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orange · warm

#c4ad95

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Amber

RGB
196, 173, 149
HSL
31°, 29%, 68%
CMYK
0, 12, 24, 23
Luminance
0.4379

#c4ad95 is a light soft orange, 31° on the wheel and 10/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.76:1). As text it scores 2.15:1 on white — use #8F704F instead. Nearest name is Tan, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(31 29% 68%)rgb(196 173 149)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c4ad95 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c4ad95
Hue
31°
orange
Saturation
29%
soft
Lightness
68%
light
Brightness
77%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4379
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
10/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.76:1
Closest name
Tan
ΔE2000 5.3
Chroma
16.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.761
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 20
Web-safe
#CC9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue31° of 360°
Saturation29%
Lightness68%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c4ad95.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool10% 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
Red27%
Green68%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#c4ad95
HEX (8-digit)#c4ad95ff
RGBrgb(196, 173, 149)
RGBArgba(196, 173, 149, 1)
HSLhsl(31, 29%, 68%)
HSV / HSBhsv(31, 24%, 77%)
HWBhwb(31 58% 23%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 12%, 24%, 23%)
LABlab(72.1 4.5 15.4)
LCHlch(72.1 16.0 73.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.761 0.043 68.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(43.13, 43.79, 34.61)
Decimal12889493
Display P3color(display-p3 0.769 0.678 0.584)
Web-safe#CC9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c4ad95;
background-color: #c4ad95;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c4ad95;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c4ad95] bg-[#c4ad95]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c4ad95;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.769, green: 0.678, blue: 0.584)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.769, green: 0.678, blue: 0.584, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C4AD95</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC4AD95)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC4AD95)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(149, 173, 196)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(196, 173, 149)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(196, 173, 149)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 196, 173, 149)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7686f, 0.6784f, 0.5843f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{196,173,149}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c4ad95 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c4ad95 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#52402E, #E9E1D8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c4ad95 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: #F9F7F6;
  --brand-100: #F3F0EC;
  --brand-200: #E6DED6;
  --brand-300: #D7C7B7;
  --brand-400: #c4ad95;
  --brand-500: #AF8F6F;
  --brand-600: #9D7B58;
  --brand-700: #836749;
  --brand-800: #69523A;
  --brand-900: #4D3E2D;
  --brand-950: #30261C;
  --brand: #c4ad95;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF7F5;
  --brand-border: #E2D6CB;
  --brand-hover: #B79B7E;
  --brand-pressed: #AA8967;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241C14;
    --brand-ink: #E9E1D8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F7F6',
        100: '#F3F0EC',
        200: '#E6DED6',
        300: '#D7C7B7',
        400: '#c4ad95',
        500: '#AF8F6F',
        600: '#9D7B58',
        700: '#836749',
        800: '#69523A',
        900: '#4D3E2D',
        950: '#30261C',
        DEFAULT: '#c4ad95',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F7F6,
  '100': #F3F0EC,
  '200': #E6DED6,
  '300': #D7C7B7,
  '400': #c4ad95,
  '500': #AF8F6F,
  '600': #9D7B58,
  '700': #836749,
  '800': #69523A,
  '900': #4D3E2D,
  '950': #30261C,
);
$brand-base: #c4ad95;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F7F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3F0EC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6DED6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D7C7B7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#c4ad95", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AF8F6F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9D7B58", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#836749", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#69523A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4D3E2D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#30261C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c4ad95 · 9.76:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.15:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.76:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c4ad95 as text scores 2.15:1 on white and 9.76:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #52402E at 4.58:1.

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
#8F704F · 4.57:1
AA on white−24% L
#8F704F
The quick fox
#6B543B · 7.10:1
AAA on white−35% L
#6B543B
The quick fox
#c4ad95 · 9.76:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c4ad95
The quick fox
#c4ad95 · 9.76:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c4ad95

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AE8E6E 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
#c4ad95 on white: 2.15:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c4ad95 on black: 9.76:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c4ad95 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c4ad95.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.15:1AaAa
Slate 502.06:1AaAa
Slate 1001.96:1AaAa
Slate 2001.75:1AaAa
Slate 3001.45:1AaAa
Slate 4001.19:1AaAa
Slate 5002.21:1AaAa
Slate 6003.52:1AaAa
Slate 7004.81:1AaAa
Slate 8006.80:1AaAa
Slate 9008.30:1AaAa
Black9.76:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B5AE93
deuteranopia · #BAB395
tritanopia · #CDA8A6

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. #c4ad95 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.

#F9F7F6
#F3F0EC
#E6DED6
#D7C7B7
#c4ad95
#AF8F6F
#9D7B58
#836749
#69523A
#4D3E2D
#30261C
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F9F7F6Darkest = 950 · #30261CText 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 0.011 68.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.017 68.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.026 68.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.033 68.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.039 68.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.043 68.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.043 68.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.040 68.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.036 68.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.030 68.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.023 68.3);
}

Colors that work with #c4ad95

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#E2D6CB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#937352
Captions on the surface
Accent#457587
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#52402E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6F2EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241C14
Dark-mode background
Hover#B79B7E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#AA8967
Two steps down
Disabled#EAE5DF
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D2B79B
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 #c4ad95

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary 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
  • 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 #52402E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AE8E6E

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 lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight32/100
  • 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#95ACC4
Analogous left#C49595
Analogous right#C3C495
Split-complement 1#95C3C4
Split-complement 2#9595C4
Triadic 1#95C4AD
Triadic 2#AD95C4
Tetradic#95C495
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°31°

#c4ad95 sits at 31°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red76.9%
Green67.8%
Blue58.4%
R · 0–255
196
0xc4
G · 0–255
173
0xad
B · 0–255
149
0x95

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta11.7%
Yellow24.0%
Key (black)23.1%

Total ink coverage is 59%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c4ad95 text on a black background

contrast 9.76:1

Card sample

#c4ad95 text on a white background

contrast 2.15:1

Card sample

#c4ad95 on grey

1.96:1

#c4ad95 on its own surface

2.02:1

#c4ad95 on its dark surface

7.80:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c4ad95;
Background color
Panel with #c4ad95 background
background-color: #c4ad95;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c4ad95;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(196, 173, 149, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(196, 173, 149, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c4ad95;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c4ad95, #BCC495);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4ad95, #B0C495);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c4ad95;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c4ad95;
caret-color: #c4ad95;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c4ad95;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6F2EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c4ad95;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c4ad95 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c4ad95 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(196, 173, 149, 0.5)
rgb(196 173 149 / 50%)
#c4ad9580
hsl(31 29% 68% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c4ad95 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c4ad951a#F9F7F4
20%#c4ad9533#F3EFEA
40%#c4ad9566#E7DED5
60%#c4ad9599#DCCEBF
80%#c4ad95cc#D0BDAA

Gradients from #c4ad95

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, #DACBBC, #c4ad95 45%, #52402E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c4ad95, #AAB981);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4ad95, #95ACC4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E5DAD0 0%, #c4ad95 45%, #52402E 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%, #D6B6B8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CBCFA8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #52402E 0%, transparent 65%), #c4ad95;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c4ad95

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.

#c4ad95 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
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
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 9.76:1.

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.

#c4ad95, answered

What color is #c4ad95?

#c4ad95 is a light soft orange, closest to Tan (ΔE2000 5.3). It sits at 31° on the hue wheel with 29% saturation and 68% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #c4ad95?

rgb(196, 173, 149) — 196 red, 173 green and 149 blue out of 255, or 76.9% / 67.8% / 58.4% by channel.

What is #c4ad95 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(31, 29%, 68%) and hsv(31, 24%, 77%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c4ad95 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4379 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 9.76:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c4ad95?

Black. It scores 9.76:1 against #c4ad95, versus 2.15:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c4ad95 accessible on a white background?

#c4ad95 on white scores 2.15:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8F704F to reach 4.5:1, or #6B543B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c4ad95?

#95ACC4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #95C3C4 and #9595C4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c4ad95?

For interface work: #FAF7F5 as the surface, #E2D6CB for borders, #937352 for secondary text, #457587 as an accent and #52402E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C49595 and #C3C495 stays calm, while #95ACC4 is the loudest partner.

What is #c4ad95 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 12%, 24%, 23%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c4ad95 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 10 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CDB7A5; nudged cooler, #C69A93.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c4ad95?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 20 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c4ad95 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c4ad95 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c4ad95] or text-[#c4ad95], 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 #c4ad95 with 50% opacity?

rgba(196, 173, 149, 0.5), or #c4ad9580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E2D6CA; over black, #62574B.

Is #c4ad95 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9999, ΔE2000 16.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c4ad95 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 #c4ad95?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DACBBC, #c4ad95 45%, #52402E). For more colour, a short hue run to #AAB981 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c4ad95 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c4ad95 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.