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orange · warm

#68503c

a dark, soft orange · warm · closest name: Saddle Brown

Token name suggestion: Dusk Apricot

RGB
104, 80, 60
HSL
27°, 27%, 32%
CMYK
0, 23, 42, 59
Luminance
0.0901

#68503c is a dark soft orange, 27° on the wheel and 13/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (7.50:1). As text it scores 7.50:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Saddle Brown, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(27 27% 32%)rgb(104 80 60)Base step 800AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #68503c is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#68503c
Hue
27°
orange
Saturation
27%
soft
Lightness
32%
dark
Brightness
41%
HSV value
Perceived
34%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0901
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
13/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
7.50:1
Closest name
Saddle Brown
ΔE2000 13.3
Chroma
17.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.451
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 14.4
Web-safe
#666633
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue27° of 360°
Saturation27%
Lightness32%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #68503c.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool13% cool

Reads warm. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red33%
Green64%
Blue4%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#68503c
HEX (8-digit)#68503cff
RGBrgb(104, 80, 60)
RGBArgba(104, 80, 60, 1)
HSLhsl(27, 27%, 32%)
HSV / HSBhsv(27, 42%, 41%)
HWBhwb(27 24% 59%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 23%, 42%, 59%)
LABlab(36.0 7.0 15.6)
LCHlch(36.0 17.1 65.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.451 0.045 61.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(9.39, 9.01, 5.52)
Decimal6836284
Display P3color(display-p3 0.408 0.314 0.235)
Web-safe#666633

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #68503c;
background-color: #68503c;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #68503c;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#68503c] bg-[#68503c]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #68503c;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.408, green: 0.314, blue: 0.235)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.408, green: 0.314, blue: 0.235, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#68503C</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF68503C)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF68503C)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(60, 80, 104)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(104, 80, 60)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(104, 80, 60)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 104, 80, 60)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4078f, 0.3137f, 0.2353f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{104,80,60}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #68503c 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #68503c 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#513E2F, #E9E0D8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #68503c h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F9F7F6;
  --brand-100: #F3EFED;
  --brand-200: #E6DDD6;
  --brand-300: #D6C6B8;
  --brand-400: #C1A994;
  --brand-500: #AD8C71;
  --brand-600: #9B775A;
  --brand-700: #81644B;
  --brand-800: #68503c;
  --brand-900: #4C3C2E;
  --brand-950: #30251D;
  --brand: #68503c;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F9F7F5;
  --brand-border: #E1D5CB;
  --brand-hover: #513F2F;
  --brand-pressed: #3B2D22;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241B15;
    --brand-ink: #E9E0D8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F7F6',
        100: '#F3EFED',
        200: '#E6DDD6',
        300: '#D6C6B8',
        400: '#C1A994',
        500: '#AD8C71',
        600: '#9B775A',
        700: '#81644B',
        800: '#68503c',
        900: '#4C3C2E',
        950: '#30251D',
        DEFAULT: '#68503c',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F7F6,
  '100': #F3EFED,
  '200': #E6DDD6,
  '300': #D6C6B8,
  '400': #C1A994,
  '500': #AD8C71,
  '600': #9B775A,
  '700': #81644B,
  '800': #68503c,
  '900': #4C3C2E,
  '950': #30251D,
);
$brand-base: #68503c;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F7F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3EFED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6DDD6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D6C6B8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C1A994", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AD8C71", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9B775A", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#81644B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#68503c", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4C3C2E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#30251D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#ffffff", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#ffffff on #68503c · 7.50:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 7.50:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.80:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #68503c as text scores 7.50:1 on white and 2.80:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F6F2EF at 6.73:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#68503c · 7.50:1
AA on whitealready passes
#68503c
The quick fox
#68503c · 7.50:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#68503c
The quick fox
#8F6E53 · 4.52:1
AA on black+12% L
#8F6E53
The quick fox
#AF8F75 · 7.01:1
AAA on black+25% L
#AF8F75

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #68503C is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#68503c on white: 7.50:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#68503c on black: 2.80:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #68503c as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #68503c.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White7.50:1AaAa
Slate 507.16:1AaAa
Slate 1006.84:1AaAa
Slate 2006.08:1AaAa
Slate 3005.05:1AaAa
Slate 4002.92:1AaAa
Slate 5001.58:1AaAa
Slate 6001.01:1AaAa
Slate 7001.38:1AaAa
Slate 8001.95:1AaAa
Slate 9002.38:1AaAa
Black2.80:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #57523B
deuteranopia · #5D573C
tritanopia · #6F4B4B

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #68503c is pinned to step 800; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F7F6
#F3EFED
#E6DDD6
#D6C6B8
#C1A994
#AD8C71
#9B775A
#81644B
#68503c
#4C3C2E
#30251D
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #F9F7F6Darkest = 950 · #30251DText step on white = 700
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.011 61.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.018 61.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.027 61.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.035 61.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.041 61.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.045 61.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.045 61.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.042 61.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.037 61.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.031 61.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.025 61.1);
}

Colors that work with #68503c

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#ffffff
White wins here
Surface#F9F7F5
Tinted page background
Border#E1D5CB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#927054
Captions on the surface
Accent#39616B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#513E2F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6F2EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241B15
Dark-mode background
Hover#513F2F
One step down in lightness
Pressed#3B2D22
Two steps down
Disabled#A48871
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#7E593A
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #68503c

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • Black text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Any size
Safe as a fill behind white type
Yes
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

friendlyenergeticaffordablesocial

Orange is red with the aggression taken out — approachable, active, and strongly associated with buying and doing.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

Hard to make feel premium, and it collides with the "caution" band in status systems.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight68/100
  • TemperatureWarm
  • ApproachabilityHigh

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#3C5468
Analogous left#683C3E
Analogous right#68663C
Split-complement 1#3C6866
Split-complement 2#3C3E68
Triadic 1#3C6850
Triadic 2#503C68
Tetradic#3E683C
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°27°

#68503c sits at 27°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red40.8%
Green31.4%
Blue23.5%
R · 0–255
104
0x68
G · 0–255
80
0x50
B · 0–255
60
0x3c

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta23.1%
Yellow42.3%
Key (black)59.2%

Total ink coverage is 125%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#68503c text on a black background

contrast 2.80:1

Card sample

#68503c text on a white background

contrast 7.50:1

Card sample

#68503c on grey

6.84:1

#68503c on its own surface

7.01:1

#68503c on its dark surface

2.25:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #68503c;
Background color
Panel with #68503c background
background-color: #68503c;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #68503c;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(104, 80, 60, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(104, 80, 60, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #68503c;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #68503c, #63683C);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #68503c, #58683C);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #68503c;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #68503c;
caret-color: #68503c;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #68503c;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6F2EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #68503c;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#68503c 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #68503c over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(104, 80, 60, 0.5)
rgb(104 80 60 / 50%)
#68503c80
hsl(27 27% 32% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #68503c 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#68503c1a#F0EEEC
20%#68503c33#E1DCD8
40%#68503c66#C3B9B1
60%#68503c99#A4968A
80%#68503ccc#867363

Gradients from #68503c

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #8F6E53, #68503c 45%, #513E2F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #68503c, #4D5531);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #68503c, #3C5468);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #A27D5E 0%, #68503c 45%, #513E2F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F7F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #884F56 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #7A7C47 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #513E2F 0%, transparent 65%), #68503c;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #68503c

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#68503c in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
E-commerceFood deliveryLogisticsCreator tools
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Too dim on dark surfaces at 2.80:1 — lift it to #8F6E53 for body text, or reserve it for fills.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#68503c, answered

What color is #68503c?

#68503c is a dark soft orange, closest to Saddle Brown (ΔE2000 13.3). It sits at 27° on the hue wheel with 27% saturation and 32% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #68503c?

rgb(104, 80, 60) — 104 red, 80 green and 60 blue out of 255, or 40.8% / 31.4% / 23.5% by channel.

What is #68503c in HSL and HSV?

hsl(27, 27%, 32%) and hsv(27, 42%, 41%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #68503c a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0901 and perceived brightness is 34%, so white text on it reaches 7.50:1.

Should I use black or white text on #68503c?

White. It scores 7.50:1 against #68503c, versus 2.80:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #68503c accessible on a white background?

#68503c on white scores 7.50:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #68503c?

#3C5468 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #3C6866 and #3C3E68, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #68503c?

For interface work: #F9F7F5 as the surface, #E1D5CB for borders, #927054 for secondary text, #39616B as an accent and #513E2F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #683C3E and #68663C stays calm, while #3C5468 is the loudest partner.

What is #68503c in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 23%, 42%, 59%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #68503c warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 13 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #785B45; nudged cooler, #6A3F3A.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #68503c?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 14.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #68503c as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #68503c in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#68503c] or text-[#68503c], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #68503c with 50% opacity?

rgba(104, 80, 60, 0.5), or #68503c80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B4A89E; over black, #34281E.

Is #68503c a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #666633, ΔE2000 17.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #68503c mean?

As a orange, it reads friendly, energetic, affordable. Orange is red with the aggression taken out — approachable, active, and strongly associated with buying and doing. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #68503c?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #8F6E53, #68503c 45%, #513E2F). For more colour, a short hue run to #4D5531 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #68503c in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #68503c at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.