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orange · warm

#cab8ac

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Apricot

RGB
202, 184, 172
HSL
24°, 22%, 73%
CMYK
0, 9, 15, 21
Luminance
0.4982

#cab8ac is a light soft orange, 24° on the wheel and 21/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.96:1). As text it scores 1.92:1 on white — use #8D6E5A instead. Nearest name is Silver, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(24 22% 73%)rgb(202 184 172)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cab8ac is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cab8ac
Hue
24°
orange
Saturation
22%
soft
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
79%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4982
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
21/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.96:1
Closest name
Silver
ΔE2000 8.7
Chroma
9.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.794
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 23.6
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue24° of 360°
Saturation22%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cab8ac.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool21% 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%
Green69%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#cab8ac
HEX (8-digit)#cab8acff
RGBrgb(202, 184, 172)
RGBArgba(202, 184, 172, 1)
HSLhsl(24, 22%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(24, 15%, 79%)
HWBhwb(24 67% 21%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 9%, 15%, 21%)
LABlab(76.0 4.4 8.4)
LCHlch(76.0 9.5 62.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.794 0.027 56.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(48.94, 49.82, 46.06)
Decimal13285548
Display P3color(display-p3 0.792 0.722 0.675)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cab8ac;
background-color: #cab8ac;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cab8ac;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cab8ac] bg-[#cab8ac]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cab8ac;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.792, green: 0.722, blue: 0.675)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.792, green: 0.722, blue: 0.675, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CAB8AC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCAB8AC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCAB8AC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(172, 184, 202)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(202, 184, 172)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(202, 184, 172)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 202, 184, 172)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7922f, 0.7216f, 0.6745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{202,184,172}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cab8ac 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cab8ac 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4E3D32, #E7DFDA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cab8ac 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: #F2EFED;
  --brand-200: #E4DDD7;
  --brand-300: #cab8ac;
  --brand-400: #BDA798;
  --brand-500: #A88A76;
  --brand-600: #95755F;
  --brand-700: #7D614F;
  --brand-800: #644E40;
  --brand-900: #4A3B31;
  --brand-950: #2E251E;
  --brand: #cab8ac;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F7F6;
  --brand-border: #DFD4CD;
  --brand-hover: #BCA596;
  --brand-pressed: #AE9380;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #221B16;
    --brand-ink: #E7DFDA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F7F6',
        100: '#F2EFED',
        200: '#E4DDD7',
        300: '#cab8ac',
        400: '#BDA798',
        500: '#A88A76',
        600: '#95755F',
        700: '#7D614F',
        800: '#644E40',
        900: '#4A3B31',
        950: '#2E251E',
        DEFAULT: '#cab8ac',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F7F6,
  '100': #F2EFED,
  '200': #E4DDD7,
  '300': #cab8ac,
  '400': #BDA798,
  '500': #A88A76,
  '600': #95755F,
  '700': #7D614F,
  '800': #644E40,
  '900': #4A3B31,
  '950': #2E251E,
);
$brand-base: #cab8ac;
$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": "#F2EFED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E4DDD7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cab8ac", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BDA798", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A88A76", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#95755F", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7D614F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#644E40", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4A3B31", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2E251E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cab8ac · 10.96:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.92:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.96:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cab8ac as text scores 1.92:1 on white and 10.96:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4E3D32 at 5.38:1.

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
#8D6E5A · 4.66:1
AA on white−28% L
#8D6E5A
The quick fox
#6B5444 · 7.05:1
AAA on white−39% L
#6B5444
The quick fox
#cab8ac · 10.96:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cab8ac
The quick fox
#cab8ac · 10.96:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cab8ac

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AA8D7A 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
#cab8ac on white: 1.92:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cab8ac on black: 10.96:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cab8ac as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cab8ac.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.92:1AaAa
Slate 501.83:1AaAa
Slate 1001.75:1AaAa
Slate 2001.55:1AaAa
Slate 3001.29:1AaAa
Slate 4001.34:1AaAa
Slate 5002.48:1AaAa
Slate 6003.96:1AaAa
Slate 7005.41:1AaAa
Slate 8007.64:1AaAa
Slate 9009.32:1AaAa
Black10.96:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BDB9AB
deuteranopia · #C1BDAC
tritanopia · #D0B5B5

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. #cab8ac is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F7F6
#F2EFED
#E4DDD7
#cab8ac
#BDA798
#A88A76
#95755F
#7D614F
#644E40
#4A3B31
#2E251E
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F7F6Darkest = 950 · #2E251EText 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 0.007 56.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.011 56.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.016 56.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.021 56.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.024 56.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.027 56.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.027 56.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.025 56.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.022 56.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.019 56.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.015 56.0);
}

Colors that work with #cab8ac

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#F9F7F6
Tinted page background
Border#DFD4CD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8C6E59
Captions on the surface
Accent#4B7881
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4E3D32
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5F2EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#221B16
Dark-mode background
Hover#BCA596
One step down in lightness
Pressed#AE9380
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F2F0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D8C1B3
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 #cab8ac

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 #4E3D32
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AA8D7A

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
  • Weight27/100
  • 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#ACBECA
Analogous left#CAACAF
Analogous right#CAC7AC
Split-complement 1#ACCAC7
Split-complement 2#ACAFCA
Triadic 1#ACCAB8
Triadic 2#B8ACCA
Tetradic#AFCAAC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°24°

#cab8ac sits at 24°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.2%
Green72.2%
Blue67.5%
R · 0–255
202
0xca
G · 0–255
184
0xb8
B · 0–255
172
0xac

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta8.9%
Yellow14.9%
Key (black)20.8%

Total ink coverage is 45%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cab8ac text on a black background

contrast 10.96:1

Card sample

#cab8ac text on a white background

contrast 1.92:1

Card sample

#cab8ac on grey

1.75:1

#cab8ac on its own surface

1.79:1

#cab8ac on its dark surface

8.87:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cab8ac;
Background color
Panel with #cab8ac background
background-color: #cab8ac;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cab8ac;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(202, 184, 172, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(202, 184, 172, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cab8ac;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cab8ac, #C8CAAC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cab8ac, #C0CAAC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cab8ac;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cab8ac;
caret-color: #cab8ac;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cab8ac;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5F2EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cab8ac;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cab8ac 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cab8ac 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(202, 184, 172, 0.5)
rgb(202 184 172 / 50%)
#cab8ac80
hsl(24 22% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cab8ac 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cab8ac1a#FAF8F7
20%#cab8ac33#F4F1EE
40%#cab8ac66#EAE3DE
60%#cab8ac99#DFD4CD
80%#cab8accc#D5C6BD

Gradients from #cab8ac

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, #E2D8D1, #cab8ac 45%, #4E3D32);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cab8ac, #B9BE99);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cab8ac, #ACBECA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EEE8E4 0%, #cab8ac 45%, #4E3D32 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F7F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DECBCE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D6D5BF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4E3D32 0%, transparent 65%), #cab8ac;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cab8ac

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.

#cab8ac 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 10.96:1.

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.

#cab8ac, answered

What color is #cab8ac?

#cab8ac is a light soft orange, closest to Silver (ΔE2000 8.7). It sits at 24° on the hue wheel with 22% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cab8ac?

rgb(202, 184, 172) — 202 red, 184 green and 172 blue out of 255, or 79.2% / 72.2% / 67.5% by channel.

What is #cab8ac in HSL and HSV?

hsl(24, 22%, 73%) and hsv(24, 15%, 79%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cab8ac a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4982 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 10.96:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cab8ac?

Black. It scores 10.96:1 against #cab8ac, versus 1.92:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cab8ac accessible on a white background?

#cab8ac on white scores 1.92:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8D6E5A to reach 4.5:1, or #6B5444 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cab8ac?

#ACBECA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ACCAC7 and #ACAFCA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cab8ac?

For interface work: #F9F7F6 as the surface, #DFD4CD for borders, #8C6E59 for secondary text, #4B7881 as an accent and #4E3D32 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CAACAF and #CAC7AC stays calm, while #ACBECA is the loudest partner.

What is #cab8ac in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 9%, 15%, 21%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cab8ac warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 21 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D4C6BB; nudged cooler, #CBACAB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cab8ac?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 23.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cab8ac as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cab8ac in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cab8ac] or text-[#cab8ac], 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 #cab8ac with 50% opacity?

rgba(202, 184, 172, 0.5), or #cab8ac80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5DCD6; over black, #655C56.

Is #cab8ac a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 17.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cab8ac 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 #cab8ac?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E2D8D1, #cab8ac 45%, #4E3D32). For more colour, a short hue run to #B9BE99 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cab8ac in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cab8ac at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.