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red · warm

#da9986

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Cardinal

RGB
218, 153, 134
HSL
14°, 53%, 69%
CMYK
0, 30, 39, 15
Luminance
0.3941

#da9986 is a light vivid red, 14° on the wheel and 9/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.88:1). As text it scores 2.36:1 on white — use #BC5739 instead. Nearest name is Dark Salmon, nearest Tailwind family is orange.

hsl(14 53% 69%)rgb(218 153 134)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #da9986 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#da9986
Hue
14°
red
Saturation
53%
vivid
Lightness
69%
light
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3941
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
9/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.88:1
Closest name
Dark Salmon
ΔE2000 4.1
Chroma
29.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.742
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
orange
500 · ΔE 17.2
Web-safe
#CC9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue14° of 360°
Saturation53%
Lightness69%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #da9986.

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
Red38%
Green58%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#da9986
HEX (8-digit)#da9986ff
RGBrgb(218, 153, 134)
RGBArgba(218, 153, 134, 1)
HSLhsl(14, 53%, 69%)
HSV / HSBhsv(14, 39%, 85%)
HWBhwb(14 53% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 30%, 39%, 15%)
LABlab(69.0 22.0 19.8)
LCHlch(69.0 29.6 41.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.742 0.083 37.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(44.61, 39.41, 27.81)
Decimal14326150
Display P3color(display-p3 0.855 0.600 0.525)
Web-safe#CC9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #da9986;
background-color: #da9986;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #da9986;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#da9986] bg-[#da9986]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #da9986;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.855, green: 0.600, blue: 0.525)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.855, green: 0.600, blue: 0.525, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DA9986</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDA9986)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDA9986)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(134, 153, 218)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(218, 153, 134)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(218, 153, 134)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 218, 153, 134)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8549f, 0.6000f, 0.5255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{218,153,134}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #da9986 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #da9986 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#622D1E, #EED9D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #da9986 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: #FBF6F4;
  --brand-100: #F6ECE9;
  --brand-200: #EDD5CE;
  --brand-300: #E5B7A9;
  --brand-400: #da9986;
  --brand-500: #CA6E53;
  --brand-600: #BC5739;
  --brand-700: #9C4830;
  --brand-800: #7D3A26;
  --brand-900: #5B2D1F;
  --brand-950: #391C14;
  --brand: #da9986;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F4;
  --brand-border: #ECCAC0;
  --brand-hover: #D2826B;
  --brand-pressed: #C96B4F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241714;
    --brand-ink: #EED9D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF6F4',
        100: '#F6ECE9',
        200: '#EDD5CE',
        300: '#E5B7A9',
        400: '#da9986',
        500: '#CA6E53',
        600: '#BC5739',
        700: '#9C4830',
        800: '#7D3A26',
        900: '#5B2D1F',
        950: '#391C14',
        DEFAULT: '#da9986',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF6F4,
  '100': #F6ECE9,
  '200': #EDD5CE,
  '300': #E5B7A9,
  '400': #da9986,
  '500': #CA6E53,
  '600': #BC5739,
  '700': #9C4830,
  '800': #7D3A26,
  '900': #5B2D1F,
  '950': #391C14,
);
$brand-base: #da9986;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF6F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F6ECE9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EDD5CE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E5B7A9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#da9986", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#CA6E53", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#BC5739", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#9C4830", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7D3A26", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5B2D1F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#391C14", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #da9986 · 8.88:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.36:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.88:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #da9986 as text scores 2.36:1 on white and 8.88:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #622D1E at 4.64:1.

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
#BC5739 · 4.60:1
AA on white−21% L
#BC5739
The quick fox
#8D412B · 7.18:1
AAA on white−33% L
#8D412B
The quick fox
#da9986 · 8.88:1
AA on blackalready passes
#da9986
The quick fox
#da9986 · 8.88:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#da9986

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #D07F67 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
#da9986 on white: 2.36:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#da9986 on black: 8.88:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #da9986 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #da9986.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.36:1AaAa
Slate 502.26:1AaAa
Slate 1002.16:1AaAa
Slate 2001.92:1AaAa
Slate 3001.59:1AaAa
Slate 4001.08:1AaAa
Slate 5002.01:1AaAa
Slate 6003.20:1AaAa
Slate 7004.38:1AaAa
Slate 8006.19:1AaAa
Slate 9007.55:1AaAa
Black8.88:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A8A185
deuteranopia · #B8AE85
tritanopia · #E98F94

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. #da9986 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.

#FBF6F4
#F6ECE9
#EDD5CE
#E5B7A9
#da9986
#CA6E53
#BC5739
#9C4830
#7D3A26
#5B2D1F
#391C14
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FBF6F4Darkest = 950 · #391C14Text 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 0.021 37.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.033 37.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.050 37.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.065 37.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.077 37.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.083 37.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.083 37.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.078 37.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.070 37.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.058 37.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.046 37.0);
}

Colors that work with #da9986

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#ECCAC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B5D4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#2CA09E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#622D1E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F9EFEB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241714
Dark-mode background
Hover#D2826B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C96B4F
Two steps down
Disabled#EDE5E3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E6A28F
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 #da9986

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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 #622D1E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #D07F67

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 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-high
  • Weight31/100
  • 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#86C7DA
Analogous left#DA869D
Analogous right#DAC386
Split-complement 1#86DAC3
Split-complement 2#869DDA
Triadic 1#86DA99
Triadic 2#9986DA
Tetradic#9DDA86
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°14°

#da9986 sits at 14°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.5%
Green60.0%
Blue52.5%
R · 0–255
218
0xda
G · 0–255
153
0x99
B · 0–255
134
0x86

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta29.8%
Yellow38.5%
Key (black)14.5%

Total ink coverage is 83%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#da9986 text on a black background

contrast 8.88:1

Card sample

#da9986 text on a white background

contrast 2.36:1

Card sample

#da9986 on grey

2.16:1

#da9986 on its own surface

2.20:1

#da9986 on its dark surface

7.35:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #da9986;
Background color
Panel with #da9986 background
background-color: #da9986;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #da9986;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(218, 153, 134, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(218, 153, 134, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #da9986;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #da9986, #DAD186);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #da9986, #CEDA86);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #da9986;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #da9986;
caret-color: #da9986;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #da9986;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F9EFEB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #da9986;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#da9986 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #da9986 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(218, 153, 134, 0.5)
rgb(218 153 134 / 50%)
#da998680
hsl(14 53% 69% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #da9986 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#da99861a#FBF5F3
20%#da998633#F8EBE7
40%#da998666#F0D6CF
60%#da998699#E9C2B6
80%#da9986cc#E1AD9E

Gradients from #da9986

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, #E8C0B5, #da9986 45%, #622D1E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #da9986, #D3D16E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #da9986, #86C7DA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EFD4CC 0%, #da9986 45%, #622D1E 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%, #E6ADC1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E1D49D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #622D1E 0%, transparent 65%), #da9986;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #da9986

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.

#da9986 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 8.88:1.

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.

#da9986, answered

What color is #da9986?

#da9986 is a light vivid red, closest to Dark Salmon (ΔE2000 4.1). It sits at 14° on the hue wheel with 53% saturation and 69% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #da9986?

rgb(218, 153, 134) — 218 red, 153 green and 134 blue out of 255, or 85.5% / 60% / 52.5% by channel.

What is #da9986 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(14, 53%, 69%) and hsv(14, 39%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #da9986 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3941 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 8.88:1.

Should I use black or white text on #da9986?

Black. It scores 8.88:1 against #da9986, versus 2.36:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #da9986 accessible on a white background?

#da9986 on white scores 2.36:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #BC5739 to reach 4.5:1, or #8D412B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #da9986?

#86C7DA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #86DAC3 and #869DDA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #da9986?

For interface work: #FAF6F4 as the surface, #ECCAC0 for borders, #9B5D4B for secondary text, #2CA09E as an accent and #622D1E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DA869D and #DAC386 stays calm, while #86C7DA is the loudest partner.

What is #da9986 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 30%, 39%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #da9986 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 #DAA586; nudged cooler, #DC8491.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #da9986?

The orange family — its 500 step is #f97316, ΔE2000 17.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #da9986 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #da9986 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#da9986] or text-[#da9986], 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 #da9986 with 50% opacity?

rgba(218, 153, 134, 0.5), or #da998680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EDCCC3; over black, #6D4D43.

Is #da9986 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9999, ΔE2000 7.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #da9986 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 #da9986?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E8C0B5, #da9986 45%, #622D1E). For more colour, a short hue run to #D3D16E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #da9986 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #da9986 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.