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red · warm

#cd8d7f

a light, soft red · warm · closest name: Dark Salmon

Token name suggestion: Meadow Cardinal

RGB
205, 141, 127
HSL
11°, 44%, 65%
CMYK
0, 31, 38, 20
Luminance
0.3356

#cd8d7f is a light soft red, 11° on the wheel and 11/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.71:1). As text it scores 2.72:1 on white — use #B75C48 instead. Nearest name is Dark Salmon, nearest Tailwind family is red.

hsl(11 44% 65%)rgb(205 141 127)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cd8d7f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cd8d7f
Hue
11°
red
Saturation
44%
soft
Lightness
65%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
63%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3356
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
11/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.71:1
Closest name
Dark Salmon
ΔE2000 6.8
Chroma
28.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.704
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
red
500 · ΔE 16.8
Web-safe
#CC9966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue11° of 360°
Saturation44%
Lightness65%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cd8d7f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool11% 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
Red39%
Green57%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#cd8d7f
HEX (8-digit)#cd8d7fff
RGBrgb(205, 141, 127)
RGBArgba(205, 141, 127, 1)
HSLhsl(11, 44%, 65%)
HSV / HSBhsv(11, 38%, 80%)
HWBhwb(11 50% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 31%, 38%, 20%)
LABlab(64.6 22.6 17.3)
LCHlch(64.6 28.4 37.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.704 0.081 32.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(38.53, 33.56, 24.52)
Decimal13471103
Display P3color(display-p3 0.804 0.553 0.498)
Web-safe#CC9966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cd8d7f;
background-color: #cd8d7f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cd8d7f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cd8d7f] bg-[#cd8d7f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cd8d7f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.804, green: 0.553, blue: 0.498)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.804, green: 0.553, blue: 0.498, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CD8D7F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCD8D7F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCD8D7F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(127, 141, 205)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(205, 141, 127)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(205, 141, 127)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 205, 141, 127)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8039f, 0.5529f, 0.4980f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{205,141,127}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cd8d7f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cd8d7f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5C2E24, #EED8D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cd8d7f 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: #FAF6F5;
  --brand-100: #F5ECEA;
  --brand-200: #EBD6D1;
  --brand-300: #DFB7AE;
  --brand-400: #cd8d7f;
  --brand-500: #C06F5E;
  --brand-600: #B05845;
  --brand-700: #934939;
  --brand-800: #753B2E;
  --brand-900: #562D25;
  --brand-950: #361C17;
  --brand: #cd8d7f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF5F4;
  --brand-border: #E8CBC4;
  --brand-hover: #C37665;
  --brand-pressed: #B95F4C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241714;
    --brand-ink: #EED8D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF6F5',
        100: '#F5ECEA',
        200: '#EBD6D1',
        300: '#DFB7AE',
        400: '#cd8d7f',
        500: '#C06F5E',
        600: '#B05845',
        700: '#934939',
        800: '#753B2E',
        900: '#562D25',
        950: '#361C17',
        DEFAULT: '#cd8d7f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF6F5,
  '100': #F5ECEA,
  '200': #EBD6D1,
  '300': #DFB7AE,
  '400': #cd8d7f,
  '500': #C06F5E,
  '600': #B05845,
  '700': #934939,
  '800': #753B2E,
  '900': #562D25,
  '950': #361C17,
);
$brand-base: #cd8d7f;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF6F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F5ECEA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EBD6D1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DFB7AE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#cd8d7f", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#C06F5E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B05845", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#934939", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#753B2E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#562D25", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#361C17", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cd8d7f · 7.71:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.72:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.71:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cd8d7f as text scores 2.72:1 on white and 7.71:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5C2E24 at 4.12:1.

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
#B75C48 · 4.53:1
AA on white−15% L
#B75C48
The quick fox
#884435 · 7.18:1
AAA on white−28% L
#884435
The quick fox
#cd8d7f · 7.71:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cd8d7f
The quick fox
#cd8d7f · 7.71:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cd8d7f

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C98374 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
#cd8d7f on white: 2.72:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cd8d7f on black: 7.71:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cd8d7f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cd8d7f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.72:1AaAa
Slate 502.60:1AaAa
Slate 1002.49:1AaAa
Slate 2002.21:1AaAa
Slate 3001.83:1AaAa
Slate 4001.06:1AaAa
Slate 5001.75:1AaAa
Slate 6002.78:1AaAa
Slate 7003.80:1AaAa
Slate 8005.37:1AaAa
Slate 9006.56:1AaAa
Black7.71:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9B957E
deuteranopia · #ABA27E
tritanopia · #DB8489

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. #cd8d7f 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.

#FAF6F5
#F5ECEA
#EBD6D1
#DFB7AE
#cd8d7f
#C06F5E
#B05845
#934939
#753B2E
#562D25
#361C17
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FAF6F5Darkest = 950 · #361C17Text 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 0.020 32.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.033 32.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.049 32.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.063 32.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.075 32.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.081 32.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.081 32.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.077 32.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.068 32.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.057 32.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.045 32.8);
}

Colors that work with #cd8d7f

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#FAF5F4
Tinted page background
Border#E8CBC4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B594B
Captions on the surface
Accent#359790
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5C2E24
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F8EFED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241714
Dark-mode background
Hover#C37665
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B95F4C
Two steps down
Disabled#E5D9D7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DB9586
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 #cd8d7f

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
  • 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 #5C2E24
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #C98374

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.

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

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
  • Weight35/100
  • 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#7FBFCD
Analogous left#CD7F98
Analogous right#CDB47F
Split-complement 1#7FCDB4
Split-complement 2#7F98CD
Triadic 1#7FCD8D
Triadic 2#8D7FCD
Tetradic#98CD7F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°11°

#cd8d7f sits at 11°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.4%
Green55.3%
Blue49.8%
R · 0–255
205
0xcd
G · 0–255
141
0x8d
B · 0–255
127
0x7f

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta31.2%
Yellow38.0%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 89%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cd8d7f text on a black background

contrast 7.71:1

Card sample

#cd8d7f text on a white background

contrast 2.72:1

Card sample

#cd8d7f on grey

2.49:1

#cd8d7f on its own surface

2.52:1

#cd8d7f on its dark surface

6.39:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cd8d7f;
Background color
Panel with #cd8d7f background
background-color: #cd8d7f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cd8d7f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(205, 141, 127, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(205, 141, 127, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cd8d7f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cd8d7f, #CDC17F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cd8d7f, #C5CD7F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cd8d7f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cd8d7f;
caret-color: #cd8d7f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cd8d7f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F8EFED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cd8d7f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cd8d7f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cd8d7f 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(205, 141, 127, 0.5)
rgb(205 141 127 / 50%)
#cd8d7f80
hsl(11 44% 65% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cd8d7f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cd8d7f1a#FAF4F2
20%#cd8d7f33#F5E8E5
40%#cd8d7f66#EBD1CC
60%#cd8d7f99#E1BBB2
80%#cd8d7fcc#D7A499

Gradients from #cd8d7f

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, #DEB4AB, #cd8d7f 45%, #5C2E24);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cd8d7f, #C4BE69);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cd8d7f, #7FBFCD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E7C8C1 0%, #cd8d7f 45%, #5C2E24 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF5F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DBA4BA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D6C695 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5C2E24 0%, transparent 65%), #cd8d7f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cd8d7f

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.

#cd8d7f 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
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 7.71:1.

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.

#cd8d7f, answered

What color is #cd8d7f?

#cd8d7f is a light soft red, closest to Dark Salmon (ΔE2000 6.8). It sits at 11° on the hue wheel with 44% saturation and 65% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cd8d7f?

rgb(205, 141, 127) — 205 red, 141 green and 127 blue out of 255, or 80.4% / 55.3% / 49.8% by channel.

What is #cd8d7f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(11, 44%, 65%) and hsv(11, 38%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cd8d7f a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3356 and perceived brightness is 63%, so black text on it reaches 7.71:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cd8d7f?

Black. It scores 7.71:1 against #cd8d7f, versus 2.72:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cd8d7f accessible on a white background?

#cd8d7f on white scores 2.72:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #B75C48 to reach 4.5:1, or #884435 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cd8d7f?

#7FBFCD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #7FCDB4 and #7F98CD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cd8d7f?

For interface work: #FAF5F4 as the surface, #E8CBC4 for borders, #9B594B for secondary text, #359790 as an accent and #5C2E24 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CD7F98 and #CDB47F stays calm, while #7FBFCD is the loudest partner.

What is #cd8d7f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 31%, 38%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cd8d7f warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 11 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CD9B7F; nudged cooler, #CF7D8C.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cd8d7f?

The red family — its 500 step is #ef4444, ΔE2000 16.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cd8d7f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cd8d7f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cd8d7f] or text-[#cd8d7f], 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 #cd8d7f with 50% opacity?

rgba(205, 141, 127, 0.5), or #cd8d7f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E6C6BF; over black, #674740.

Is #cd8d7f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9966, ΔE2000 14.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cd8d7f 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #cd8d7f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DEB4AB, #cd8d7f 45%, #5C2E24). For more colour, a short hue run to #C4BE69 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cd8d7f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cd8d7f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.