Airbnb Rausch Coral

Why this color matters

Airbnb's coral is not just “travel-app pink.” In the 2014 Bélo rebrand it became Rausch, a bespoke colour named for the San Francisco street where Airbnb was founded. DesignStudio's brief was unusually precise: keep red's passion, lose pure red's aggression. The result sits so close to red that memory often pushes it into the wrong colour family.

A street hidden in the swatch

Airbnb unveiled the identity with DesignStudio on 16 July 2014. Rausch honours Rausch Street, carrying a piece of the company's own geography into every screen and sign. It was not named after a sunset, destination or tropical fruit.

Passion, but without the aggression of pure red.

DesignStudio

Four ideas in one line

The looped Bélo was designed so anyone could draw it. Airbnb explained it as four forms folding together: a head for people, a location pin for places, a heart for love and an A for Airbnb. The launch even included Create Airbnb, a tool that let community members remix the mark's colour and texture.

The exact coral

The target is #FF5A5F, RGB 255/90/95 and HSB(358°, 65%, 100%). Brightness is maximal but saturation is only 65%, giving the red its softened coral body. Blue is five channel points higher than green, so the hue leans slightly toward magenta, not orange. Players who hear “coral” often warm it in the wrong direction.

The logo you see now is not this swatch

Airbnb's current homepage renders the Bélo at #FF385C, while this card preserves the 2014 Rausch target #FF5A5F. Current exposure creates a real memory trap: the eye learns the newer mark, then the brain files both versions under one brand. The comparison strip separates both Airbnb eras from the Coca-Cola and YouTube sibling cards.