine maroon with other colors.
Maroon can be combined with other colors for different effects. Pair the color maroon with soft pinks, beige, or a pale brown to further soften its intensity. Enhance maroon’s power by combining it with yellow-golds or white. Combine maroon with its complementary opposite, teal, for a more modern look.
Information about maroon color.
The maroon HEX code picker is #800000. Maroon is a deep and intriguing shade of red that takes the edge off its intensity.
The color maroon can be achieved in a RGB space with 128 red, 0 green, and 0 blue. Maroon color can be achieved in a CMYK color space with 29% cyan, 100% magenta, 100% yellow, and 38% black.
What is the meaning of the color maroon?
Maroon is a dark red with an undercurrent of brown. The color maroon is dusky, but still flashes red hues and inspires much of what red invites. Maroon stirs passion and appetite. The color maroon is also tied to professionalism and officialism. Maroon can show love on Valentine’s Day or it can crunch under your feet when the final autumn leaves fall.
The color maroon is duskier than burgundy and more mysterious than red. Maroon denotes intensity, passion, strength, and warmth.
The history of the color maroon.
Maroon comes from French, but before that it meant “brown” in Italian.
The word maroon was first used in English in the late 18th century. The word was borrowed from marron in French, which means chestnut. It seemed like a fitting word to describe the rich red with brown undertones. However, marron in French came from marrone in Italian. In both languages, the word means chestnut, but it’s also the word for the color brown. Maroon has always been a deep shade of red in English, making it a “false friend” for French and Italian speakers learning English.
Maroon first meant something completely different in English.
The word maroon has another deviant path in English. The verb maroon refers to deserting fugitives on an island with no escape. As far back as 1500, maroon also described someone wild or unruly. This use came from an earlier definition of a maroon as a domestic animal that escaped into the woods. A maroon could also be an escaped slave. Both definitions came from colonial-era cimarrón in Spanish, meaning “dwelling on a peak.” No shade of browns or reds inspired these meanings.
Maroon as a color in English was adopted in the 1800s but not used regularly until even later.
Before the 19th century, the color maroon was not commonly used. When maroon was finally differentiated from burgundy, it clearly filled a void. It grew in popularity after that. By 1949, maroon was adopted as a Crayola color and placed between brown and rose. The prevailing association with the color maroon today is credited to the popular band Maroon 5.
The color maroon across different cultures.
Maroon has been defined—and redefined—on two sides of the Atlantic.
The Cambridge English Dictionary defines maroon as a dark reddish-purple color. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines maroon color as a dark red. Other American English dictionaries favor dark brownish-red in their descriptions. This slight contrast highlights a different perception of maroon between English speakers. In Europe, maroon favors its purple influence. In the United States, it favors its brown undertones.
Maroon color in religion.
Maroon color is the dye of choice for Vajrayana Buddhist monks, including the Dalai Lama. Maroon robes are characteristic of their spirituality. The color maroon stirs feelings of wisdom, control, and responsibility. In Christianity, maroon is paired with golden yellow by Filipino Catholics as a statement of devotion to the Black Nazarene during a popular procession on January 9th.
Maroon is used around the world as a statement of officialism.
Maroon and white are the official colors on the flag of Qatar. The flag of Latvia features maroon and white, too. Sri Lanka pairs maroon with gold, teal, and orange. Maroon is also the color of the berets worn by airborne forces in many countries. Since air forces became a staple of military might in the 1940s, maroon has been a standard for distinguishing these airborne servicepeople.