Switzerland flag colors
Switzerland flew its flag for well over a century without ever defining the red. The law only fixed a value in 2017, and when it did it chose pure red: 255, 0, 0, with Pantone 485 given alongside. That makes it one of the few national flags with a hex code behind it rather than a textile reference.
Every color
| Color | Role | Hex | RGB | HSL | Pantone | CMYK | Preview |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red | primary | #FF0000 | 255, 0, 0 | 0, 100%, 50% | 485C or 485U | 0, 100, 100, 0 | Fill screen |
| White | background | #FFFFFF | 255, 255, 255 | 0, 0%, 100% | -- | 0, 0, 0, 0 | Fill screen |
Contrast pairs
Red passes AA for body text on black, at 5.3 to 1.
Of 10 ordered pairs in this palette, 6 clear 4.5 to 1 for body text and 10 clear 3 to 1 for large text. Row is the text color, column is the background.
| Text color | Red | White | White | Black |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red | 4.0Red on White, fails AA for body text | 4.0Red on White, fails AA for body text | 5.3Red on Black, passes AA for body text | |
| White | 4.0White on Red, fails AA for body text | 21.0White on Black, passes AA for body text | ||
| White | 4.0White on Red, fails AA for body text | 21.0White on Black, passes AA for body text | ||
| Black | 5.3Black on Red, passes AA for body text | 21.0Black on White, passes AA for body text | 21.0Black on White, passes AA for body text |
Other values you will see
More than one authority publishes values for Switzerland, and they do not agree. The palette above is the most widely cited set; these are the others, each with the body that publishes it.
Rendered from Pantone 485C
The 2017 definition gives both a pure red and a Pantone number, and the two do not land in the same place on screen. Printed work matching Pantone 485C reads closer to this.
- Red#DA291C485C
- White#FFFFFF
Wikipedia, retrieved 2026-07-31
Sources
- The palette above: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Switzerland