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red · warm

#784a3b

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

Token name suggestion: Slate Rust

RGB
120, 74, 59
HSL
15°, 34%, 35%
CMYK
0, 38, 51, 53
Luminance
0.0921

#784a3b is a dark soft red, 15° on the wheel and 10/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (7.39:1). As text it scores 7.39:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Saddle Brown, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(15 34% 35%)rgb(120 74 59)Base step 800AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #784a3b is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#784a3b
Hue
15°
red
Saturation
34%
soft
Lightness
35%
dark
Brightness
47%
HSV value
Perceived
35%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0921
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
10/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
7.39:1
Closest name
Saddle Brown
ΔE2000 10.9
Chroma
24.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.458
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 18.5
Web-safe
#663333
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue15° of 360°
Saturation34%
Lightness35%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #784a3b.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool10% 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
Red43%
Green53%
Blue3%

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

Every format

HEX#784a3b
HEX (8-digit)#784a3bff
RGBrgb(120, 74, 59)
RGBArgba(120, 74, 59, 1)
HSLhsl(15, 34%, 35%)
HSV / HSBhsv(15, 51%, 47%)
HWBhwb(15 23% 53%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 38%, 51%, 53%)
LABlab(36.4 17.8 17.1)
LCHlch(36.4 24.7 43.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.458 0.068 38.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(10.98, 9.21, 5.34)
Decimal7883323
Display P3color(display-p3 0.471 0.290 0.231)
Web-safe#663333

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #784a3b;
background-color: #784a3b;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #784a3b;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#784a3b] bg-[#784a3b]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #784a3b;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.471, green: 0.290, blue: 0.231)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.471, green: 0.290, blue: 0.231, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#784A3B</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF784A3B)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF784A3B)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(59, 74, 120)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(120, 74, 59)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(120, 74, 59)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 120, 74, 59)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4706f, 0.2902f, 0.2314f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{120,74,59}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #784a3b 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #784a3b 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#55352A, #EBDBD6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #784a3b 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: #F9F6F5;
  --brand-100: #F4EEEC;
  --brand-200: #E8D9D4;
  --brand-300: #DABDB4;
  --brand-400: #C89C8E;
  --brand-500: #B57B69;
  --brand-600: #A46551;
  --brand-700: #895443;
  --brand-800: #784a3b;
  --brand-900: #50332A;
  --brand-950: #32201A;
  --brand: #784a3b;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F5;
  --brand-border: #E4CFC8;
  --brand-hover: #603B2F;
  --brand-pressed: #482D23;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241814;
    --brand-ink: #EBDBD6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F6F5',
        100: '#F4EEEC',
        200: '#E8D9D4',
        300: '#DABDB4',
        400: '#C89C8E',
        500: '#B57B69',
        600: '#A46551',
        700: '#895443',
        800: '#784a3b',
        900: '#50332A',
        950: '#32201A',
        DEFAULT: '#784a3b',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F6F5,
  '100': #F4EEEC,
  '200': #E8D9D4,
  '300': #DABDB4,
  '400': #C89C8E,
  '500': #B57B69,
  '600': #A46551,
  '700': #895443,
  '800': #784a3b,
  '900': #50332A,
  '950': #32201A,
);
$brand-base: #784a3b;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F6F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4EEEC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E8D9D4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DABDB4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C89C8E", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#B57B69", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A46551", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#895443", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#784a3b", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#50332A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#32201A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #784a3b · 7.39:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 7.39:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.84:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #784a3b as text scores 7.39:1 on white and 2.84:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F7F0EE at 6.57:1.

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
#784a3b · 7.39:1
AA on whitealready passes
#784a3b
The quick fox
#784a3b · 7.39:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#784a3b
The quick fox
#A46551 · 4.56:1
AA on black+13% L
#A46551
The quick fox
#BE8B7A · 7.16:1
AAA on black+26% L
#BE8B7A

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #784A3B 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
#784a3b on white: 7.39:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#784a3b on black: 2.84:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #784a3b as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #784a3b.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White7.39:1AaAa
Slate 507.06:1AaAa
Slate 1006.75:1AaAa
Slate 2006.00:1AaAa
Slate 3004.98:1AaAa
Slate 4002.88:1AaAa
Slate 5001.55:1AaAa
Slate 6001.03:1AaAa
Slate 7001.40:1AaAa
Slate 8001.98:1AaAa
Slate 9002.42:1AaAa
Black2.84:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #55503A
deuteranopia · #60593B
tritanopia · #824346

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. #784a3b 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.

#F9F6F5
#F4EEEC
#E8D9D4
#DABDB4
#C89C8E
#B57B69
#A46551
#895443
#784a3b
#50332A
#32201A
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #F9F6F5Darkest = 950 · #32201AText step on white = 600
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 0.017 38.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.027 38.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.041 38.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.053 38.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.062 38.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.068 38.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.068 38.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.064 38.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.057 38.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.047 38.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.037 38.8);
}

Colors that work with #784a3b

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#FAF6F5
Tinted page background
Border#E4CFC8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9A5F4C
Captions on the surface
Accent#377C7B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#55352A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7F0EE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241814
Dark-mode background
Hover#603B2F
One step down in lightness
Pressed#482D23
Two steps down
Disabled#AA857A
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#904D38
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 #784a3b

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
  • Status meaning — pair it with an icon or label, never colour alone
  • 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.

urgentappetisingboldphysical

Red arrives before the rest of the page does. It raises attention and appetite, which is why it runs food, sport and clearance pricing.

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

It is also the universal error colour. Use it as a brand accent and users may read a warning that is not there.

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#3B6978
Analogous left#783B4A
Analogous right#78693B
Split-complement 1#3B7869
Split-complement 2#3B4A78
Triadic 1#3B784A
Triadic 2#4A3B78
Tetradic#4A783B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°15°

#784a3b sits at 15°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red47.1%
Green29.0%
Blue23.1%
R · 0–255
120
0x78
G · 0–255
74
0x4a
B · 0–255
59
0x3b

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta38.3%
Yellow50.8%
Key (black)52.9%

Total ink coverage is 142%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#784a3b text on a black background

contrast 2.84:1

Card sample

#784a3b text on a white background

contrast 7.39:1

Card sample

#784a3b on grey

6.75:1

#784a3b on its own surface

6.89:1

#784a3b on its dark surface

2.34:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #784a3b;
Background color
Panel with #784a3b background
background-color: #784a3b;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #784a3b;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(120, 74, 59, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(120, 74, 59, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #784a3b;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #784a3b, #78733B);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #784a3b, #6E783B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #784a3b;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #784a3b;
caret-color: #784a3b;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #784a3b;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7F0EE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #784a3b;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#784a3b 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #784a3b 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(120, 74, 59, 0.5)
rgb(120 74 59 / 50%)
#784a3b80
hsl(15 34% 35% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #784a3b 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#784a3b1a#F2EDEB
20%#784a3b33#E4DBD8
40%#784a3b66#C9B7B1
60%#784a3b99#AE9289
80%#784a3bcc#936E62

Gradients from #784a3b

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, #A1634F, #784a3b 45%, #55352A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #784a3b, #646331);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #784a3b, #3B6978);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B0735F 0%, #784a3b 45%, #55352A 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF6F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #9A4C66 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8D8045 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #55352A 0%, transparent 65%), #784a3b;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #784a3b

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.

#784a3b in the real world

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

Industries
Food and drinkEntertainmentRetailSport
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 2.84:1 — lift it to #A46551 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.

#784a3b, answered

What color is #784a3b?

#784a3b is a dark soft red, closest to Saddle Brown (ΔE2000 10.9). It sits at 15° on the hue wheel with 34% saturation and 35% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #784a3b?

rgb(120, 74, 59) — 120 red, 74 green and 59 blue out of 255, or 47.1% / 29% / 23.1% by channel.

What is #784a3b in HSL and HSV?

hsl(15, 34%, 35%) and hsv(15, 51%, 47%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #784a3b a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0921 and perceived brightness is 35%, so white text on it reaches 7.39:1.

Should I use black or white text on #784a3b?

White. It scores 7.39:1 against #784a3b, versus 2.84:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #784a3b accessible on a white background?

#784a3b on white scores 7.39:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #784a3b?

#3B6978 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #3B7869 and #3B4A78, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #784a3b?

For interface work: #FAF6F5 as the surface, #E4CFC8 for borders, #9A5F4C for secondary text, #377C7B as an accent and #55352A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #783B4A and #78693B stays calm, while #3B6978 is the loudest partner.

What is #784a3b in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 38%, 51%, 53%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #784a3b warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 10 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #78533B; nudged cooler, #7A3941.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #784a3b?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 18.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #784a3b as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #784a3b in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#784a3b] or text-[#784a3b], 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 #784a3b with 50% opacity?

rgba(120, 74, 59, 0.5), or #784a3b80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #BCA59D; over black, #3C251E.

Is #784a3b a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #663333, ΔE2000 9.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #784a3b mean?

As a red, it reads urgent, appetising, bold. Red arrives before the rest of the page does. It raises attention and appetite, which is why it runs food, sport and clearance pricing. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #784a3b?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A1634F, #784a3b 45%, #55352A). For more colour, a short hue run to #646331 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #784a3b in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #784a3b at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.