Skip to content
orange · warm

#ac9890

a balanced, muted orange · warm · closest name: Rosy Brown

Token name suggestion: True Apricot

RGB
172, 152, 144
HSL
17°, 14%, 62%
CMYK
0, 12, 16, 33
Luminance
0.3324

#ac9890 is a balanced muted orange, 17° on the wheel and 32/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.65:1). As text it scores 2.75:1 on white — use #897067 instead. Nearest name is Rosy Brown, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(17 14% 62%)rgb(172 152 144)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ac9890 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ac9890
Hue
17°
orange
Saturation
14%
muted
Lightness
62%
balanced
Brightness
67%
HSV value
Perceived
62%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3324
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
32/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
7.65:1
Closest name
Rosy Brown
ΔE2000 9.6
Chroma
9.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.695
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 16
Web-safe
#999999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue17° of 360°
Saturation14%
Lightness62%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ac9890.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool32% 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
Red26%
Green68%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#ac9890
HEX (8-digit)#ac9890ff
RGBrgb(172, 152, 144)
RGBArgba(172, 152, 144, 1)
HSLhsl(17, 14%, 62%)
HSV / HSBhsv(17, 16%, 67%)
HWBhwb(17 56% 33%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 12%, 16%, 33%)
LABlab(64.4 6.0 6.9)
LCHlch(64.4 9.2 48.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.695 0.026 43.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(33.28, 33.24, 31.04)
Decimal11311248
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.596 0.565)
Web-safe#999999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ac9890;
background-color: #ac9890;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ac9890;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ac9890] bg-[#ac9890]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ac9890;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.596, blue: 0.565)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.675, green: 0.596, blue: 0.565, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AC9890</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAC9890)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAC9890)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(144, 152, 172)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(172, 152, 144)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(172, 152, 144)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 172, 152, 144)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6745f, 0.5961f, 0.5647f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{172,152,144}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ac9890 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ac9890 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#493C37, #E5DFDC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ac9890 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: #F8F7F6;
  --brand-100: #F1EFEE;
  --brand-200: #E2DCDA;
  --brand-300: #CFC3BF;
  --brand-400: #ac9890;
  --brand-500: #9F887F;
  --brand-600: #8C7369;
  --brand-700: #756057;
  --brand-800: #5D4D46;
  --brand-900: #453A35;
  --brand-950: #2B2421;
  --brand: #ac9890;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F7F6;
  --brand-border: #DCD4D0;
  --brand-hover: #9D857C;
  --brand-pressed: #8C7369;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201A18;
    --brand-ink: #E5DFDC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F7F6',
        100: '#F1EFEE',
        200: '#E2DCDA',
        300: '#CFC3BF',
        400: '#ac9890',
        500: '#9F887F',
        600: '#8C7369',
        700: '#756057',
        800: '#5D4D46',
        900: '#453A35',
        950: '#2B2421',
        DEFAULT: '#ac9890',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F7F6,
  '100': #F1EFEE,
  '200': #E2DCDA,
  '300': #CFC3BF,
  '400': #ac9890,
  '500': #9F887F,
  '600': #8C7369,
  '700': #756057,
  '800': #5D4D46,
  '900': #453A35,
  '950': #2B2421,
);
$brand-base: #ac9890;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F7F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1EFEE", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E2DCDA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CFC3BF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ac9890", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9F887F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8C7369", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#756057", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5D4D46", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#453A35", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2B2421", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ac9890 · 7.65:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.75:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.65:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ac9890 as text scores 2.75:1 on white and 7.65:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #493C37 at 3.85:1.

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
#897067 · 4.59:1
AA on white−15% L
#897067
The quick fox
#66544C · 7.15:1
AAA on white−27% L
#66544C
The quick fox
#ac9890 · 7.65:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ac9890
The quick fox
#ac9890 · 7.65:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ac9890

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A69087 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
#ac9890 on white: 2.75:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ac9890 on black: 7.65:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ac9890 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ac9890.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.75:1AaAa
Slate 502.62:1AaAa
Slate 1002.51:1AaAa
Slate 2002.23:1AaAa
Slate 3001.85:1AaAa
Slate 4001.07:1AaAa
Slate 5001.73:1AaAa
Slate 6002.76:1AaAa
Slate 7003.77:1AaAa
Slate 8005.33:1AaAa
Slate 9006.50:1AaAa
Black7.65:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9D9A8F
deuteranopia · #A19E90
tritanopia · #B29596

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. #ac9890 is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F7F6
#F1EFEE
#E2DCDA
#CFC3BF
#ac9890
#9F887F
#8C7369
#756057
#5D4D46
#453A35
#2B2421
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F7F6Darkest = 950 · #2B2421Text 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 0.007 43.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.011 43.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.016 43.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.021 43.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.024 43.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.026 43.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.026 43.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.025 43.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.022 43.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.019 43.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.015 43.1);
}

Colors that work with #ac9890

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#F8F7F6
Tinted page background
Border#DCD4D0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#836C62
Captions on the surface
Accent#537879
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#493C37
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F1F0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201A18
Dark-mode background
Hover#9D857C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8C7369
Two steps down
Disabled#DCD4D0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BD9F93
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 #ac9890

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #493C37
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A69087

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. The mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight38/100
  • TemperatureWarm
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#90A4AC
Analogous left#AC9096
Analogous right#ACA690
Split-complement 1#90ACA6
Split-complement 2#9096AC
Triadic 1#90AC98
Triadic 2#9890AC
Tetradic#96AC90
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°17°

#ac9890 sits at 17°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green59.6%
Blue56.5%
R · 0–255
172
0xac
G · 0–255
152
0x98
B · 0–255
144
0x90

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta11.6%
Yellow16.3%
Key (black)32.5%

Total ink coverage is 60%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ac9890 text on a black background

contrast 7.65:1

Card sample

#ac9890 text on a white background

contrast 2.75:1

Card sample

#ac9890 on grey

2.51:1

#ac9890 on its own surface

2.57:1

#ac9890 on its dark surface

6.26:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ac9890;
Background color
Panel with #ac9890 background
background-color: #ac9890;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ac9890;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 152, 144, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 152, 144, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ac9890;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ac9890, #ACAB90);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac9890, #A6AC90);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ac9890;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ac9890;
caret-color: #ac9890;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ac9890;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F1F0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ac9890;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ac9890 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ac9890 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(172, 152, 144, 0.5)
rgb(172 152 144 / 50%)
#ac989080
hsl(17 14% 62% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ac9890 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ac98901a#F7F5F4
20%#ac989033#EEEAE9
40%#ac989066#DED6D3
60%#ac989099#CDC1BC
80%#ac9890cc#BDADA6

Gradients from #ac9890

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, #C6B9B3, #ac9890 45%, #493C37);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ac9890, #9E9F7F);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac9890, #90A4AC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D3C9C5 0%, #ac9890 45%, #493C37 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F7F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C2ADB3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B9B6A2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #493C37 0%, transparent 65%), #ac9890;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ac9890

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.

#ac9890 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 7.65:1.

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.

#ac9890, answered

What color is #ac9890?

#ac9890 is a balanced muted orange, closest to Rosy Brown (ΔE2000 9.6). It sits at 17° on the hue wheel with 14% saturation and 62% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ac9890?

rgb(172, 152, 144) — 172 red, 152 green and 144 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 59.6% / 56.5% by channel.

What is #ac9890 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(17, 14%, 62%) and hsv(17, 16%, 67%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ac9890 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3324 and perceived brightness is 62%, so black text on it reaches 7.65:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ac9890?

Black. It scores 7.65:1 against #ac9890, versus 2.75:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ac9890 accessible on a white background?

#ac9890 on white scores 2.75:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #897067 to reach 4.5:1, or #66544C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ac9890?

#90A4AC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #90ACA6 and #9096AC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ac9890?

For interface work: #F8F7F6 as the surface, #DCD4D0 for borders, #836C62 for secondary text, #537879 as an accent and #493C37 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AC9096 and #ACA690 stays calm, while #90A4AC is the loudest partner.

What is #ac9890 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 12%, 16%, 33%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ac9890 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 32 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AC9C90; nudged cooler, #AE8E91.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ac9890?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 16 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ac9890 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ac9890 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ac9890] or text-[#ac9890], 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 #ac9890 with 50% opacity?

rgba(172, 152, 144, 0.5), or #ac989080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6CCC8; over black, #564C48.

Is #ac9890 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999999, ΔE2000 9.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ac9890 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #ac9890?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C6B9B3, #ac9890 45%, #493C37). For more colour, a short hue run to #9E9F7F keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ac9890 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ac9890 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.