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orange · warm

#cbc4ba

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Apricot

RGB
203, 196, 186
HSL
35°, 14%, 76%
CMYK
0, 3, 8, 20
Luminance
0.5572

#cbc4ba is a light muted orange, 35° on the wheel and 32/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.14:1). As text it scores 1.73:1 on white — use #817461 instead. Nearest name is Silver, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(35 14% 76%)rgb(203 196 186)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cbc4ba is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cbc4ba
Hue
35°
orange
Saturation
14%
muted
Lightness
76%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
77%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5572
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
32/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
12.14:1
Closest name
Silver
ΔE2000 5.4
Chroma
5.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.823
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 25.1
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue35° of 360°
Saturation14%
Lightness76%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cbc4ba.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool32% 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%
Green71%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#cbc4ba
HEX (8-digit)#cbc4baff
RGBrgb(203, 196, 186)
RGBArgba(203, 196, 186, 1)
HSLhsl(35, 14%, 76%)
HSV / HSBhsv(35, 8%, 80%)
HWBhwb(35 73% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 3%, 8%, 20%)
LABlab(79.5 0.7 5.9)
LCHlch(79.5 5.9 83.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.823 0.016 77.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(53.23, 55.72, 54.40)
Decimal13354170
Display P3color(display-p3 0.796 0.769 0.729)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cbc4ba;
background-color: #cbc4ba;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cbc4ba;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cbc4ba] bg-[#cbc4ba]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cbc4ba;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.796, green: 0.769, blue: 0.729)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.796, green: 0.769, blue: 0.729, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CBC4BA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCBC4BA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCBC4BA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(186, 196, 203)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(203, 196, 186)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(203, 196, 186)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 203, 196, 186)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7961f, 0.7686f, 0.7294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{203,196,186}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cbc4ba 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cbc4ba 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#494137, #E5E1DC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cbc4ba 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: #F1F0EE;
  --brand-200: #E2DFDA;
  --brand-300: #cbc4ba;
  --brand-400: #B7AD9F;
  --brand-500: #9F927F;
  --brand-600: #8C7D69;
  --brand-700: #746958;
  --brand-800: #5D5446;
  --brand-900: #453F35;
  --brand-950: #2B2721;
  --brand: #cbc4ba;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F8F6;
  --brand-border: #DCD7D0;
  --brand-hover: #BCB3A6;
  --brand-pressed: #ACA191;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201D18;
    --brand-ink: #E5E1DC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F7F7',
        100: '#F1F0EE',
        200: '#E2DFDA',
        300: '#cbc4ba',
        400: '#B7AD9F',
        500: '#9F927F',
        600: '#8C7D69',
        700: '#746958',
        800: '#5D5446',
        900: '#453F35',
        950: '#2B2721',
        DEFAULT: '#cbc4ba',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F7F7,
  '100': #F1F0EE,
  '200': #E2DFDA,
  '300': #cbc4ba,
  '400': #B7AD9F,
  '500': #9F927F,
  '600': #8C7D69,
  '700': #746958,
  '800': #5D5446,
  '900': #453F35,
  '950': #2B2721,
);
$brand-base: #cbc4ba;
$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": "#F1F0EE", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E2DFDA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cbc4ba", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B7AD9F", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9F927F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8C7D69", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#746958", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5D5446", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#453F35", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2B2721", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cbc4ba · 12.14:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.73:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.14:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cbc4ba as text scores 1.73:1 on white and 12.14:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #494137 at 5.80:1.

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
#817461 · 4.56:1
AA on white−32% L
#817461
The quick fox
#615749 · 7.08:1
AAA on white−43% L
#615749
The quick fox
#cbc4ba · 12.14:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cbc4ba
The quick fox
#cbc4ba · 12.14:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cbc4ba

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9F9280 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
#cbc4ba on white: 1.73:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cbc4ba on black: 12.14:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cbc4ba as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cbc4ba.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.73:1AaAa
Slate 501.65:1AaAa
Slate 1001.58:1AaAa
Slate 2001.40:1AaAa
Slate 3001.16:1AaAa
Slate 4001.48:1AaAa
Slate 5002.75:1AaAa
Slate 6004.38:1AaAa
Slate 7005.99:1AaAa
Slate 8008.46:1AaAa
Slate 90010.32:1AaAa
Black12.14:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C7C4B9
deuteranopia · #C9C6BA
tritanopia · #CEC2C1

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. #cbc4ba 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.

#F8F7F7
#F1F0EE
#E2DFDA
#cbc4ba
#B7AD9F
#9F927F
#8C7D69
#746958
#5D5446
#453F35
#2B2721
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F8F7F7Darkest = 950 · #2B2721Text 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 0.004 77.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.006 77.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.010 77.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.012 77.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.015 77.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.016 77.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.016 77.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.015 77.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.013 77.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.011 77.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.009 77.1);
}

Colors that work with #cbc4ba

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#F8F8F6
Tinted page background
Border#DCD7D0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#837663
Captions on the surface
Accent#546C78
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#494137
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F3F0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201D18
Dark-mode background
Hover#BCB3A6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#ACA191
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F5F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D9CFC1
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 #cbc4ba

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
  • 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 #494137
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9F9280

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight24/100
  • 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#BAC1CB
Analogous left#CBBCBA
Analogous right#CACBBA
Split-complement 1#BACACB
Split-complement 2#BCBACB
Triadic 1#BACBC4
Triadic 2#C4BACB
Tetradic#BACBBC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°35°

#cbc4ba sits at 35°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.6%
Green76.9%
Blue72.9%
R · 0–255
203
0xcb
G · 0–255
196
0xc4
B · 0–255
186
0xba

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta3.4%
Yellow8.4%
Key (black)20.4%

Total ink coverage is 32%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cbc4ba text on a black background

contrast 12.14:1

Card sample

#cbc4ba text on a white background

contrast 1.73:1

Card sample

#cbc4ba on grey

1.58:1

#cbc4ba on its own surface

1.63:1

#cbc4ba on its dark surface

9.71:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cbc4ba;
Background color
Panel with #cbc4ba background
background-color: #cbc4ba;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cbc4ba;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(203, 196, 186, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(203, 196, 186, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cbc4ba;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cbc4ba, #C7CBBA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cbc4ba, #C2CBBA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cbc4ba;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cbc4ba;
caret-color: #cbc4ba;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cbc4ba;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F3F0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cbc4ba;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cbc4ba 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cbc4ba 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(203, 196, 186, 0.5)
rgb(203 196 186 / 50%)
#cbc4ba80
hsl(35 14% 76% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cbc4ba 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cbc4ba1a#FAF9F8
20%#cbc4ba33#F5F3F1
40%#cbc4ba66#EAE7E3
60%#cbc4ba99#E0DCD6
80%#cbc4bacc#D5D0C8

Gradients from #cbc4ba

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, #E5E2DD, #cbc4ba 45%, #494137);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cbc4ba, #B7BEA9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cbc4ba, #BAC1CB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2F1EE 0%, #cbc4ba 45%, #494137 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F8F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E1D7D7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D6D8CC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #494137 0%, transparent 65%), #cbc4ba;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cbc4ba

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.

#cbc4ba 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 12.14:1.

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.

#cbc4ba, answered

What color is #cbc4ba?

#cbc4ba is a light muted orange, closest to Silver (ΔE2000 5.4). It sits at 35° on the hue wheel with 14% saturation and 76% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cbc4ba?

rgb(203, 196, 186) — 203 red, 196 green and 186 blue out of 255, or 79.6% / 76.9% / 72.9% by channel.

What is #cbc4ba in HSL and HSV?

hsl(35, 14%, 76%) and hsv(35, 8%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cbc4ba a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5572 and perceived brightness is 77%, so black text on it reaches 12.14:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cbc4ba?

Black. It scores 12.14:1 against #cbc4ba, versus 1.73:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cbc4ba accessible on a white background?

#cbc4ba on white scores 1.73:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #817461 to reach 4.5:1, or #615749 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cbc4ba?

#BAC1CB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BACACB and #BCBACB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cbc4ba?

For interface work: #F8F8F6 as the surface, #DCD7D0 for borders, #837663 for secondary text, #546C78 as an accent and #494137 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CBBCBA and #CACBBA stays calm, while #BAC1CB is the loudest partner.

What is #cbc4ba in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 3%, 8%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cbc4ba warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 32 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CBC1BA; nudged cooler, #CCCBB9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cbc4ba?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 25.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cbc4ba as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cbc4ba in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cbc4ba] or text-[#cbc4ba], 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 #cbc4ba with 50% opacity?

rgba(203, 196, 186, 0.5), or #cbc4ba80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5E2DD; over black, #66625D.

Is #cbc4ba a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 5.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cbc4ba 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #cbc4ba?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E5E2DD, #cbc4ba 45%, #494137). For more colour, a short hue run to #B7BEA9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cbc4ba in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cbc4ba at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.