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red · warm

#ba8b8f

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Cherry

RGB
186, 139, 143
HSL
355°, 25%, 64%
CMYK
0, 25, 23, 27
Luminance
0.3089

#ba8b8f is a balanced soft red, 355° on the wheel and 28/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.18:1). As text it scores 2.93:1 on white — use #A3656A instead. Nearest name is Rosy Brown, nearest Tailwind family is rose.

hsl(355 25% 64%)rgb(186 139 143)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ba8b8f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ba8b8f
Hue
355°
red
Saturation
25%
soft
Lightness
64%
balanced
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
61%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3089
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
28/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.18:1
Closest name
Rosy Brown
ΔE2000 2
Chroma
19.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.683
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
rose
500 · ΔE 18.8
Web-safe
#CC9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue355° of 360°
Saturation25%
Lightness64%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ba8b8f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool28% 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%
Green60%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#ba8b8f
HEX (8-digit)#ba8b8fff
RGBrgb(186, 139, 143)
RGBArgba(186, 139, 143, 1)
HSLhsl(355, 25%, 64%)
HSV / HSBhsv(355, 25%, 73%)
HWBhwb(355 55% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 25%, 23%, 27%)
LABlab(62.4 18.5 4.9)
LCHlch(62.4 19.1 14.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.683 0.058 13.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(34.44, 30.89, 30.13)
Decimal12225423
Display P3color(display-p3 0.729 0.545 0.561)
Web-safe#CC9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ba8b8f;
background-color: #ba8b8f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ba8b8f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ba8b8f] bg-[#ba8b8f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ba8b8f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.729, green: 0.545, blue: 0.561)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.729, green: 0.545, blue: 0.561, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BA8B8F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBA8B8F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBA8B8F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(143, 139, 186)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(186, 139, 143)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(186, 139, 143)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 186, 139, 143)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7294f, 0.5451f, 0.5608f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{186,139,143}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ba8b8f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ba8b8f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#503032, #E8D9DA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ba8b8f 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: #F3EDED;
  --brand-200: #E5D6D8;
  --brand-300: #D5B9BB;
  --brand-400: #ba8b8f;
  --brand-500: #AB7277;
  --brand-600: #995B61;
  --brand-700: #804C50;
  --brand-800: #663D40;
  --brand-900: #4C2F31;
  --brand-950: #2F1D1F;
  --brand: #ba8b8f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F5F6;
  --brand-border: #E1CCCE;
  --brand-hover: #AD7579;
  --brand-pressed: #9F5F64;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #231516;
    --brand-ink: #E8D9DA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F6F6',
        100: '#F3EDED',
        200: '#E5D6D8',
        300: '#D5B9BB',
        400: '#ba8b8f',
        500: '#AB7277',
        600: '#995B61',
        700: '#804C50',
        800: '#663D40',
        900: '#4C2F31',
        950: '#2F1D1F',
        DEFAULT: '#ba8b8f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F6F6,
  '100': #F3EDED,
  '200': #E5D6D8,
  '300': #D5B9BB,
  '400': #ba8b8f,
  '500': #AB7277,
  '600': #995B61,
  '700': #804C50,
  '800': #663D40,
  '900': #4C2F31,
  '950': #2F1D1F,
);
$brand-base: #ba8b8f;
$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": "#F3EDED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E5D6D8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D5B9BB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ba8b8f", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AB7277", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#995B61", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#804C50", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#663D40", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4C2F31", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2F1D1F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ba8b8f · 7.18:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.93:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.18:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ba8b8f as text scores 2.93:1 on white and 7.18:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #503032 at 3.97:1.

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
#A3656A · 4.54:1
AA on white−12% L
#A3656A
The quick fox
#7C4A4E · 7.13:1
AAA on white−25% L
#7C4A4E
The quick fox
#ba8b8f · 7.18:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ba8b8f
The quick fox
#ba8b8f · 7.18:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ba8b8f

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B8888C 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
#ba8b8f on white: 2.93:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ba8b8f on black: 7.18:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ba8b8f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ba8b8f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.93:1AaAa
Slate 502.80:1AaAa
Slate 1002.67:1AaAa
Slate 2002.37:1AaAa
Slate 3001.97:1AaAa
Slate 4001.14:1AaAa
Slate 5001.63:1AaAa
Slate 6002.59:1AaAa
Slate 7003.54:1AaAa
Slate 8005.00:1AaAa
Slate 9006.10:1AaAa
Black7.18:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #93928F
deuteranopia · #9E9A8E
tritanopia · #C3878C

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. #ba8b8f 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.

#F9F6F6
#F3EDED
#E5D6D8
#D5B9BB
#ba8b8f
#AB7277
#995B61
#804C50
#663D40
#4C2F31
#2F1D1F
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F9F6F6Darkest = 950 · #2F1D1FText 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 0.014 13.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.023 13.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.035 13.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.045 13.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.053 13.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.058 13.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.058 13.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.054 13.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.048 13.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.040 13.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.032 13.0);
}

Colors that work with #ba8b8f

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#F9F5F6
Tinted page background
Border#E1CCCE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#90565B
Captions on the surface
Accent#48846F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#503032
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5EFF0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#231516
Dark-mode background
Hover#AD7579
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9F5F64
Two steps down
Disabled#E3D3D4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CA8F94
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 #ba8b8f

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

Works well for
  • 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
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #503032
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B8888C

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
  • Weight36/100
  • 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#8BBAB6
Analogous left#BA8BA6
Analogous right#BA9E8B
Split-complement 1#8BBA9E
Split-complement 2#8BA6BA
Triadic 1#8FBA8B
Triadic 2#8B8FBA
Tetradic#A6BA8B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°355°

#ba8b8f sits at 355°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red72.9%
Green54.5%
Blue56.1%
R · 0–255
186
0xba
G · 0–255
139
0x8b
B · 0–255
143
0x8f

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta25.3%
Yellow23.1%
Key (black)27.1%

Total ink coverage is 76%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ba8b8f text on a black background

contrast 7.18:1

Card sample

#ba8b8f text on a white background

contrast 2.93:1

Card sample

#ba8b8f on grey

2.67:1

#ba8b8f on its own surface

2.71:1

#ba8b8f on its dark surface

6.03:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ba8b8f;
Background color
Panel with #ba8b8f background
background-color: #ba8b8f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ba8b8f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(186, 139, 143, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(186, 139, 143, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ba8b8f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ba8b8f, #BAA68B);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ba8b8f, #BAB28B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ba8b8f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ba8b8f;
caret-color: #ba8b8f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ba8b8f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5EFF0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ba8b8f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ba8b8f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ba8b8f 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(186, 139, 143, 0.5)
rgb(186 139 143 / 50%)
#ba8b8f80
hsl(355 25% 64% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ba8b8f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ba8b8f1a#F8F3F4
20%#ba8b8f33#F1E8E9
40%#ba8b8f66#E3D1D2
60%#ba8b8f99#D6B9BC
80%#ba8b8fcc#C8A2A5

Gradients from #ba8b8f

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, #D1B1B4, #ba8b8f 45%, #503032);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ba8b8f, #AF9C78);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ba8b8f, #8BBAB6);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DCC4C6 0%, #ba8b8f 45%, #503032 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F5F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CDABC2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C5B29E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #503032 0%, transparent 65%), #ba8b8f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ba8b8f

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.

#ba8b8f 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 7.18:1.

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.

#ba8b8f, answered

What color is #ba8b8f?

#ba8b8f is a balanced soft red, closest to Rosy Brown (ΔE2000 2). It sits at 355° on the hue wheel with 25% saturation and 64% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ba8b8f?

rgb(186, 139, 143) — 186 red, 139 green and 143 blue out of 255, or 72.9% / 54.5% / 56.1% by channel.

What is #ba8b8f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(355, 25%, 64%) and hsv(355, 25%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ba8b8f a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3089 and perceived brightness is 61%, so black text on it reaches 7.18:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ba8b8f?

Black. It scores 7.18:1 against #ba8b8f, versus 2.93:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ba8b8f accessible on a white background?

#ba8b8f on white scores 2.93:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A3656A to reach 4.5:1, or #7C4A4E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ba8b8f?

#8BBAB6 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #8BBA9E and #8BA6BA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ba8b8f?

For interface work: #F9F5F6 as the surface, #E1CCCE for borders, #90565B for secondary text, #48846F as an accent and #503032 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BA8BA6 and #BA9E8B stays calm, while #8BBAB6 is the loudest partner.

What is #ba8b8f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 25%, 23%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ba8b8f warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 28 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BA988B; nudged cooler, #BC89A0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ba8b8f?

The rose family — its 500 step is #f43f5e, ΔE2000 18.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ba8b8f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ba8b8f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ba8b8f] or text-[#ba8b8f], 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 #ba8b8f with 50% opacity?

rgba(186, 139, 143, 0.5), or #ba8b8f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDC5C7; over black, #5D4648.

Is #ba8b8f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9999, ΔE2000 4.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ba8b8f 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 #ba8b8f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D1B1B4, #ba8b8f 45%, #503032). For more colour, a short hue run to #AF9C78 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ba8b8f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ba8b8f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.