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orange · warm

#bc9779

a balanced, soft orange · warm · closest name: Tan

Token name suggestion: Studio Marmalade

RGB
188, 151, 121
HSL
27°, 33%, 61%
CMYK
0, 20, 36, 26
Luminance
0.3421

#bc9779 is a balanced soft orange, 27° on the wheel and 4/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.84:1). As text it scores 2.68:1 on white — use #986E4C instead. Nearest name is Tan, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(27 33% 61%)rgb(188 151 121)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bc9779 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bc9779
Hue
27°
orange
Saturation
33%
soft
Lightness
61%
balanced
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
63%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3421
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
4/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.84:1
Closest name
Tan
ΔE2000 9.2
Chroma
23.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.703
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 18.2
Web-safe
#CC9966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue27° of 360°
Saturation33%
Lightness61%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bc9779.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool4% 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
Red31%
Green65%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#bc9779
HEX (8-digit)#bc9779ff
RGBrgb(188, 151, 121)
RGBArgba(188, 151, 121, 1)
HSLhsl(27, 33%, 61%)
HSV / HSBhsv(27, 36%, 74%)
HWBhwb(27 47% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 20%, 36%, 26%)
LABlab(65.1 9.6 21.1)
LCHlch(65.1 23.1 65.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.703 0.061 60.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.26, 34.21, 22.83)
Decimal12359545
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.592 0.475)
Web-safe#CC9966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bc9779;
background-color: #bc9779;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bc9779;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bc9779] bg-[#bc9779]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bc9779;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.592, blue: 0.475)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.592, blue: 0.475, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BC9779</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBC9779)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBC9779)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(121, 151, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 151, 121)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 151, 121)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 151, 121)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.5922f, 0.4745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,151,121}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bc9779 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bc9779 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#553E2B, #EBDFD6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bc9779 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: #F9F7F5;
  --brand-100: #F4EFEC;
  --brand-200: #E8DDD4;
  --brand-300: #DAC5B4;
  --brand-400: #C7A88F;
  --brand-500: #bc9779;
  --brand-600: #A37652;
  --brand-700: #886244;
  --brand-800: #6D4F36;
  --brand-900: #503B2A;
  --brand-950: #32251B;
  --brand: #bc9779;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF7F5;
  --brand-border: #E4D5C9;
  --brand-hover: #B08561;
  --brand-pressed: #9E734F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241B14;
    --brand-ink: #EBDFD6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F7F5',
        100: '#F4EFEC',
        200: '#E8DDD4',
        300: '#DAC5B4',
        400: '#C7A88F',
        500: '#bc9779',
        600: '#A37652',
        700: '#886244',
        800: '#6D4F36',
        900: '#503B2A',
        950: '#32251B',
        DEFAULT: '#bc9779',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F7F5,
  '100': #F4EFEC,
  '200': #E8DDD4,
  '300': #DAC5B4,
  '400': #C7A88F,
  '500': #bc9779,
  '600': #A37652,
  '700': #886244,
  '800': #6D4F36,
  '900': #503B2A,
  '950': #32251B,
);
$brand-base: #bc9779;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F7F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4EFEC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E8DDD4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DAC5B4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C7A88F", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#bc9779", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A37652", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#886244", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6D4F36", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#503B2A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#32251B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bc9779 · 7.84:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.68:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.84:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bc9779 as text scores 2.68:1 on white and 7.84:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #553E2B at 3.72:1.

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
#986E4C · 4.50:1
AA on white−16% L
#986E4C
The quick fox
#6F5037 · 7.30:1
AAA on white−28% L
#6F5037
The quick fox
#bc9779 · 7.84:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bc9779
The quick fox
#bc9779 · 7.84:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bc9779

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B58D6B 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
#bc9779 on white: 2.68:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bc9779 on black: 7.84:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bc9779 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bc9779.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.68:1AaAa
Slate 502.56:1AaAa
Slate 1002.44:1AaAa
Slate 2002.17:1AaAa
Slate 3001.80:1AaAa
Slate 4001.04:1AaAa
Slate 5001.78:1AaAa
Slate 6002.83:1AaAa
Slate 7003.87:1AaAa
Slate 8005.46:1AaAa
Slate 9006.67:1AaAa
Black7.84:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A29977
deuteranopia · #ABA179
tritanopia · #C7908F

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. #bc9779 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.

#F9F7F5
#F4EFEC
#E8DDD4
#DAC5B4
#C7A88F
#bc9779
#A37652
#886244
#6D4F36
#503B2A
#32251B
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F7F5Darkest = 950 · #32251BText step on white = 700
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 0.015 60.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 60.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.037 60.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.048 60.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.056 60.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.061 60.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.061 60.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.057 60.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.051 60.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.043 60.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.034 60.6);
}

Colors that work with #bc9779

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#FAF7F5
Tinted page background
Border#E4D5C9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#996F4D
Captions on the surface
Accent#407D8C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#553E2B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6F2EE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241B14
Dark-mode background
Hover#B08561
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9E734F
Two steps down
Disabled#DCD2C9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CCA17E
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 #bc9779

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
  • 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 #553E2B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B58D6B

Meaning and mood

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

friendlyenergeticaffordablesocial

Orange is red with the aggression taken out — approachable, active, and strongly associated with buying and doing.

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

Hard to make feel premium, and it collides with the "caution" band in status systems.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight39/100
  • 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#799EBC
Analogous left#BC797D
Analogous right#BCB979
Split-complement 1#79BCB9
Split-complement 2#797DBC
Triadic 1#79BC97
Triadic 2#9779BC
Tetradic#7DBC79
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°27°

#bc9779 sits at 27°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green59.2%
Blue47.5%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
151
0x97
B · 0–255
121
0x79

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta19.7%
Yellow35.6%
Key (black)26.3%

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

Color previews

#bc9779 text on a black background

contrast 7.84:1

Card sample

#bc9779 text on a white background

contrast 2.68:1

Card sample

#bc9779 on grey

2.44:1

#bc9779 on its own surface

2.51:1

#bc9779 on its dark surface

6.31:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bc9779;
Background color
Panel with #bc9779 background
background-color: #bc9779;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bc9779;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 151, 121, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 151, 121, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bc9779;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bc9779, #B4BC79);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc9779, #A4BC79);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bc9779;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bc9779;
caret-color: #bc9779;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bc9779;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6F2EE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bc9779;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bc9779 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bc9779 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, 151, 121, 0.5)
rgb(188 151 121 / 50%)
#bc977980
hsl(27 33% 61% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bc9779 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bc97791a#F8F5F2
20%#bc977933#F2EAE4
40%#bc977966#E4D5C9
60%#bc977999#D7C1AF
80%#bc9779cc#C9AC94

Gradients from #bc9779

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, #D0B7A2, #bc9779 45%, #553E2B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bc9779, #A2B265);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc9779, #799EBC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DBC7B6 0%, #bc9779 45%, #553E2B 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF7F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CD9BA2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C4C68D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #553E2B 0%, transparent 65%), #bc9779;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bc9779

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.

#bc9779 in the real world

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

Industries
E-commerceFood deliveryLogisticsCreator tools
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 7.84:1.

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.

#bc9779, answered

What color is #bc9779?

#bc9779 is a balanced soft orange, closest to Tan (ΔE2000 9.2). It sits at 27° on the hue wheel with 33% saturation and 61% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bc9779?

rgb(188, 151, 121) — 188 red, 151 green and 121 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 59.2% / 47.5% by channel.

What is #bc9779 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(27, 33%, 61%) and hsv(27, 36%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bc9779 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3421 and perceived brightness is 63%, so black text on it reaches 7.84:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bc9779?

Black. It scores 7.84:1 against #bc9779, versus 2.68:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bc9779 accessible on a white background?

#bc9779 on white scores 2.68:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #986E4C to reach 4.5:1, or #6F5037 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bc9779?

#799EBC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #79BCB9 and #797DBC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bc9779?

For interface work: #FAF7F5 as the surface, #E4D5C9 for borders, #996F4D for secondary text, #407D8C as an accent and #553E2B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BC797D and #BCB979 stays calm, while #799EBC is the loudest partner.

What is #bc9779 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 20%, 36%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bc9779 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 4 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C4A38A; nudged cooler, #BE7D77.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bc9779?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 18.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bc9779 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bc9779 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bc9779] or text-[#bc9779], 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 #bc9779 with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 151, 121, 0.5), or #bc977980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DECBBC; over black, #5E4C3D.

Is #bc9779 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9966, ΔE2000 6.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bc9779 mean?

As a orange, it reads friendly, energetic, affordable. Orange is red with the aggression taken out — approachable, active, and strongly associated with buying and doing. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #bc9779?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D0B7A2, #bc9779 45%, #553E2B). For more colour, a short hue run to #A2B265 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bc9779 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bc9779 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.