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orange · warm

#d09986

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Amber

RGB
208, 153, 134
HSL
15°, 44%, 67%
CMYK
0, 26, 36, 18
Luminance
0.3791

#d09986 is a light soft orange, 15° on the wheel and 8/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.58:1). As text it scores 2.45:1 on white — use #B16045 instead. Nearest name is Dark Salmon, nearest Tailwind family is orange.

hsl(15 44% 67%)rgb(208 153 134)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #d09986 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#d09986
Hue
15°
orange
Saturation
44%
soft
Lightness
67%
light
Brightness
82%
HSV value
Perceived
66%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3791
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
8/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.58:1
Closest name
Dark Salmon
ΔE2000 5.9
Chroma
25.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.731
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
orange
500 · ΔE 17.7
Web-safe
#CC9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue15° of 360°
Saturation44%
Lightness67%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #d09986.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool8% 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
Red35%
Green60%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#d09986
HEX (8-digit)#d09986ff
RGBrgb(208, 153, 134)
RGBArgba(208, 153, 134, 1)
HSLhsl(15, 44%, 67%)
HSV / HSBhsv(15, 36%, 82%)
HWBhwb(15 53% 18%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 26%, 36%, 18%)
LABlab(68.0 18.1 18.1)
LCHlch(68.0 25.6 45.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.731 0.072 39.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(41.71, 37.92, 27.67)
Decimal13670790
Display P3color(display-p3 0.816 0.600 0.525)
Web-safe#CC9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #d09986;
background-color: #d09986;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #d09986;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#d09986] bg-[#d09986]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #d09986;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.816, green: 0.600, blue: 0.525)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.816, green: 0.600, blue: 0.525, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#D09986</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFD09986)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFD09986)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(134, 153, 208)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(208, 153, 134)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(208, 153, 134)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 208, 153, 134)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8157f, 0.6000f, 0.5255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{208,153,134}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #d09986 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #d09986 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5C3224, #EEDAD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #d09986 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: #F5EDEA;
  --brand-200: #EBD8D1;
  --brand-300: #E0BBAE;
  --brand-400: #d09986;
  --brand-500: #C0775D;
  --brand-600: #B06045;
  --brand-700: #935039;
  --brand-800: #76402E;
  --brand-900: #563124;
  --brand-950: #361F17;
  --brand: #d09986;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F4;
  --brand-border: #E8CDC4;
  --brand-hover: #C6836C;
  --brand-pressed: #BC6E53;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241814;
    --brand-ink: #EEDAD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF6F5',
        100: '#F5EDEA',
        200: '#EBD8D1',
        300: '#E0BBAE',
        400: '#d09986',
        500: '#C0775D',
        600: '#B06045',
        700: '#935039',
        800: '#76402E',
        900: '#563124',
        950: '#361F17',
        DEFAULT: '#d09986',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF6F5,
  '100': #F5EDEA,
  '200': #EBD8D1,
  '300': #E0BBAE,
  '400': #d09986,
  '500': #C0775D,
  '600': #B06045,
  '700': #935039,
  '800': #76402E,
  '900': #563124,
  '950': #361F17,
);
$brand-base: #d09986;
$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": "#F5EDEA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EBD8D1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E0BBAE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#d09986", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#C0775D", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B06045", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#935039", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#76402E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#563124", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#361F17", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #d09986 · 8.58:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.45:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.58:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #d09986 as text scores 2.45:1 on white and 8.58:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5C3224 at 4.43:1.

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
#B16045 · 4.54:1
AA on white−19% L
#B16045
The quick fox
#854834 · 7.06:1
AAA on white−31% L
#854834
The quick fox
#d09986 · 8.58:1
AA on blackalready passes
#d09986
The quick fox
#d09986 · 8.58:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#d09986

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C6836C 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
#d09986 on white: 2.45:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#d09986 on black: 8.58:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #d09986 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #d09986.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.45:1AaAa
Slate 502.34:1AaAa
Slate 1002.23:1AaAa
Slate 2001.98:1AaAa
Slate 3001.65:1AaAa
Slate 4001.05:1AaAa
Slate 5001.94:1AaAa
Slate 6003.10:1AaAa
Slate 7004.23:1AaAa
Slate 8005.98:1AaAa
Slate 9007.30:1AaAa
Black8.58:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A69F85
deuteranopia · #B3AA86
tritanopia · #DD9194

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. #d09986 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
#F5EDEA
#EBD8D1
#E0BBAE
#d09986
#C0775D
#B06045
#935039
#76402E
#563124
#361F17
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FAF6F5Darkest = 950 · #361F17Text 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 0.018 39.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.029 39.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.043 39.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.056 39.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.066 39.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.072 39.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.072 39.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.068 39.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.060 39.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.050 39.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.040 39.9);
}

Colors that work with #d09986

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#E8CDC4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B5F4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#359797
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5C3224
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F8F0ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241814
Dark-mode background
Hover#C6836C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#BC6E53
Two steps down
Disabled#E9E0DD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DDA28E
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 #d09986

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 #5C3224
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #C6836C

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
  • Weight33/100
  • 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#86BDD0
Analogous left#D08698
Analogous right#D0BE86
Split-complement 1#86D0BE
Split-complement 2#8698D0
Triadic 1#86D099
Triadic 2#9986D0
Tetradic#98D086
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°15°

#d09986 sits at 15°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red81.6%
Green60.0%
Blue52.5%
R · 0–255
208
0xd0
G · 0–255
153
0x99
B · 0–255
134
0x86

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta26.4%
Yellow35.6%
Key (black)18.4%

Total ink coverage is 80%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#d09986 text on a black background

contrast 8.58:1

Card sample

#d09986 text on a white background

contrast 2.45:1

Card sample

#d09986 on grey

2.23:1

#d09986 on its own surface

2.28:1

#d09986 on its dark surface

7.06:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #d09986;
Background color
Panel with #d09986 background
background-color: #d09986;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #d09986;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(208, 153, 134, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(208, 153, 134, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #d09986;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #d09986, #D0CA86);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d09986, #C3D086);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #d09986;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #d09986;
caret-color: #d09986;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #d09986;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F8F0ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #d09986;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#d09986 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #d09986 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(208, 153, 134, 0.5)
rgb(208 153 134 / 50%)
#d0998680
hsl(15 44% 67% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #d09986 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#d099861a#FAF5F3
20%#d0998633#F6EBE7
40%#d0998666#ECD6CF
60%#d0998699#E3C2B6
80%#d09986cc#D9AD9E

Gradients from #d09986

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, #E1BEB2, #d09986 45%, #5C3224);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #d09986, #C7C770);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d09986, #86BDD0);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EAD1C8 0%, #d09986 45%, #5C3224 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%, #DEABBC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D9CF9C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5C3224 0%, transparent 65%), #d09986;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #d09986

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.

#d09986 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 8.58:1.

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.

#d09986, answered

What color is #d09986?

#d09986 is a light soft orange, closest to Dark Salmon (ΔE2000 5.9). It sits at 15° on the hue wheel with 44% saturation and 67% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #d09986?

rgb(208, 153, 134) — 208 red, 153 green and 134 blue out of 255, or 81.6% / 60% / 52.5% by channel.

What is #d09986 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(15, 44%, 67%) and hsv(15, 36%, 82%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #d09986 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3791 and perceived brightness is 66%, so black text on it reaches 8.58:1.

Should I use black or white text on #d09986?

Black. It scores 8.58:1 against #d09986, versus 2.45:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #d09986 accessible on a white background?

#d09986 on white scores 2.45:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #B16045 to reach 4.5:1, or #854834 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #d09986?

#86BDD0 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #86D0BE and #8698D0, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #d09986?

For interface work: #FAF6F4 as the surface, #E8CDC4 for borders, #9B5F4B for secondary text, #359797 as an accent and #5C3224 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #D08698 and #D0BE86 stays calm, while #86BDD0 is the loudest partner.

What is #d09986 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 26%, 36%, 18%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #d09986 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 8 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D0A286; nudged cooler, #D2858D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #d09986?

The orange family — its 500 step is #f97316, ΔE2000 17.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #d09986 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #d09986 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#d09986] or text-[#d09986], 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 #d09986 with 50% opacity?

rgba(208, 153, 134, 0.5), or #d0998680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E8CCC3; over black, #684D43.

Is #d09986 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9999, ΔE2000 7.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #d09986 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 #d09986?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E1BEB2, #d09986 45%, #5C3224). For more colour, a short hue run to #C7C770 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #d09986 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #d09986 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.