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red · warm

#bfadaf

a light, muted red · warm · closest name: Dark Gray

Token name suggestion: Meadow Cardinal

RGB
191, 173, 175
HSL
353°, 12%, 71%
CMYK
0, 9, 8, 25
Luminance
0.4406

#bfadaf is a light muted red, 353° on the wheel and 40/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.81:1). As text it scores 2.14:1 on white — use #8D6E72 instead. Nearest name is Dark Gray, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(353 12% 71%)rgb(191 173 175)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

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

Hex
#bfadaf
Hue
353°
red
Saturation
12%
muted
Lightness
71%
light
Brightness
75%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4406
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
40/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
9.81:1
Closest name
Dark Gray
ΔE2000 8.7
Chroma
6.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.763
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 22.2
Web-safe
#CC9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue353° of 360°
Saturation12%
Lightness71%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool40% 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
Red25%
Green68%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#bfadaf
HEX (8-digit)#bfadafff
RGBrgb(191, 173, 175)
RGBArgba(191, 173, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(353, 12%, 71%)
HSV / HSBhsv(353, 9%, 75%)
HWBhwb(353 68% 25%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 9%, 8%, 25%)
LABlab(72.3 6.8 1.3)
LCHlch(72.3 6.9 11.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.763 0.021 9.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(44.17, 44.06, 46.73)
Decimal12561839
Display P3color(display-p3 0.749 0.678 0.686)
Web-safe#CC9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bfadaf;
background-color: #bfadaf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bfadaf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bfadaf] bg-[#bfadaf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bfadaf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.749, green: 0.678, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.749, green: 0.678, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BFADAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBFADAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBFADAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 173, 191)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(191, 173, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(191, 173, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 191, 173, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7490f, 0.6784f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{191,173,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bfadaf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bfadaf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#48383A, #E4DDDD);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bfadaf 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: #F8F7F7;
  --brand-100: #F1EEEF;
  --brand-200: #E1DADB;
  --brand-300: #CEC0C2;
  --brand-400: #bfadaf;
  --brand-500: #9D8184;
  --brand-600: #896B6F;
  --brand-700: #73595C;
  --brand-800: #5C484A;
  --brand-900: #443638;
  --brand-950: #2B2223;
  --brand: #bfadaf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F7;
  --brand-border: #DBD1D2;
  --brand-hover: #AF999C;
  --brand-pressed: #A08588;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201919;
    --brand-ink: #E4DDDD;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F7F7',
        100: '#F1EEEF',
        200: '#E1DADB',
        300: '#CEC0C2',
        400: '#bfadaf',
        500: '#9D8184',
        600: '#896B6F',
        700: '#73595C',
        800: '#5C484A',
        900: '#443638',
        950: '#2B2223',
        DEFAULT: '#bfadaf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F7F7,
  '100': #F1EEEF,
  '200': #E1DADB,
  '300': #CEC0C2,
  '400': #bfadaf,
  '500': #9D8184,
  '600': #896B6F,
  '700': #73595C,
  '800': #5C484A,
  '900': #443638,
  '950': #2B2223,
);
$brand-base: #bfadaf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F7F7", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1EEEF", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E1DADB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CEC0C2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#bfadaf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9D8184", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#896B6F", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#73595C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5C484A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#443638", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2B2223", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bfadaf · 9.81:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.14:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.81:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bfadaf as text scores 2.14:1 on white and 9.81:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #48383A at 5.16:1.

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
#8D6E72 · 4.56:1
AA on white−22% L
#8D6E72
The quick fox
#685154 · 7.26:1
AAA on white−35% L
#685154
The quick fox
#bfadaf · 9.81:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bfadaf
The quick fox
#bfadaf · 9.81:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bfadaf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A68E90 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
#bfadaf on white: 2.14:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bfadaf on black: 9.81:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.14:1AaAa
Slate 502.05:1AaAa
Slate 1001.95:1AaAa
Slate 2001.74:1AaAa
Slate 3001.44:1AaAa
Slate 4001.20:1AaAa
Slate 5002.22:1AaAa
Slate 6003.54:1AaAa
Slate 7004.84:1AaAa
Slate 8006.83:1AaAa
Slate 9008.34:1AaAa
Black9.81:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AFAFAF
deuteranopia · #B3B2AF
tritanopia · #C3ACAE

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. #bfadaf 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.

#F8F7F7
#F1EEEF
#E1DADB
#CEC0C2
#bfadaf
#9D8184
#896B6F
#73595C
#5C484A
#443638
#2B2223
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F7F7Darkest = 950 · #2B2223Text 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 0.005 9.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.008 9.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.013 9.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.016 9.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.019 9.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.021 9.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.021 9.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.020 9.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.018 9.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.015 9.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.011 9.9);
}

Colors that work with #bfadaf

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#F8F6F7
Tinted page background
Border#DBD1D2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#816568
Captions on the surface
Accent#55776A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#48383A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F1F1
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201919
Dark-mode background
Hover#AF999C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A08588
Two steps down
Disabled#F0ECED
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CEB2B5
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 #bfadaf

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • White text placed on it
  • 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 #48383A
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A68E90

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight29/100
  • TemperatureWarm
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#ADBFBD
Analogous left#BFADB8
Analogous right#BFB4AD
Split-complement 1#ADBFB4
Split-complement 2#ADB8BF
Triadic 1#AFBFAD
Triadic 2#ADAFBF
Tetradic#B8BFAD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°353°

#bfadaf sits at 353°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red74.9%
Green67.8%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
191
0xbf
G · 0–255
173
0xad
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta9.4%
Yellow8.4%
Key (black)25.1%

Total ink coverage is 43%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bfadaf text on a black background

contrast 9.81:1

Card sample

#bfadaf text on a white background

contrast 2.14:1

Card sample

#bfadaf on grey

1.95:1

#bfadaf on its own surface

1.99:1

#bfadaf on its dark surface

8.08:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(191, 173, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(191, 173, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bfadaf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bfadaf, #BFB7AD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

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

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bfadaf;
caret-color: #bfadaf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bfadaf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F1F1;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bfadaf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bfadaf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bfadaf 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(191, 173, 175, 0.5)
rgb(191 173 175 / 50%)
#bfadaf80
hsl(353 12% 71% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bfadaf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bfadaf1a#F9F7F7
20%#bfadaf33#F2EFEF
40%#bfadaf66#E5DEDF
60%#bfadaf99#D9CECF
80%#bfadafcc#CCBDBF

Gradients from #bfadaf

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, #DACFD1, #bfadaf 45%, #48383A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bfadaf, #B2AA9C);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bfadaf, #ADBFBD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E7E1E1 0%, #bfadaf 45%, #48383A 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F7, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D5CAD2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CCC5BE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #48383A 0%, transparent 65%), #bfadaf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bfadaf

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.

#bfadaf 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 9.81:1.

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.

#bfadaf, answered

What color is #bfadaf?

#bfadaf is a light muted red, closest to Dark Gray (ΔE2000 8.7). It sits at 353° on the hue wheel with 12% saturation and 71% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bfadaf?

rgb(191, 173, 175) — 191 red, 173 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 74.9% / 67.8% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #bfadaf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(353, 12%, 71%) and hsv(353, 9%, 75%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bfadaf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4406 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 9.81:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bfadaf?

Black. It scores 9.81:1 against #bfadaf, versus 2.14:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bfadaf accessible on a white background?

#bfadaf on white scores 2.14:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8D6E72 to reach 4.5:1, or #685154 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bfadaf?

#ADBFBD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ADBFB4 and #ADB8BF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bfadaf?

For interface work: #F8F6F7 as the surface, #DBD1D2 for borders, #816568 for secondary text, #55776A as an accent and #48383A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BFADB8 and #BFB4AD stays calm, while #ADBFBD is the loudest partner.

What is #bfadaf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 9%, 8%, 25%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bfadaf warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 40 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BFB2AD; nudged cooler, #C0ACB6.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bfadaf?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 22.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bfadaf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bfadaf in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(191, 173, 175, 0.5), or #bfadaf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DFD6D7; over black, #605758.

Is #bfadaf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9999, ΔE2000 10.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bfadaf 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #bfadaf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DACFD1, #bfadaf 45%, #48383A). For more colour, a short hue run to #B2AA9C keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bfadaf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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