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red · warm

#bc9086

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Ember

RGB
188, 144, 134
HSL
11°, 29%, 63%
CMYK
0, 23, 29, 26
Luminance
0.3236

#bc9086 is a balanced soft red, 11° on the wheel and 18/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.47:1). As text it scores 2.81:1 on white — use #A16759 instead. Nearest name is Rosy Brown, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(11 29% 63%)rgb(188 144 134)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bc9086 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bc9086
Hue
11°
red
Saturation
29%
soft
Lightness
63%
balanced
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
62%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3236
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
18/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.47:1
Closest name
Rosy Brown
ΔE2000 4.3
Chroma
19.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.692
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 19.6
Web-safe
#CC9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue11° of 360°
Saturation29%
Lightness63%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bc9086.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool18% 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
Red33%
Green62%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#bc9086
HEX (8-digit)#bc9086ff
RGBrgb(188, 144, 134)
RGBArgba(188, 144, 134, 1)
HSLhsl(11, 29%, 63%)
HSV / HSBhsv(11, 29%, 74%)
HWBhwb(11 53% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 23%, 29%, 26%)
LABlab(63.6 15.2 11.7)
LCHlch(63.6 19.2 37.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.692 0.056 33.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.02, 32.36, 26.95)
Decimal12357766
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.565 0.525)
Web-safe#CC9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bc9086;
background-color: #bc9086;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bc9086;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bc9086] bg-[#bc9086]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bc9086;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.565, blue: 0.525)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.565, blue: 0.525, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BC9086</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBC9086)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBC9086)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(134, 144, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 144, 134)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 144, 134)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 144, 134)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.5647f, 0.5255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,144,134}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bc9086 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bc9086 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#52342D, #E9DBD8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bc9086 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: #F3EEEC;
  --brand-200: #E6D9D5;
  --brand-300: #D7BDB7;
  --brand-400: #bc9086;
  --brand-500: #AF7B6F;
  --brand-600: #9E6457;
  --brand-700: #835449;
  --brand-800: #69433A;
  --brand-900: #4D332D;
  --brand-950: #30201C;
  --brand: #bc9086;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F5;
  --brand-border: #E2CFCA;
  --brand-hover: #AF7B6F;
  --brand-pressed: #A16759;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241714;
    --brand-ink: #E9DBD8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F6F6',
        100: '#F3EEEC',
        200: '#E6D9D5',
        300: '#D7BDB7',
        400: '#bc9086',
        500: '#AF7B6F',
        600: '#9E6457',
        700: '#835449',
        800: '#69433A',
        900: '#4D332D',
        950: '#30201C',
        DEFAULT: '#bc9086',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F6F6,
  '100': #F3EEEC,
  '200': #E6D9D5,
  '300': #D7BDB7,
  '400': #bc9086,
  '500': #AF7B6F,
  '600': #9E6457,
  '700': #835449,
  '800': #69433A,
  '900': #4D332D,
  '950': #30201C,
);
$brand-base: #bc9086;
$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": "#F3EEEC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6D9D5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D7BDB7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#bc9086", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AF7B6F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9E6457", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#835449", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#69433A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4D332D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#30201C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bc9086 · 7.47:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.81:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.47:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bc9086 as text scores 2.81:1 on white and 7.47:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #52342D at 3.96:1.

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
#A16759 · 4.57:1
AA on white−14% L
#A16759
The quick fox
#7A4D43 · 7.07:1
AAA on white−26% L
#7A4D43
The quick fox
#bc9086 · 7.47:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bc9086
The quick fox
#bc9086 · 7.47:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bc9086

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B88A7F 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
#bc9086 on white: 2.81:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bc9086 on black: 7.47:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bc9086 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bc9086.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.81:1AaAa
Slate 502.69:1AaAa
Slate 1002.57:1AaAa
Slate 2002.28:1AaAa
Slate 3001.89:1AaAa
Slate 4001.10:1AaAa
Slate 5001.69:1AaAa
Slate 6002.70:1AaAa
Slate 7003.68:1AaAa
Slate 8005.20:1AaAa
Slate 9006.35:1AaAa
Black7.47:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9A9585
deuteranopia · #A49E86
tritanopia · #C68A8D

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. #bc9086 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
#F3EEEC
#E6D9D5
#D7BDB7
#bc9086
#AF7B6F
#9E6457
#835449
#69433A
#4D332D
#30201C
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F9F6F6Darkest = 950 · #30201CText 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 33.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.022 33.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.033 33.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.043 33.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.051 33.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.056 33.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.056 33.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.052 33.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.047 33.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.039 33.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.031 33.1);
}

Colors that work with #bc9086

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#FAF6F5
Tinted page background
Border#E2CFCA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#945E52
Captions on the surface
Accent#448883
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#52342D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6F0EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241714
Dark-mode background
Hover#AF7B6F
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A16759
Two steps down
Disabled#E1D4D1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CC978B
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 #bc9086

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 #52342D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B88A7F

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
  • Weight37/100
  • 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#86B2BC
Analogous left#BC8697
Analogous right#BCAB86
Split-complement 1#86BCAB
Split-complement 2#8697BC
Triadic 1#86BC90
Triadic 2#9086BC
Tetradic#97BC86
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°11°

#bc9086 sits at 11°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green56.5%
Blue52.5%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
144
0x90
B · 0–255
134
0x86

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta23.4%
Yellow28.7%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 78%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bc9086 text on a black background

contrast 7.47:1

Card sample

#bc9086 text on a white background

contrast 2.81:1

Card sample

#bc9086 on grey

2.57:1

#bc9086 on its own surface

2.62:1

#bc9086 on its dark surface

6.19:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bc9086;
Background color
Panel with #bc9086 background
background-color: #bc9086;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bc9086;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 144, 134, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 144, 134, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bc9086;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bc9086, #BCB486);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc9086, #B6BC86);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bc9086;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bc9086;
caret-color: #bc9086;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bc9086;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6F0EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bc9086;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bc9086 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bc9086 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(188, 144, 134, 0.5)
rgb(188 144 134 / 50%)
#bc908680
hsl(11 29% 63% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bc9086 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bc90861a#F8F4F3
20%#bc908633#F2E9E7
40%#bc908666#E4D3CF
60%#bc908699#D7BCB6
80%#bc9086cc#C9A69E

Gradients from #bc9086

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, #D2B4AD, #bc9086 45%, #52342D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bc9086, #B1AD72);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc9086, #86B2BC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DDC6C1 0%, #bc9086 45%, #52342D 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF6F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CEA7B6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C7BC9A 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #52342D 0%, transparent 65%), #bc9086;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bc9086

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.

#bc9086 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 7.47:1.

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.

#bc9086, answered

What color is #bc9086?

#bc9086 is a balanced soft red, closest to Rosy Brown (ΔE2000 4.3). It sits at 11° on the hue wheel with 29% saturation and 63% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bc9086?

rgb(188, 144, 134) — 188 red, 144 green and 134 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 56.5% / 52.5% by channel.

What is #bc9086 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(11, 29%, 63%) and hsv(11, 29%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bc9086 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3236 and perceived brightness is 62%, so black text on it reaches 7.47:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bc9086?

Black. It scores 7.47:1 against #bc9086, versus 2.81:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bc9086 accessible on a white background?

#bc9086 on white scores 2.81:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A16759 to reach 4.5:1, or #7A4D43 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bc9086?

#86B2BC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #86BCAB and #8697BC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bc9086?

For interface work: #FAF6F5 as the surface, #E2CFCA for borders, #945E52 for secondary text, #448883 as an accent and #52342D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BC8697 and #BCAB86 stays calm, while #86B2BC is the loudest partner.

What is #bc9086 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 23%, 29%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bc9086 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 18 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BC9A86; nudged cooler, #BE848F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bc9086?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 19.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bc9086 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bc9086 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bc9086] or text-[#bc9086], 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 #bc9086 with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 144, 134, 0.5), or #bc908680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DEC8C3; over black, #5E4843.

Is #bc9086 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9999, ΔE2000 5.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bc9086 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 #bc9086?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D2B4AD, #bc9086 45%, #52342D). For more colour, a short hue run to #B1AD72 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bc9086 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bc9086 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.