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red · warm

#dfd6d6

a pale, muted red · warm · closest name: Gainsboro

Token name suggestion: Chalk Rust

RGB
223, 214, 214
HSL
0°, 12%, 86%
CMYK
0, 4, 4, 13
Luminance
0.6864

#dfd6d6 is a pale muted red, 0° on the wheel and 38/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.73:1). As text it scores 1.43:1 on white — use #8E6F6F instead. Nearest name is Gainsboro, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(0 12% 86%)rgb(223 214 214)Base step 200AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dfd6d6 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dfd6d6
Hue
red
Saturation
12%
muted
Lightness
86%
pale
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
85%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6864
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
38/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
14.73:1
Closest name
Gainsboro
ΔE2000 4.4
Chroma
3.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.883
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 30
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue0° of 360°
Saturation12%
Lightness86%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dfd6d6.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool38% 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
Red23%
Green70%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#dfd6d6
HEX (8-digit)#dfd6d6ff
RGBrgb(223, 214, 214)
RGBArgba(223, 214, 214, 1)
HSLhsl(0, 12%, 86%)
HSV / HSBhsv(0, 4%, 87%)
HWBhwb(0 84% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 4%, 4%, 13%)
LABlab(86.3 3.1 1.1)
LCHlch(86.3 3.3 19.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.883 0.010 17.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(66.61, 68.64, 73.34)
Decimal14669526
Display P3color(display-p3 0.875 0.839 0.839)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dfd6d6;
background-color: #dfd6d6;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dfd6d6;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dfd6d6] bg-[#dfd6d6]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dfd6d6;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.875, green: 0.839, blue: 0.839)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.875, green: 0.839, blue: 0.839, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DFD6D6</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDFD6D6)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDFD6D6)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(214, 214, 223)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(223, 214, 214)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(223, 214, 214)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 223, 214, 214)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8745f, 0.8392f, 0.8392f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{223,214,214}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dfd6d6 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dfd6d6 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#483838, #E4DDDD);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dfd6d6 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: #F8F7F7;
  --brand-100: #F1EEEE;
  --brand-200: #dfd6d6;
  --brand-300: #CEC0C0;
  --brand-400: #B5A0A0;
  --brand-500: #9D8181;
  --brand-600: #896B6B;
  --brand-700: #735959;
  --brand-800: #5C4848;
  --brand-900: #443636;
  --brand-950: #2B2222;
  --brand: #dfd6d6;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F6;
  --brand-border: #DBD1D1;
  --brand-hover: #CFC2C2;
  --brand-pressed: #C0AEAE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201919;
    --brand-ink: #E4DDDD;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F7F7',
        100: '#F1EEEE',
        200: '#dfd6d6',
        300: '#CEC0C0',
        400: '#B5A0A0',
        500: '#9D8181',
        600: '#896B6B',
        700: '#735959',
        800: '#5C4848',
        900: '#443636',
        950: '#2B2222',
        DEFAULT: '#dfd6d6',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F7F7,
  '100': #F1EEEE,
  '200': #dfd6d6,
  '300': #CEC0C0,
  '400': #B5A0A0,
  '500': #9D8181,
  '600': #896B6B,
  '700': #735959,
  '800': #5C4848,
  '900': #443636,
  '950': #2B2222,
);
$brand-base: #dfd6d6;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F7F7", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1EEEE", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#dfd6d6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CEC0C0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B5A0A0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9D8181", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#896B6B", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#735959", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5C4848", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#443636", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2B2222", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dfd6d6 · 14.73:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.43:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.73:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dfd6d6 as text scores 1.43:1 on white and 14.73:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #483838 at 7.76:1.

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
#8E6F6F · 4.51:1
AA on white−36% L
#8E6F6F
The quick fox
#695252 · 7.17:1
AAA on white−49% L
#695252
The quick fox
#dfd6d6 · 14.73:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dfd6d6
The quick fox
#dfd6d6 · 14.73:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dfd6d6

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A78E8E 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
#dfd6d6 on white: 1.43:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dfd6d6 on black: 14.73:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dfd6d6 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dfd6d6.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.43:1AaAa
Slate 501.36:1AaAa
Slate 1001.30:1AaAa
Slate 2001.16:1AaAa
Slate 3001.04:1AaAa
Slate 4001.80:1AaAa
Slate 5003.34:1AaAa
Slate 6005.31:1AaAa
Slate 7007.26:1AaAa
Slate 80010.26:1AaAa
Slate 90012.52:1AaAa
Black14.73:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D7D7D6
deuteranopia · #D9D9D6
tritanopia · #E1D5D6

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. #dfd6d6 is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F7F7
#F1EEEE
#dfd6d6
#CEC0C0
#B5A0A0
#9D8181
#896B6B
#735959
#5C4848
#443636
#2B2222
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F8F7F7Darkest = 950 · #2B2222Text 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 0.002 17.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.004 17.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.006 17.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.008 17.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.009 17.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.010 17.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.010 17.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.009 17.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.008 17.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.007 17.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.005 17.3);
}

Colors that work with #dfd6d6

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#F8F6F6
Tinted page background
Border#DBD1D1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#816565
Captions on the surface
Accent#577570
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#483838
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F1F1
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201919
Dark-mode background
Hover#CFC2C2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C0AEAE
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F4F4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#EBDFDF
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 #dfd6d6

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading 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 #483838
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A78E8E

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. The high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight14/100
  • TemperatureWarm
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#D6DFDF
Analogous left#DFD6DB
Analogous right#DFDBD6
Split-complement 1#D6DFDB
Split-complement 2#D6DBDF
Triadic 1#D6DFD6
Triadic 2#D6D6DF
Tetradic#DBDFD6
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°0°

#dfd6d6 sits at 0°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.5%
Green83.9%
Blue83.9%
R · 0–255
223
0xdf
G · 0–255
214
0xd6
B · 0–255
214
0xd6

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta4.0%
Yellow4.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 21%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dfd6d6 text on a black background

contrast 14.73:1

Card sample

#dfd6d6 text on a white background

contrast 1.43:1

Card sample

#dfd6d6 on grey

1.30:1

#dfd6d6 on its own surface

1.32:1

#dfd6d6 on its dark surface

12.13:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dfd6d6;
Background color
Panel with #dfd6d6 background
background-color: #dfd6d6;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dfd6d6;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(223, 214, 214, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(223, 214, 214, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dfd6d6;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dfd6d6, #DFDCD6);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfd6d6, #DFDED6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dfd6d6;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dfd6d6;
caret-color: #dfd6d6;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dfd6d6;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F1F1;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dfd6d6;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dfd6d6 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dfd6d6 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(223, 214, 214, 0.5)
rgb(223 214 214 / 50%)
#dfd6d680
hsl(0 12% 86% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dfd6d6 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dfd6d61a#FCFBFB
20%#dfd6d633#F9F7F7
40%#dfd6d666#F2EFEF
60%#dfd6d699#ECE6E6
80%#dfd6d6cc#E5DEDE

Gradients from #dfd6d6

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, #F6F4F4, #dfd6d6 45%, #483838);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dfd6d6, #D2CEC5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfd6d6, #D6DFDF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F8F6F6 0%, #dfd6d6 45%, #483838 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #F5F3F4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #ECEAE7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #483838 0%, transparent 65%), #dfd6d6;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dfd6d6

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.

#dfd6d6 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
Print note

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

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 14.73:1.

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.

#dfd6d6, answered

What color is #dfd6d6?

#dfd6d6 is a pale muted red, closest to Gainsboro (ΔE2000 4.4). It sits at 0° on the hue wheel with 12% saturation and 86% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dfd6d6?

rgb(223, 214, 214) — 223 red, 214 green and 214 blue out of 255, or 87.5% / 83.9% / 83.9% by channel.

What is #dfd6d6 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(0, 12%, 86%) and hsv(0, 4%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dfd6d6 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6864 and perceived brightness is 85%, so black text on it reaches 14.73:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dfd6d6?

Black. It scores 14.73:1 against #dfd6d6, versus 1.43:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dfd6d6 accessible on a white background?

#dfd6d6 on white scores 1.43:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8E6F6F to reach 4.5:1, or #695252 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dfd6d6?

#D6DFDF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D6DFDB and #D6DBDF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dfd6d6?

For interface work: #F8F6F6 as the surface, #DBD1D1 for borders, #816565 for secondary text, #577570 as an accent and #483838 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DFD6DB and #DFDBD6 stays calm, while #D6DFDF is the loudest partner.

What is #dfd6d6 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 4%, 4%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dfd6d6 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 38 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DFD9D6; nudged cooler, #E0D5D9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dfd6d6?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 30 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dfd6d6 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dfd6d6 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dfd6d6] or text-[#dfd6d6], 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 #dfd6d6 with 50% opacity?

rgba(223, 214, 214, 0.5), or #dfd6d680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFEBEB; over black, #706B6B.

Is #dfd6d6 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 5.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dfd6d6 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #dfd6d6?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F6F4F4, #dfd6d6 45%, #483838). For more colour, a short hue run to #D2CEC5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dfd6d6 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dfd6d6 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.