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red · warm

#af8481

a balanced, soft red · warm · closest name: Rosy Brown

Token name suggestion: Studio Ember

RGB
175, 132, 129
HSL
4°, 22%, 60%
CMYK
0, 25, 26, 31
Luminance
0.2720

#af8481 is a balanced soft red, 4° on the wheel and 27/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (6.44:1). As text it scores 3.26:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Rosy Brown, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(4 22% 60%)rgb(175 132 129)Base step 500AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #af8481 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#af8481
Hue
red
Saturation
22%
soft
Lightness
60%
balanced
Brightness
69%
HSV value
Perceived
57%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2720
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
27/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
6.44:1
Closest name
Rosy Brown
ΔE2000 4.1
Chroma
18.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.654
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 17.3
Web-safe
#999999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue4° of 360°
Saturation22%
Lightness60%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #af8481.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool27% 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
Red34%
Green61%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#af8481
HEX (8-digit)#af8481ff
RGBrgb(175, 132, 129)
RGBArgba(175, 132, 129, 1)
HSLhsl(4, 22%, 60%)
HSV / HSBhsv(4, 26%, 69%)
HWBhwb(4 51% 31%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 25%, 26%, 31%)
LABlab(59.2 16.1 8.0)
LCHlch(59.2 18.0 26.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.654 0.053 23.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(29.89, 27.20, 24.44)
Decimal11502721
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.518 0.506)
Web-safe#999999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #af8481;
background-color: #af8481;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #af8481;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#af8481] bg-[#af8481]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #af8481;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.518, blue: 0.506)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.518, blue: 0.506, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AF8481</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAF8481)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAF8481)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(129, 132, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 132, 129)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 132, 129)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 132, 129)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.5176f, 0.5059f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,132,129}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #af8481 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #af8481 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4E3332, #E7DADA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #af8481 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: #F2EDED;
  --brand-200: #E4D8D7;
  --brand-300: #D3BCBA;
  --brand-400: #BE9B98;
  --brand-500: #af8481;
  --brand-600: #96635F;
  --brand-700: #7D524F;
  --brand-800: #64423F;
  --brand-900: #4A3231;
  --brand-950: #2E1F1E;
  --brand: #af8481;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F6F6;
  --brand-border: #DFCECD;
  --brand-hover: #A16F6B;
  --brand-pressed: #8E5E5A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #221716;
    --brand-ink: #E7DADA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F6F6',
        100: '#F2EDED',
        200: '#E4D8D7',
        300: '#D3BCBA',
        400: '#BE9B98',
        500: '#af8481',
        600: '#96635F',
        700: '#7D524F',
        800: '#64423F',
        900: '#4A3231',
        950: '#2E1F1E',
        DEFAULT: '#af8481',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F6F6,
  '100': #F2EDED,
  '200': #E4D8D7,
  '300': #D3BCBA,
  '400': #BE9B98,
  '500': #af8481,
  '600': #96635F,
  '700': #7D524F,
  '800': #64423F,
  '900': #4A3231,
  '950': #2E1F1E,
);
$brand-base: #af8481;
$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": "#F2EDED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E4D8D7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D3BCBA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BE9B98", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#af8481", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#96635F", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7D524F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#64423F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4A3231", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2E1F1E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #af8481 · 6.44:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.26:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 6.44:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #af8481 as text scores 3.26:1 on white and 6.44:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4E3332 at 3.49:1.

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
#9D6965 · 4.52:1
AA on white−9% L
#9D6965
The quick fox
#754D4A · 7.20:1
AAA on white−22% L
#754D4A
The quick fox
#af8481 · 6.44:1
AA on blackalready passes
#af8481
The quick fox
#B58D8A · 7.14:1
AAA on black+3% L
#B58D8A

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AF8481 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
#af8481 on white: 3.26:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#af8481 on black: 6.44:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #af8481 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #af8481.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.26:1AaAa
Slate 503.12:1AaAa
Slate 1002.98:1AaAa
Slate 2002.65:1AaAa
Slate 3002.20:1AaAa
Slate 4001.27:1AaAa
Slate 5001.46:1AaAa
Slate 6002.32:1AaAa
Slate 7003.18:1AaAa
Slate 8004.49:1AaAa
Slate 9005.48:1AaAa
Black6.44:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #8C8A81
deuteranopia · #969280
tritanopia · #B87F83

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. #af8481 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
#F2EDED
#E4D8D7
#D3BCBA
#BE9B98
#af8481
#96635F
#7D524F
#64423F
#4A3231
#2E1F1E
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F6F6Darkest = 950 · #2E1F1EText 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 0.013 23.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.021 23.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.032 23.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.042 23.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.049 23.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.053 23.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.053 23.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.050 23.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.045 23.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.037 23.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.029 23.2);
}

Colors that work with #af8481

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#F9F6F6
Tinted page background
Border#DFCECD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8C5C59
Captions on the surface
Accent#4B8177
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4E3332
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5F0EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#221716
Dark-mode background
Hover#A16F6B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8E5E5A
Two steps down
Disabled#DAC7C6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C08884
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 #af8481

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 #4E3332
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
  • Weight40/100
  • 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#81ACAF
Analogous left#AF8195
Analogous right#AF9B81
Split-complement 1#81AF9B
Split-complement 2#8195AF
Triadic 1#81AF84
Triadic 2#8481AF
Tetradic#95AF81
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°4°

#af8481 sits at 4°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green51.8%
Blue50.6%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
132
0x84
B · 0–255
129
0x81

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta24.6%
Yellow26.3%
Key (black)31.4%

Total ink coverage is 82%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#af8481 text on a black background

contrast 6.44:1

Card sample

#af8481 text on a white background

contrast 3.26:1

Card sample

#af8481 on grey

2.98:1

#af8481 on its own surface

3.03:1

#af8481 on its dark surface

5.36:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #af8481;
Background color
Panel with #af8481 background
background-color: #af8481;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #af8481;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 132, 129, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 132, 129, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #af8481;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #af8481, #AFA381);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af8481, #AFAE81);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #af8481;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #af8481;
caret-color: #af8481;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #af8481;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5F0EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #af8481;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#af8481 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #af8481 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(175, 132, 129, 0.5)
rgb(175 132 129 / 50%)
#af848180
hsl(4 22% 60% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #af8481 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#af84811a#F7F3F2
20%#af848133#EFE6E6
40%#af848166#DFCECD
60%#af848199#CFB5B3
80%#af8481cc#BF9D9A

Gradients from #af8481

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, #C7A9A6, #af8481 45%, #4E3332);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #af8481, #A3996E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af8481, #81ACAF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D3BBB9 0%, #af8481 45%, #4E3332 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F6F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C3A0B2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BBAD94 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4E3332 0%, transparent 65%), #af8481;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #af8481

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.

#af8481 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 6.44:1.

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.

#af8481, answered

What color is #af8481?

#af8481 is a balanced soft red, closest to Rosy Brown (ΔE2000 4.1). It sits at 4° on the hue wheel with 22% saturation and 60% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #af8481?

rgb(175, 132, 129) — 175 red, 132 green and 129 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 51.8% / 50.6% by channel.

What is #af8481 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(4, 22%, 60%) and hsv(4, 26%, 69%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #af8481 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2720 and perceived brightness is 57%, so black text on it reaches 6.44:1.

Should I use black or white text on #af8481?

Black. It scores 6.44:1 against #af8481, versus 3.26:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #af8481 accessible on a white background?

#af8481 on white scores 3.26:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #9D6965 to reach 4.5:1, or #754D4A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #af8481?

#81ACAF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #81AF9B and #8195AF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #af8481?

For interface work: #F9F6F6 as the surface, #DFCECD for borders, #8C5C59 for secondary text, #4B8177 as an accent and #4E3332 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AF8195 and #AF9B81 stays calm, while #81ACAF is the loudest partner.

What is #af8481 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 25%, 26%, 31%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #af8481 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 27 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AF9281; nudged cooler, #B17F8E.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #af8481?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 17.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #af8481 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #af8481 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#af8481] or text-[#af8481], 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 #af8481 with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 132, 129, 0.5), or #af848180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7C2C0; over black, #584241.

Is #af8481 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999999, ΔE2000 16.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #af8481 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 #af8481?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C7A9A6, #af8481 45%, #4E3332). For more colour, a short hue run to #A3996E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #af8481 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #af8481 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.