About this combination
Usubeni is a light, slightly washed-out crimson — the pink of cherry petals after two days on the branch. Cha-iro is the brown of roasted tea leaves. Together they are the color scheme of wagashi: delicate, warm, appetite-inviting.
Where it works
- Confectionery and dessert packaging
- Feminine lifestyle brands
- Cafe and tea room identities
Historical context
This editorial combination anchors Usubeni, Cha and Kinari in the pink family — a 3-colour grouping with a warm, playful, refined character. It is an original composition by the editors of colorcombinations.org, built with Wada's method from traditional Japanese shikisai colour names associated with the Edo era; it is not one of the 348 plates in Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations. Its strongest pairing — Cha on Kinari — reaches a contrast ratio of 6.28:1, meeting the WCAG AA bar for body text, so it holds up for text-on-colour layouts as well as decorative use.
Studio
Taking Light Pink & Tea off the screen
A hex code is an instruction to a screen, not a colour. Where this palette is going decides what it needs next.
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...onto paper
Start here if the palette gets printed. Screen colour and ink colour are not the same colour, and this is the deck that translates between them.
Listed on Amazon as Pantone GP6102B Color Bridge Guide Set Coated & Uncoated, Multi-Colour
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...onto a screen you can trust
Start here if it stays digital. An uncalibrated monitor is the single most common reason a palette that looked right on your desk looks wrong everywhere else.
Calibrite
ColorChecker Studio spectrophotometer
Listed on Amazon as Calibrite ColorChecker Studio Spectrophotometer for Complete Color Management for Display, Projector, Printer and Scanner Profiling
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...by hand
Start here if you are mixing it. Wada's plates were flat printed colour; gansai pans are the closest everyday medium to them.
Kuretake
Gansai Tambi 36
Listed on Amazon as Kuretake GANSAI TAMBI Watercolor Paint Set 36 Colors
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