Skip to content
red · warm

#c97057

a balanced, vivid red · warm · closest name: Indian Red

Token name suggestion: Atlas Ember

RGB
201, 112, 87
HSL
13°, 51%, 57%
CMYK
0, 44, 57, 21
Luminance
0.2469

#c97057 is a balanced vivid red, 13° on the wheel and 9/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (5.94:1). As text it scores 3.54:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Indian Red, nearest Tailwind family is red.

hsl(13 51% 57%)rgb(201 112 87)Base step 500AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c97057 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c97057
Hue
13°
red
Saturation
51%
vivid
Lightness
57%
balanced
Brightness
79%
HSV value
Perceived
56%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2469
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
9/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
5.94:1
Closest name
Indian Red
ΔE2000 9.1
Chroma
43.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.640
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
red
500 · ΔE 10.9
Web-safe
#CC6666
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue13° of 360°
Saturation51%
Lightness57%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c97057.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool9% 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
Red50%
Green47%
Blue3%

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

Every format

HEX#c97057
HEX (8-digit)#c97057ff
RGBrgb(201, 112, 87)
RGBArgba(201, 112, 87, 1)
HSLhsl(13, 51%, 57%)
HSV / HSBhsv(13, 57%, 79%)
HWBhwb(13 34% 21%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 44%, 57%, 21%)
LABlab(56.8 32.7 29.3)
LCHlch(56.8 43.9 41.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.640 0.119 36.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.60, 24.70, 12.12)
Decimal13201495
Display P3color(display-p3 0.788 0.439 0.341)
Web-safe#CC6666

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c97057;
background-color: #c97057;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c97057;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c97057] bg-[#c97057]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c97057;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.788, green: 0.439, blue: 0.341)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.788, green: 0.439, blue: 0.341, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C97057</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC97057)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC97057)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(87, 112, 201)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(201, 112, 87)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(201, 112, 87)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 201, 112, 87)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7882f, 0.4392f, 0.3412f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{201,112,87}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c97057 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c97057 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#612D1F, #EED9D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c97057 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: #FAF6F4;
  --brand-100: #F6ECEA;
  --brand-200: #EDD5CF;
  --brand-300: #E4B7AA;
  --brand-400: #D69380;
  --brand-500: #c97057;
  --brand-600: #B9573B;
  --brand-700: #9A4932;
  --brand-800: #7C3A28;
  --brand-900: #5A2D20;
  --brand-950: #381C14;
  --brand: #c97057;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F4;
  --brand-border: #EBCAC1;
  --brand-hover: #BF5A3D;
  --brand-pressed: #A44D35;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241714;
    --brand-ink: #EED9D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF6F4',
        100: '#F6ECEA',
        200: '#EDD5CF',
        300: '#E4B7AA',
        400: '#D69380',
        500: '#c97057',
        600: '#B9573B',
        700: '#9A4932',
        800: '#7C3A28',
        900: '#5A2D20',
        950: '#381C14',
        DEFAULT: '#c97057',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF6F4,
  '100': #F6ECEA,
  '200': #EDD5CF,
  '300': #E4B7AA,
  '400': #D69380,
  '500': #c97057,
  '600': #B9573B,
  '700': #9A4932,
  '800': #7C3A28,
  '900': #5A2D20,
  '950': #381C14,
);
$brand-base: #c97057;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF6F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F6ECEA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EDD5CF", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E4B7AA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D69380", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#c97057", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B9573B", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#9A4932", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7C3A28", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5A2D20", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#381C14", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c97057 · 5.94:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.54:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 5.94:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #c97057 as text scores 3.54:1 on white and 5.94:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #612D1F at 3.12:1.

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
#BB583C · 4.59:1
AA on white−8% L
#BB583C
The quick fox
#8D422D · 7.12:1
AAA on white−20% L
#8D422D
The quick fox
#c97057 · 5.94:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c97057
The quick fox
#CF816A · 7.00:1
AAA on black+5% L
#CF816A

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C97057 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
#c97057 on white: 3.54:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c97057 on black: 5.94:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c97057 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c97057.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.54:1AaAa
Slate 503.38:1AaAa
Slate 1003.23:1AaAa
Slate 2002.87:1AaAa
Slate 3002.38:1AaAa
Slate 4001.38:1AaAa
Slate 5001.35:1AaAa
Slate 6002.14:1AaAa
Slate 7002.93:1AaAa
Slate 8004.14:1AaAa
Slate 9005.05:1AaAa
Black5.94:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #867D55
deuteranopia · #9C9056
tritanopia · #DA616A

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. #c97057 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.

#FAF6F4
#F6ECEA
#EDD5CF
#E4B7AA
#D69380
#c97057
#B9573B
#9A4932
#7C3A28
#5A2D20
#381C14
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FAF6F4Darkest = 950 · #381C14Text 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 0.030 36.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.048 36.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.071 36.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.093 36.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.109 36.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.119 36.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.119 36.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.112 36.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.100 36.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.083 36.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.065 36.6);
}

Colors that work with #c97057

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#FAF6F4
Tinted page background
Border#EBCAC1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B5C4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#2D9F9B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#612D1F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F9EFEC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241714
Dark-mode background
Hover#BF5A3D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A44D35
Two steps down
Disabled#D4C1BC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D8785C
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 #c97057

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #612D1F
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • Weight44/100
  • 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#57B0C9
Analogous left#C95777
Analogous right#C9A957
Split-complement 1#57C9A9
Split-complement 2#5777C9
Triadic 1#57C970
Triadic 2#7057C9
Tetradic#77C957
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°13°

#c97057 sits at 13°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red78.8%
Green43.9%
Blue34.1%
R · 0–255
201
0xc9
G · 0–255
112
0x70
B · 0–255
87
0x57

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta44.3%
Yellow56.7%
Key (black)21.2%

Total ink coverage is 122%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c97057 text on a black background

contrast 5.94:1

Card sample

#c97057 text on a white background

contrast 3.54:1

Card sample

#c97057 on grey

3.23:1

#c97057 on its own surface

3.29:1

#c97057 on its dark surface

4.92:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c97057;
Background color
Panel with #c97057 background
background-color: #c97057;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c97057;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(201, 112, 87, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(201, 112, 87, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c97057;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c97057, #C9BC57);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c97057, #BAC957);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c97057;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c97057;
caret-color: #c97057;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c97057;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F9EFEC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c97057;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c97057 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c97057 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(201, 112, 87, 0.5)
rgb(201 112 87 / 50%)
#c9705780
hsl(13 51% 57% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c97057 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c970571a#FAF1EE
20%#c9705733#F4E2DD
40%#c9705766#E9C6BC
60%#c9705799#DFA99A
80%#c97057cc#D48D79

Gradients from #c97057

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, #D89885, #c97057 45%, #612D1F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c97057, #C2BE40);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c97057, #57B0C9);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DFAB9D 0%, #c97057 45%, #612D1F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF6F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D57E9E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D1BD6E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #612D1F 0%, transparent 65%), #c97057;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c97057

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.

#c97057 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 5.94:1.

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.

#c97057, answered

What color is #c97057?

#c97057 is a balanced vivid red, closest to Indian Red (ΔE2000 9.1). It sits at 13° on the hue wheel with 51% saturation and 57% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #c97057?

rgb(201, 112, 87) — 201 red, 112 green and 87 blue out of 255, or 78.8% / 43.9% / 34.1% by channel.

What is #c97057 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(13, 51%, 57%) and hsv(13, 57%, 79%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c97057 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2469 and perceived brightness is 56%, so black text on it reaches 5.94:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c97057?

Black. It scores 5.94:1 against #c97057, versus 3.54:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #c97057 accessible on a white background?

#c97057 on white scores 3.54:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #BB583C to reach 4.5:1, or #8D422D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c97057?

#57B0C9 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #57C9A9 and #5777C9, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c97057?

For interface work: #FAF6F4 as the surface, #EBCAC1 for borders, #9B5C4B for secondary text, #2D9F9B as an accent and #612D1F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C95777 and #C9A957 stays calm, while #57B0C9 is the loudest partner.

What is #c97057 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 44%, 57%, 21%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c97057 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 9 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C98057; nudged cooler, #CB5566.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c97057?

The red family — its 500 step is #ef4444, ΔE2000 10.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c97057 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c97057 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c97057] or text-[#c97057], 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 #c97057 with 50% opacity?

rgba(201, 112, 87, 0.5), or #c9705780 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E4B8AB; over black, #65382C.

Is #c97057 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC6666, ΔE2000 8.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c97057 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 chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #c97057?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D89885, #c97057 45%, #612D1F). For more colour, a short hue run to #C2BE40 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c97057 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c97057 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.