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red · warm

#ab656f

a balanced, soft red · warm · closest name: Indian Red

Token name suggestion: Atlas Cardinal

RGB
171, 101, 111
HSL
351°, 29%, 53%
CMYK
0, 41, 35, 33
Luminance
0.1911

#ab656f is a balanced soft red, 351° on the wheel and 26/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (4.82:1). As text it scores 4.35:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Indian Red, nearest Tailwind family is rose.

hsl(351 29% 53%)rgb(171 101 111)Base step 500AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ab656f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ab656f
Hue
351°
red
Saturation
29%
soft
Lightness
53%
balanced
Brightness
67%
HSV value
Perceived
50%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1911
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
26/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
4.82:1
Closest name
Indian Red
ΔE2000 9.5
Chroma
30.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.587
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
rose
500 · ΔE 14.3
Web-safe
#996666
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue351° of 360°
Saturation29%
Lightness53%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ab656f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool26% 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
Red45%
Green49%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#ab656f
HEX (8-digit)#ab656fff
RGBrgb(171, 101, 111)
RGBArgba(171, 101, 111, 1)
HSLhsl(351, 29%, 53%)
HSV / HSBhsv(351, 41%, 67%)
HWBhwb(351 40% 33%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 41%, 35%, 33%)
LABlab(50.8 29.4 6.6)
LCHlch(50.8 30.1 12.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.587 0.091 11.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(24.32, 19.11, 17.44)
Decimal11232623
Display P3color(display-p3 0.671 0.396 0.435)
Web-safe#996666

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ab656f;
background-color: #ab656f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ab656f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ab656f] bg-[#ab656f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ab656f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.671, green: 0.396, blue: 0.435)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.671, green: 0.396, blue: 0.435, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AB656F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAB656F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAB656F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(111, 101, 171)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(171, 101, 111)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(171, 101, 111)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 171, 101, 111)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6706f, 0.3961f, 0.4353f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{171,101,111}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ab656f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ab656f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#522D32, #E9D7DA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ab656f 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: #F9F6F6;
  --brand-100: #F3ECED;
  --brand-200: #E6D5D8;
  --brand-300: #D7B6BB;
  --brand-400: #C49299;
  --brand-500: #ab656f;
  --brand-600: #9E5661;
  --brand-700: #844851;
  --brand-800: #6A3A40;
  --brand-900: #4E2D31;
  --brand-950: #311C1F;
  --brand: #ab656f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF5F6;
  --brand-border: #E2CACE;
  --brand-hover: #99535D;
  --brand-pressed: #82474F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241416;
    --brand-ink: #E9D7DA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F6F6',
        100: '#F3ECED',
        200: '#E6D5D8',
        300: '#D7B6BB',
        400: '#C49299',
        500: '#ab656f',
        600: '#9E5661',
        700: '#844851',
        800: '#6A3A40',
        900: '#4E2D31',
        950: '#311C1F',
        DEFAULT: '#ab656f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F6F6,
  '100': #F3ECED,
  '200': #E6D5D8,
  '300': #D7B6BB,
  '400': #C49299,
  '500': #ab656f,
  '600': #9E5661,
  '700': #844851,
  '800': #6A3A40,
  '900': #4E2D31,
  '950': #311C1F,
);
$brand-base: #ab656f;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F6F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3ECED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6D5D8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D7B6BB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C49299", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#ab656f", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9E5661", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#844851", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6A3A40", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4E2D31", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#311C1F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$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#000000 on #ab656f · 4.82:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.35:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.82:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #ab656f as text scores 4.35:1 on white and 4.82:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #522D32 at 2.71:1.

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
#A9626C · 4.52:1
AA on white−1% L
#A9626C
The quick fox
#82474F · 7.09:1
AAA on white−14% L
#82474F
The quick fox
#ab656f · 4.82:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ab656f
The quick fox
#BF8991 · 7.20:1
AAA on black+11% L
#BF8991

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AB656F 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
#ab656f on white: 4.35:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ab656f on black: 4.82:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ab656f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ab656f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.35:1AaAa
Slate 504.16:1AaAa
Slate 1003.97:1AaAa
Slate 2003.53:1AaAa
Slate 3002.93:1AaAa
Slate 4001.70:1AaAa
Slate 5001.09:1AaAa
Slate 6001.74:1AaAa
Slate 7002.38:1AaAa
Slate 8003.36:1AaAa
Slate 9004.10:1AaAa
Black4.82:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #71716F
deuteranopia · #837E6E
tritanopia · #B75E69

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. #ab656f is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F6F6
#F3ECED
#E6D5D8
#D7B6BB
#C49299
#ab656f
#9E5661
#844851
#6A3A40
#4E2D31
#311C1F
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F6F6Darkest = 950 · #311C1FText 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 0.023 11.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.036 11.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.054 11.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.071 11.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.084 11.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.091 11.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.091 11.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.085 11.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.076 11.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.064 11.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.050 11.0);
}

Colors that work with #ab656f

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

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#FAF5F6
Tinted page background
Border#E2CACE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#94515B
Captions on the surface
Accent#44886D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#522D32
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6EFF0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241416
Dark-mode background
Hover#99535D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#82474F
Two steps down
Disabled#CEB2B6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BD6774
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 #ab656f

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • 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
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #522D32
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 mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight47/100
  • 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#65ABA1
Analogous left#AB6592
Analogous right#AB7E65
Split-complement 1#65AB7E
Split-complement 2#6592AB
Triadic 1#6FAB65
Triadic 2#656FAB
Tetradic#92AB65
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°351°

#ab656f sits at 351°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.1%
Green39.6%
Blue43.5%
R · 0–255
171
0xab
G · 0–255
101
0x65
B · 0–255
111
0x6f

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta40.9%
Yellow35.1%
Key (black)32.9%

Total ink coverage is 109%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ab656f text on a black background

contrast 4.82:1

Card sample

#ab656f text on a white background

contrast 4.35:1

Card sample

#ab656f on grey

3.97:1

#ab656f on its own surface

4.03:1

#ab656f on its dark surface

4.06:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ab656f;
Background color
Panel with #ab656f background
background-color: #ab656f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ab656f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(171, 101, 111, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(171, 101, 111, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ab656f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ab656f, #AB8A65);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ab656f, #AB9B65);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ab656f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ab656f;
caret-color: #ab656f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ab656f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6EFF0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ab656f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ab656f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ab656f 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(171, 101, 111, 0.5)
rgb(171 101 111 / 50%)
#ab656f80
hsl(351 29% 53% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ab656f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ab656f1a#F7F0F1
20%#ab656f33#EEE0E2
40%#ab656f66#DDC1C5
60%#ab656f99#CDA3A9
80%#ab656fcc#BC848C

Gradients from #ab656f

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, #C18D94, #ab656f 45%, #522D32);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ab656f, #9C8055);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ab656f, #65ABA1);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CBA0A6 0%, #ab656f 45%, #522D32 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF5F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #BD86AE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B69479 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #522D32 0%, transparent 65%), #ab656f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ab656f

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.

#ab656f 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

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 4.82:1.

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.

#ab656f, answered

What color is #ab656f?

#ab656f is a balanced soft red, closest to Indian Red (ΔE2000 9.5). It sits at 351° on the hue wheel with 29% saturation and 53% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ab656f?

rgb(171, 101, 111) — 171 red, 101 green and 111 blue out of 255, or 67.1% / 39.6% / 43.5% by channel.

What is #ab656f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(351, 29%, 53%) and hsv(351, 41%, 67%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ab656f a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.1911 and perceived brightness is 50%, so black text on it reaches 4.82:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ab656f?

Black. It scores 4.82:1 against #ab656f, versus 4.35:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #ab656f accessible on a white background?

#ab656f on white scores 4.35:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #A9626C to reach 4.5:1, or #82474F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ab656f?

#65ABA1 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #65AB7E and #6592AB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ab656f?

For interface work: #FAF5F6 as the surface, #E2CACE for borders, #94515B for secondary text, #44886D as an accent and #522D32 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AB6592 and #AB7E65 stays calm, while #65ABA1 is the loudest partner.

What is #ab656f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 41%, 35%, 33%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ab656f warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 26 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AB7565; nudged cooler, #AD6389.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ab656f?

The rose family — its 500 step is #f43f5e, ΔE2000 14.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ab656f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ab656f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ab656f] or text-[#ab656f], 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 #ab656f with 50% opacity?

rgba(171, 101, 111, 0.5), or #ab656f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D5B2B7; over black, #563338.

Is #ab656f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #996666, ΔE2000 5.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ab656f 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 #ab656f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C18D94, #ab656f 45%, #522D32). For more colour, a short hue run to #9C8055 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ab656f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ab656f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.