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magenta / pink · neutral

#ac9ba2

a balanced, muted magenta / pink · neutral · closest name: Dark Gray

Token name suggestion: Signal Peony

RGB
172, 155, 162
HSL
335°, 9%, 64%
CMYK
0, 10, 6, 33
Luminance
0.3482

#ac9ba2 is a balanced muted magenta / pink, 335° on the wheel and 45/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.96:1). As text it scores 2.64:1 on white — use #866F79 instead. Nearest name is Dark Gray, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(335 9% 64%)rgb(172 155 162)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ac9ba2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ac9ba2
Hue
335°
magenta / pink
Saturation
9%
muted
Lightness
64%
balanced
Brightness
67%
HSV value
Perceived
63%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3482
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
45/100 cool
Color family
Magenta / pink
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
7.96:1
Closest name
Dark Gray
ΔE2000 9.5
Chroma
7.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.706
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 17.9
Web-safe
#999999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue335° of 360°
Saturation9%
Lightness64%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ac9ba2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool45% cool

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

Luminance by channel
Red25%
Green67%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#ac9ba2
HEX (8-digit)#ac9ba2ff
RGBrgb(172, 155, 162)
RGBArgba(172, 155, 162, 1)
HSLhsl(335, 9%, 64%)
HSV / HSBhsv(335, 10%, 67%)
HWBhwb(335 61% 33%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 10%, 6%, 33%)
LABlab(65.6 7.5 -1.4)
LCHlch(65.6 7.6 349.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.706 0.022 350.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.26, 34.82, 39.04)
Decimal11312034
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.608 0.635)
Web-safe#999999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ac9ba2;
background-color: #ac9ba2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ac9ba2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ac9ba2] bg-[#ac9ba2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ac9ba2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.608, blue: 0.635)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.675, green: 0.608, blue: 0.635, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AC9BA2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAC9BA2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAC9BA2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(162, 155, 172)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(172, 155, 162)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(172, 155, 162)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 172, 155, 162)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6745f, 0.6078f, 0.6353f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{172,155,162}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ac9ba2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ac9ba2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#463A3F, #E3DEE0);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ac9ba2 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: #F8F7F7;
  --brand-100: #F1EFF0;
  --brand-200: #E1DBDD;
  --brand-300: #CCC2C6;
  --brand-400: #ac9ba2;
  --brand-500: #99848D;
  --brand-600: #866F78;
  --brand-700: #6F5D64;
  --brand-800: #594A50;
  --brand-900: #42383C;
  --brand-950: #2A2326;
  --brand: #ac9ba2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F7F7;
  --brand-border: #DAD2D6;
  --brand-hover: #9C8790;
  --brand-pressed: #8C747E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F191C;
    --brand-ink: #E3DEE0;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F7F7',
        100: '#F1EFF0',
        200: '#E1DBDD',
        300: '#CCC2C6',
        400: '#ac9ba2',
        500: '#99848D',
        600: '#866F78',
        700: '#6F5D64',
        800: '#594A50',
        900: '#42383C',
        950: '#2A2326',
        DEFAULT: '#ac9ba2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F7F7,
  '100': #F1EFF0,
  '200': #E1DBDD,
  '300': #CCC2C6,
  '400': #ac9ba2,
  '500': #99848D,
  '600': #866F78,
  '700': #6F5D64,
  '800': #594A50,
  '900': #42383C,
  '950': #2A2326,
);
$brand-base: #ac9ba2;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F7F7", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1EFF0", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E1DBDD", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CCC2C6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ac9ba2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#99848D", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#866F78", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6F5D64", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#594A50", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#42383C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2A2326", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ac9ba2 · 7.96:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.64:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.96:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ac9ba2 as text scores 2.64:1 on white and 7.96:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #463A3F at 4.11:1.

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
#866F79 · 4.60:1
AA on white−16% L
#866F79
The quick fox
#65535B · 7.14:1
AAA on white−28% L
#65535B
The quick fox
#ac9ba2 · 7.96:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ac9ba2
The quick fox
#ac9ba2 · 7.96:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ac9ba2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A39098 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
#ac9ba2 on white: 2.64:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ac9ba2 on black: 7.96:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ac9ba2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ac9ba2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.64:1AaAa
Slate 502.52:1AaAa
Slate 1002.41:1AaAa
Slate 2002.14:1AaAa
Slate 3001.78:1AaAa
Slate 4001.03:1AaAa
Slate 5001.80:1AaAa
Slate 6002.87:1AaAa
Slate 7003.93:1AaAa
Slate 8005.55:1AaAa
Slate 9006.77:1AaAa
Black7.96:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9C9EA2
deuteranopia · #A0A0A2
tritanopia · #AF9B9D

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. #ac9ba2 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.

#F8F7F7
#F1EFF0
#E1DBDD
#CCC2C6
#ac9ba2
#99848D
#866F78
#6F5D64
#594A50
#42383C
#2A2326
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F7F7Darkest = 950 · #2A2326Text 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 0.006 350.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.009 350.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.013 350.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.017 350.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.020 350.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.022 350.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.022 350.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.021 350.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.019 350.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.016 350.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.012 350.8);
}

Colors that work with #ac9ba2

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#F8F7F7
Tinted page background
Border#DAD2D6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7D6871
Captions on the surface
Accent#587462
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#463A3F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3F1F2
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F191C
Dark-mode background
Hover#9C8790
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8C747E
Two steps down
Disabled#DFD8DB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BD9EAB
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 #ac9ba2

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 #463A3F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A39098

Meaning and mood

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

expressiveyouthfulwarmconfident

Pink is the fastest way to signal that a product is not another enterprise dashboard. It carries beauty, fashion and culture brands.

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

Strong gendered associations in some markets — test it with the audience you actually have.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight36/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • 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#9BACA5
Analogous left#AC9BAA
Analogous right#AC9C9B
Split-complement 1#9BAC9C
Split-complement 2#9BAAAC
Triadic 1#A2AC9B
Triadic 2#9BA2AC
Tetradic#AAAC9B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°335°

#ac9ba2 sits at 335°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green60.8%
Blue63.5%
R · 0–255
172
0xac
G · 0–255
155
0x9b
B · 0–255
162
0xa2

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta9.9%
Yellow5.8%
Key (black)32.5%

Total ink coverage is 48%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ac9ba2 text on a black background

contrast 7.96:1

Card sample

#ac9ba2 text on a white background

contrast 2.64:1

Card sample

#ac9ba2 on grey

2.41:1

#ac9ba2 on its own surface

2.47:1

#ac9ba2 on its dark surface

6.56:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ac9ba2;
Background color
Panel with #ac9ba2 background
background-color: #ac9ba2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ac9ba2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 155, 162, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 155, 162, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ac9ba2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ac9ba2, #AC9F9B);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac9ba2, #ACA49B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ac9ba2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ac9ba2;
caret-color: #ac9ba2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ac9ba2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3F1F2;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ac9ba2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ac9ba2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ac9ba2 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, 155, 162, 0.5)
rgb(172 155 162 / 50%)
#ac9ba280
hsl(335 9% 64% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ac9ba2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ac9ba21a#F7F5F6
20%#ac9ba233#EEEBEC
40%#ac9ba266#DED7DA
60%#ac9ba299#CDC3C7
80%#ac9ba2cc#BDAFB5

Gradients from #ac9ba2

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, #C8BCC1, #ac9ba2 45%, #463A3F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ac9ba2, #9E918A);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac9ba2, #9BACA5);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D6CDD1 0%, #ac9ba2 45%, #463A3F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F7F7, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C3B7C3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BAAEAC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #463A3F 0%, transparent 65%), #ac9ba2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ac9ba2

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.

#ac9ba2 in the real world

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

Industries
BeautyFashionLifestyleYouth brands
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 7.96:1.

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.

#ac9ba2, answered

What color is #ac9ba2?

#ac9ba2 is a balanced muted magenta / pink, closest to Dark Gray (ΔE2000 9.5). It sits at 335° on the hue wheel with 9% saturation and 64% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #ac9ba2?

rgb(172, 155, 162) — 172 red, 155 green and 162 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 60.8% / 63.5% by channel.

What is #ac9ba2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(335, 9%, 64%) and hsv(335, 10%, 67%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ac9ba2 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3482 and perceived brightness is 63%, so black text on it reaches 7.96:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ac9ba2?

Black. It scores 7.96:1 against #ac9ba2, versus 2.64:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ac9ba2 accessible on a white background?

#ac9ba2 on white scores 2.64:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #866F79 to reach 4.5:1, or #65535B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ac9ba2?

#9BACA5 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #9BAC9C and #9BAAAC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ac9ba2?

For interface work: #F8F7F7 as the surface, #DAD2D6 for borders, #7D6871 for secondary text, #587462 as an accent and #463A3F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AC9BAA and #AC9C9B stays calm, while #9BACA5 is the loudest partner.

What is #ac9ba2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 10%, 6%, 33%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ac9ba2 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 45 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B5A79C; nudged cooler, #919EAC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ac9ba2?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 17.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ac9ba2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ac9ba2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ac9ba2] or text-[#ac9ba2], 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 #ac9ba2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(172, 155, 162, 0.5), or #ac9ba280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6CDD1; over black, #564E51.

Is #ac9ba2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999999, ΔE2000 9.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ac9ba2 mean?

As a magenta / pink, it reads expressive, youthful, warm. Pink is the fastest way to signal that a product is not another enterprise dashboard. It carries beauty, fashion and culture brands. At this low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #ac9ba2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C8BCC1, #ac9ba2 45%, #463A3F). For more colour, a short hue run to #9E918A keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ac9ba2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ac9ba2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.