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red · warm

#cdaaa8

a light, soft red · warm · closest name: Rosy Brown

Token name suggestion: Morning Rust

RGB
205, 170, 168
HSL
3°, 27%, 73%
CMYK
0, 17, 18, 20
Luminance
0.4456

#cdaaa8 is a light soft red, 3° on the wheel and 23/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.91:1). As text it scores 2.12:1 on white — use #A46461 instead. Nearest name is Rosy Brown, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(3 27% 73%)rgb(205 170 168)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cdaaa8 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cdaaa8
Hue
red
Saturation
27%
soft
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4456
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
23/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.91:1
Closest name
Rosy Brown
ΔE2000 7.9
Chroma
13.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.768
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 24.1
Web-safe
#CC9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue3° of 360°
Saturation27%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cdaaa8.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool23% 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
Red29%
Green65%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#cdaaa8
HEX (8-digit)#cdaaa8ff
RGBrgb(205, 170, 168)
RGBArgba(205, 170, 168, 1)
HSLhsl(3, 27%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(3, 18%, 80%)
HWBhwb(3 66% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 17%, 18%, 20%)
LABlab(72.6 12.4 5.8)
LCHlch(72.6 13.7 25.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.768 0.041 21.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(46.62, 44.56, 43.18)
Decimal13478568
Display P3color(display-p3 0.804 0.667 0.659)
Web-safe#CC9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cdaaa8;
background-color: #cdaaa8;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cdaaa8;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cdaaa8] bg-[#cdaaa8]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cdaaa8;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.804, green: 0.667, blue: 0.659)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.804, green: 0.667, blue: 0.659, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CDAAA8</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCDAAA8)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCDAAA8)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(168, 170, 205)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(205, 170, 168)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(205, 170, 168)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 205, 170, 168)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8039f, 0.6667f, 0.6588f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{205,170,168}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cdaaa8 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cdaaa8 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#51302F, #E9D9D8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cdaaa8 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: #F9F6F6;
  --brand-100: #F3EDEC;
  --brand-200: #E6D7D6;
  --brand-300: #cdaaa8;
  --brand-400: #C29794;
  --brand-500: #AD7471;
  --brand-600: #9B5D59;
  --brand-700: #824D4A;
  --brand-800: #683E3C;
  --brand-900: #4C302E;
  --brand-950: #301E1D;
  --brand: #cdaaa8;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F6F5;
  --brand-border: #E1CCCB;
  --brand-hover: #C09491;
  --brand-pressed: #B37E7B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241514;
    --brand-ink: #E9D9D8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F6F6',
        100: '#F3EDEC',
        200: '#E6D7D6',
        300: '#cdaaa8',
        400: '#C29794',
        500: '#AD7471',
        600: '#9B5D59',
        700: '#824D4A',
        800: '#683E3C',
        900: '#4C302E',
        950: '#301E1D',
        DEFAULT: '#cdaaa8',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F6F6,
  '100': #F3EDEC,
  '200': #E6D7D6,
  '300': #cdaaa8,
  '400': #C29794,
  '500': #AD7471,
  '600': #9B5D59,
  '700': #824D4A,
  '800': #683E3C,
  '900': #4C302E,
  '950': #301E1D,
);
$brand-base: #cdaaa8;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F6F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3EDEC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6D7D6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cdaaa8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C29794", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AD7471", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9B5D59", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#824D4A", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#683E3C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4C302E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#301E1D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cdaaa8 · 9.91:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.12:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.91:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cdaaa8 as text scores 2.12:1 on white and 9.91:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #51302F at 5.46:1.

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
#A46461 · 4.59:1
AA on white−22% L
#A46461
The quick fox
#7B4A47 · 7.21:1
AAA on white−35% L
#7B4A47
The quick fox
#cdaaa8 · 9.91:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cdaaa8
The quick fox
#cdaaa8 · 9.91:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cdaaa8

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B88784 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
#cdaaa8 on white: 2.12:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cdaaa8 on black: 9.91:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cdaaa8 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cdaaa8.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.12:1AaAa
Slate 502.03:1AaAa
Slate 1001.93:1AaAa
Slate 2001.72:1AaAa
Slate 3001.43:1AaAa
Slate 4001.21:1AaAa
Slate 5002.25:1AaAa
Slate 6003.58:1AaAa
Slate 7004.89:1AaAa
Slate 8006.90:1AaAa
Slate 9008.43:1AaAa
Black9.91:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B0AEA8
deuteranopia · #B8B5A8
tritanopia · #D5A7AA

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. #cdaaa8 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.

#F9F6F6
#F3EDEC
#E6D7D6
#cdaaa8
#C29794
#AD7471
#9B5D59
#824D4A
#683E3C
#4C302E
#301E1D
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F6F6Darkest = 950 · #301E1DText 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 0.010 21.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.016 21.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.025 21.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.032 21.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.038 21.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.041 21.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.041 21.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.039 21.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.035 21.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.029 21.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.023 21.9);
}

Colors that work with #cdaaa8

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#F9F6F5
Tinted page background
Border#E1CCCB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#925754
Captions on the surface
Accent#468679
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#51302F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6EFEF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241514
Dark-mode background
Hover#C09491
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B37E7B
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F0F0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DAB1AF
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 #cdaaa8

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 #51302F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B88784

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
  • Weight27/100
  • 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#A8CBCD
Analogous left#CDA8B8
Analogous right#CDBCA8
Split-complement 1#A8CDBC
Split-complement 2#A8B8CD
Triadic 1#A8CDAA
Triadic 2#AAA8CD
Tetradic#B8CDA8
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°3°

#cdaaa8 sits at 3°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.4%
Green66.7%
Blue65.9%
R · 0–255
205
0xcd
G · 0–255
170
0xaa
B · 0–255
168
0xa8

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta17.1%
Yellow18.0%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 55%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cdaaa8 text on a black background

contrast 9.91:1

Card sample

#cdaaa8 text on a white background

contrast 2.12:1

Card sample

#cdaaa8 on grey

1.93:1

#cdaaa8 on its own surface

1.97:1

#cdaaa8 on its dark surface

8.31:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cdaaa8;
Background color
Panel with #cdaaa8 background
background-color: #cdaaa8;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cdaaa8;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(205, 170, 168, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(205, 170, 168, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cdaaa8;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cdaaa8, #CDC3A8);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cdaaa8, #CDCCA8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cdaaa8;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cdaaa8;
caret-color: #cdaaa8;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cdaaa8;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6EFEF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cdaaa8;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cdaaa8 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cdaaa8 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, 170, 168, 0.5)
rgb(205 170 168 / 50%)
#cdaaa880
hsl(3 27% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cdaaa8 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cdaaa81a#FAF7F6
20%#cdaaa833#F5EEEE
40%#cdaaa866#EBDDDC
60%#cdaaa899#E1CCCB
80%#cdaaa8cc#D7BBB9

Gradients from #cdaaa8

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, #E3D0CF, #cdaaa8 45%, #51302F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cdaaa8, #C2B994);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cdaaa8, #A8CBCD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EEE3E2 0%, #cdaaa8 45%, #51302F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F6F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E0C8D5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D8CEBB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #51302F 0%, transparent 65%), #cdaaa8;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cdaaa8

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.

#cdaaa8 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 9.91:1.

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.

#cdaaa8, answered

What color is #cdaaa8?

#cdaaa8 is a light soft red, closest to Rosy Brown (ΔE2000 7.9). It sits at 3° on the hue wheel with 27% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cdaaa8?

rgb(205, 170, 168) — 205 red, 170 green and 168 blue out of 255, or 80.4% / 66.7% / 65.9% by channel.

What is #cdaaa8 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(3, 27%, 73%) and hsv(3, 18%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cdaaa8 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4456 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 9.91:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cdaaa8?

Black. It scores 9.91:1 against #cdaaa8, versus 2.12:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cdaaa8 accessible on a white background?

#cdaaa8 on white scores 2.12:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A46461 to reach 4.5:1, or #7B4A47 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cdaaa8?

#A8CBCD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #A8CDBC and #A8B8CD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cdaaa8?

For interface work: #F9F6F5 as the surface, #E1CCCB for borders, #925754 for secondary text, #468679 as an accent and #51302F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CDA8B8 and #CDBCA8 stays calm, while #A8CBCD is the loudest partner.

What is #cdaaa8 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 17%, 18%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cdaaa8 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 23 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CDB6A8; nudged cooler, #CEA7B3.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cdaaa8?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 24.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cdaaa8 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cdaaa8 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cdaaa8] or text-[#cdaaa8], 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 #cdaaa8 with 50% opacity?

rgba(205, 170, 168, 0.5), or #cdaaa880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E6D5D4; over black, #675554.

Is #cdaaa8 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9999, ΔE2000 5.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cdaaa8 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 #cdaaa8?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E3D0CF, #cdaaa8 45%, #51302F). For more colour, a short hue run to #C2B994 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cdaaa8 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cdaaa8 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.