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yellow · warm

#685f49

a dark, soft yellow · warm · closest name: Dim Gray

Token name suggestion: Shadow Brass

RGB
104, 95, 73
HSL
43°, 18%, 35%
CMYK
0, 9, 30, 59
Luminance
0.1161

#685f49 is a dark soft yellow, 43° on the wheel and 30/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (6.32:1). As text it scores 6.32:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dim Gray, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(43 18% 35%)rgb(104 95 73)Base step 800AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #685f49 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#685f49
Hue
43°
yellow
Saturation
18%
soft
Lightness
35%
dark
Brightness
41%
HSV value
Perceived
37%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1161
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
30/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
6.32:1
Closest name
Dim Gray
ΔE2000 11.2
Chroma
13.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.488
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 10.7
Web-safe
#666633
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue43° of 360°
Saturation18%
Lightness35%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #685f49.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool30% 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
Red25%
Green71%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#685f49
HEX (8-digit)#685f49ff
RGBrgb(104, 95, 73)
RGBArgba(104, 95, 73, 1)
HSLhsl(43, 18%, 35%)
HSV / HSBhsv(43, 30%, 41%)
HWBhwb(43 29% 59%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 9%, 30%, 59%)
LABlab(40.6 -0.2 13.9)
LCHlch(40.6 13.9 90.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.488 0.035 88.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(11.00, 11.61, 7.96)
Decimal6840137
Display P3color(display-p3 0.408 0.373 0.286)
Web-safe#666633

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #685f49;
background-color: #685f49;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #685f49;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#685f49] bg-[#685f49]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #685f49;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.408, green: 0.373, blue: 0.286)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.408, green: 0.373, blue: 0.286, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#685F49</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF685F49)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF685F49)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(73, 95, 104)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(104, 95, 73)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(104, 95, 73)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 104, 95, 73)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4078f, 0.3725f, 0.2863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{104,95,73}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #685f49 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #685f49 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4B4435, #E6E3DB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #685f49 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: #F8F8F6;
  --brand-100: #F2F1EE;
  --brand-200: #E3E0D9;
  --brand-300: #D1CBBD;
  --brand-400: #BAB19C;
  --brand-500: #A2977B;
  --brand-600: #908365;
  --brand-700: #786D54;
  --brand-800: #685f49;
  --brand-900: #474133;
  --brand-950: #2C2920;
  --brand: #685f49;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F9F8F6;
  --brand-border: #DDD9CF;
  --brand-hover: #534C3A;
  --brand-pressed: #3E392C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #211E17;
    --brand-ink: #E6E3DB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F8F6',
        100: '#F2F1EE',
        200: '#E3E0D9',
        300: '#D1CBBD',
        400: '#BAB19C',
        500: '#A2977B',
        600: '#908365',
        700: '#786D54',
        800: '#685f49',
        900: '#474133',
        950: '#2C2920',
        DEFAULT: '#685f49',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F8F6,
  '100': #F2F1EE,
  '200': #E3E0D9,
  '300': #D1CBBD,
  '400': #BAB19C,
  '500': #A2977B,
  '600': #908365,
  '700': #786D54,
  '800': #685f49,
  '900': #474133,
  '950': #2C2920,
);
$brand-base: #685f49;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F8F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F2F1EE", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E3E0D9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D1CBBD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BAB19C", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A2977B", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#908365", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#786D54", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#685f49", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#474133", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2C2920", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #685f49 · 6.32:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 6.32:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.32:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #685f49 as text scores 6.32:1 on white and 3.32:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F4F3F0 at 5.70:1.

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
#685f49 · 6.32:1
AA on whitealready passes
#685f49
The quick fox
#5F5743 · 7.17:1
AAA on white−3% L
#5F5743
The quick fox
#80755A · 4.61:1
AA on black+8% L
#80755A
The quick fox
#A09477 · 7.00:1
AAA on black+20% L
#A09477

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #685F49 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
#685f49 on white: 6.32:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#685f49 on black: 3.32:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #685f49 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #685f49.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White6.32:1AaAa
Slate 506.04:1AaAa
Slate 1005.77:1AaAa
Slate 2005.13:1AaAa
Slate 3004.26:1AaAa
Slate 4002.47:1AaAa
Slate 5001.33:1AaAa
Slate 6001.20:1AaAa
Slate 7001.64:1AaAa
Slate 8002.31:1AaAa
Slate 9002.82:1AaAa
Black3.32:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #645E48
deuteranopia · #66614A
tritanopia · #6D5B59

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. #685f49 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.

#F8F8F6
#F2F1EE
#E3E0D9
#D1CBBD
#BAB19C
#A2977B
#908365
#786D54
#685f49
#474133
#2C2920
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #F8F8F6Darkest = 950 · #2C2920Text 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 0.009 88.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.014 88.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.021 88.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.028 88.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.032 88.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.035 88.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.035 88.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.033 88.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.030 88.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.025 88.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.019 88.4);
}

Colors that work with #685f49

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#F9F8F6
Tinted page background
Border#DDD9CF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#877B5F
Captions on the surface
Accent#455A6C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4B4435
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F3F0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#211E17
Dark-mode background
Hover#534C3A
One step down in lightness
Pressed#3E392C
Two steps down
Disabled#A4997D
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#7E6E48
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 #685f49

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
  • Black text placed on it
  • Thin strokes and 1px borders — they disappear on light UI
  • 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.

optimisticalertcheap-and-cheerfulvisible

The most visible hue at low light levels, which is why it owns warnings, hazard tape and value retail.

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

Almost never passes contrast against white. Treat it as a surface or a marker, not as text.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight65/100
  • 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#495268
Analogous left#685049
Analogous right#616849
Split-complement 1#496168
Split-complement 2#504968
Triadic 1#49685F
Triadic 2#5F4968
Tetradic#496850
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°43°

#685f49 sits at 43°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red40.8%
Green37.3%
Blue28.6%
R · 0–255
104
0x68
G · 0–255
95
0x5f
B · 0–255
73
0x49

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta8.7%
Yellow29.8%
Key (black)59.2%

Total ink coverage is 98%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#685f49 text on a black background

contrast 3.32:1

Card sample

#685f49 text on a white background

contrast 6.32:1

Card sample

#685f49 on grey

5.77:1

#685f49 on its own surface

5.96:1

#685f49 on its dark surface

2.63:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #685f49;
Background color
Panel with #685f49 background
background-color: #685f49;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #685f49;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(104, 95, 73, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(104, 95, 73, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #685f49;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #685f49, #5C6849);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #685f49, #556849);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #685f49;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #685f49;
caret-color: #685f49;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #685f49;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F3F0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #685f49;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#685f49 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #685f49 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, 95, 73, 0.5)
rgb(104 95 73 / 50%)
#685f4980
hsl(43 18% 35% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #685f49 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#685f491a#F0EFED
20%#685f4933#E1DFDB
40%#685f4966#C3BFB6
60%#685f4999#A49F92
80%#685f49cc#867F6D

Gradients from #685f49

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, #8C8062, #685f49 45%, #4B4435);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #685f49, #4A563C);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #685f49, #495268);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #9B8F71 0%, #685f49 45%, #4B4435 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F8F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #86635E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #6F7A56 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4B4435 0%, transparent 65%), #685f49;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #685f49

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.

#685f49 in the real world

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

Industries
RetailLeisureEnergyWarning systems
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 3.32:1 — lift it to #80755A 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.

#685f49, answered

What color is #685f49?

#685f49 is a dark soft yellow, closest to Dim Gray (ΔE2000 11.2). It sits at 43° on the hue wheel with 18% saturation and 35% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #685f49?

rgb(104, 95, 73) — 104 red, 95 green and 73 blue out of 255, or 40.8% / 37.3% / 28.6% by channel.

What is #685f49 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(43, 18%, 35%) and hsv(43, 30%, 41%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #685f49 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1161 and perceived brightness is 37%, so white text on it reaches 6.32:1.

Should I use black or white text on #685f49?

White. It scores 6.32:1 against #685f49, versus 3.32:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #685f49 accessible on a white background?

#685f49 on white scores 6.32:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #685f49?

#495268 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #496168 and #504968, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #685f49?

For interface work: #F9F8F6 as the surface, #DDD9CF for borders, #877B5F for secondary text, #455A6C as an accent and #4B4435 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #685049 and #616849 stays calm, while #495268 is the loudest partner.

What is #685f49 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 9%, 30%, 59%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #685f49 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 30 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #685749; nudged cooler, #676A47.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #685f49?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 10.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #685f49 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #685f49 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#685f49] or text-[#685f49], 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 #685f49 with 50% opacity?

rgba(104, 95, 73, 0.5), or #685f4980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B4AFA4; over black, #343025.

Is #685f49 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #666633, ΔE2000 9.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #685f49 mean?

As a yellow, it reads optimistic, alert, cheap-and-cheerful. The most visible hue at low light levels, which is why it owns warnings, hazard tape and value retail. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #685f49?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #8C8062, #685f49 45%, #4B4435). For more colour, a short hue run to #4A563C keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #685f49 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #685f49 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.