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red · warm

#ad686f

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Ember

RGB
173, 104, 111
HSL
354°, 30%, 54%
CMYK
0, 40, 36, 32
Luminance
0.1993

#ad686f is a balanced soft red, 354° on the wheel and 25/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (4.99:1). As text it scores 4.21:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Indian Red, nearest Tailwind family is rose.

hsl(354 30% 54%)rgb(173 104 111)Base step 500AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ad686f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ad686f
Hue
354°
red
Saturation
30%
soft
Lightness
54%
balanced
Brightness
68%
HSV value
Perceived
51%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1993
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
25/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
4.99:1
Closest name
Indian Red
ΔE2000 8.8
Chroma
29.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.595
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
rose
500 · ΔE 13.9
Web-safe
#996666
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue354° of 360°
Saturation30%
Lightness54%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ad686f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool25% 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%
Green50%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#ad686f
HEX (8-digit)#ad686fff
RGBrgb(173, 104, 111)
RGBArgba(173, 104, 111, 1)
HSLhsl(354, 30%, 54%)
HSV / HSBhsv(354, 40%, 68%)
HWBhwb(354 41% 32%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 40%, 36%, 32%)
LABlab(51.8 28.5 8.0)
LCHlch(51.8 29.6 15.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.595 0.089 13.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(25.05, 19.93, 17.56)
Decimal11364463
Display P3color(display-p3 0.678 0.408 0.435)
Web-safe#996666

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ad686f;
background-color: #ad686f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ad686f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ad686f] bg-[#ad686f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ad686f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.678, green: 0.408, blue: 0.435)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.678, green: 0.408, blue: 0.435, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AD686F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAD686F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAD686F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(111, 104, 173)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(173, 104, 111)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(173, 104, 111)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 173, 104, 111)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6784f, 0.4078f, 0.4353f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{173,104,111}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ad686f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ad686f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#532D31, #E9D7D9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ad686f 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: #E6D5D7;
  --brand-300: #D8B6BA;
  --brand-400: #C49297;
  --brand-500: #ad686f;
  --brand-600: #9F565E;
  --brand-700: #84484E;
  --brand-800: #6A393E;
  --brand-900: #4E2D30;
  --brand-950: #311C1E;
  --brand: #ad686f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF5F6;
  --brand-border: #E2CACD;
  --brand-hover: #9C555C;
  --brand-pressed: #85484F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241415;
    --brand-ink: #E9D7D9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F6F6',
        100: '#F3ECED',
        200: '#E6D5D7',
        300: '#D8B6BA',
        400: '#C49297',
        500: '#ad686f',
        600: '#9F565E',
        700: '#84484E',
        800: '#6A393E',
        900: '#4E2D30',
        950: '#311C1E',
        DEFAULT: '#ad686f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F6F6,
  '100': #F3ECED,
  '200': #E6D5D7,
  '300': #D8B6BA,
  '400': #C49297,
  '500': #ad686f,
  '600': #9F565E,
  '700': #84484E,
  '800': #6A393E,
  '900': #4E2D30,
  '950': #311C1E,
);
$brand-base: #ad686f;
$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": "#E6D5D7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D8B6BA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C49297", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#ad686f", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9F565E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#84484E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6A393E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4E2D30", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#311C1E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ad686f · 4.99:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.21:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.99:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #ad686f as text scores 4.21:1 on white and 4.99:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #532D31 at 2.79:1.

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
#A96169 · 4.56:1
AA on white−2% L
#A96169
The quick fox
#82474D · 7.10:1
AAA on white−15% L
#82474D
The quick fox
#ad686f · 4.99:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ad686f
The quick fox
#BF898E · 7.18:1
AAA on black+10% L
#BF898E

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AD686F 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
#ad686f on white: 4.21:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ad686f on black: 4.99:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ad686f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ad686f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.21:1AaAa
Slate 504.03:1AaAa
Slate 1003.84:1AaAa
Slate 2003.42:1AaAa
Slate 3002.84:1AaAa
Slate 4001.64:1AaAa
Slate 5001.13:1AaAa
Slate 6001.80:1AaAa
Slate 7002.46:1AaAa
Slate 8003.47:1AaAa
Slate 9004.24:1AaAa
Black4.99:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #75736F
deuteranopia · #85806E
tritanopia · #B9616B

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. #ad686f 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
#E6D5D7
#D8B6BA
#C49297
#ad686f
#9F565E
#84484E
#6A393E
#4E2D30
#311C1E
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F6F6Darkest = 950 · #311C1EText 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 0.022 13.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.036 13.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.053 13.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.069 13.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.082 13.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.089 13.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.089 13.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.084 13.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.075 13.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.062 13.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.049 13.6);
}

Colors that work with #ad686f

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#E2CACD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#955158
Captions on the surface
Accent#438970
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#532D31
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6EEEF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241415
Dark-mode background
Hover#9C555C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#85484F
Two steps down
Disabled#D0B5B8
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BF6B73
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 #ad686f

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 #532D31
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
  • Weight46/100
  • 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#68ADA6
Analogous left#AD6891
Analogous right#AD8368
Split-complement 1#68AD83
Split-complement 2#6891AD
Triadic 1#6FAD68
Triadic 2#686FAD
Tetradic#91AD68
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°354°

#ad686f sits at 354°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.8%
Green40.8%
Blue43.5%
R · 0–255
173
0xad
G · 0–255
104
0x68
B · 0–255
111
0x6f

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta39.9%
Yellow35.8%
Key (black)32.2%

Total ink coverage is 108%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ad686f text on a black background

contrast 4.99:1

Card sample

#ad686f text on a white background

contrast 4.21:1

Card sample

#ad686f on grey

3.84:1

#ad686f on its own surface

3.90:1

#ad686f on its dark surface

4.20:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ad686f;
Background color
Panel with #ad686f background
background-color: #ad686f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ad686f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(173, 104, 111, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(173, 104, 111, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ad686f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ad686f, #AD8F68);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ad686f, #ADA068);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ad686f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ad686f;
caret-color: #ad686f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ad686f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6EEEF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ad686f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ad686f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ad686f 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(173, 104, 111, 0.5)
rgb(173 104 111 / 50%)
#ad686f80
hsl(354 30% 54% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ad686f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ad686f1a#F7F0F1
20%#ad686f33#EFE1E2
40%#ad686f66#DEC3C5
60%#ad686f99#CEA4A9
80%#ad686fcc#BD868C

Gradients from #ad686f

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, #C39095, #ad686f 45%, #532D31);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ad686f, #A08657);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ad686f, #68ADA6);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CDA3A8 0%, #ad686f 45%, #532D31 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%, #BF89AE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B8997C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #532D31 0%, transparent 65%), #ad686f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ad686f

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.

#ad686f 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 4.99:1.

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.

#ad686f, answered

What color is #ad686f?

#ad686f is a balanced soft red, closest to Indian Red (ΔE2000 8.8). It sits at 354° on the hue wheel with 30% saturation and 54% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ad686f?

rgb(173, 104, 111) — 173 red, 104 green and 111 blue out of 255, or 67.8% / 40.8% / 43.5% by channel.

What is #ad686f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(354, 30%, 54%) and hsv(354, 40%, 68%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ad686f a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.1993 and perceived brightness is 51%, so black text on it reaches 4.99:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ad686f?

Black. It scores 4.99:1 against #ad686f, versus 4.21:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #ad686f accessible on a white background?

#ad686f on white scores 4.21:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #A96169 to reach 4.5:1, or #82474D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ad686f?

#68ADA6 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #68AD83 and #6891AD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ad686f?

For interface work: #FAF5F6 as the surface, #E2CACD for borders, #955158 for secondary text, #438970 as an accent and #532D31 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AD6891 and #AD8368 stays calm, while #68ADA6 is the loudest partner.

What is #ad686f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 40%, 36%, 32%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ad686f warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 25 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AD7A68; nudged cooler, #AF6688.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ad686f?

The rose family — its 500 step is #f43f5e, ΔE2000 13.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ad686f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ad686f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ad686f] or text-[#ad686f], 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 #ad686f with 50% opacity?

rgba(173, 104, 111, 0.5), or #ad686f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6B4B7; over black, #573438.

Is #ad686f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #996666, ΔE2000 5.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ad686f 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 #ad686f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C39095, #ad686f 45%, #532D31). For more colour, a short hue run to #A08657 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ad686f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ad686f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.