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red · warm

#dabab9

a light, soft red · warm · closest name: Pink

Token name suggestion: Linen Rust

RGB
218, 186, 185
HSL
2°, 31%, 79%
CMYK
0, 15, 15, 15
Luminance
0.5353

#dabab9 is a light soft red, 2° on the wheel and 20/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.71:1). As text it scores 1.79:1 on white — use #AA615F instead. Nearest name is Pink, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(2 31% 79%)rgb(218 186 185)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dabab9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dabab9
Hue
red
Saturation
31%
soft
Lightness
79%
light
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
77%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5353
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
20/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.71:1
Closest name
Pink
ΔE2000 9.4
Chroma
12.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.816
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 27.3
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue2° of 360°
Saturation31%
Lightness79%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dabab9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool20% 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
Red28%
Green66%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#dabab9
HEX (8-digit)#dabab9ff
RGBrgb(218, 186, 185)
RGBArgba(218, 186, 185, 1)
HSLhsl(2, 31%, 79%)
HSV / HSBhsv(2, 15%, 85%)
HWBhwb(2 73% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 15%, 15%, 15%)
LABlab(78.2 11.3 4.8)
LCHlch(78.2 12.2 22.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.816 0.037 20.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(55.23, 53.53, 53.31)
Decimal14334649
Display P3color(display-p3 0.855 0.729 0.725)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dabab9;
background-color: #dabab9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dabab9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dabab9] bg-[#dabab9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dabab9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.855, green: 0.729, blue: 0.725)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.855, green: 0.729, blue: 0.725, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DABAB9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDABAB9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDABAB9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(185, 186, 218)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(218, 186, 185)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(218, 186, 185)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 218, 186, 185)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8549f, 0.7294f, 0.7255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{218,186,185}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dabab9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dabab9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#532D2C, #EAD8D7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dabab9 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: #F3ECEC;
  --brand-200: #E7D5D5;
  --brand-300: #dabab9;
  --brand-400: #C59291;
  --brand-500: #B16E6C;
  --brand-600: #A05755;
  --brand-700: #854847;
  --brand-800: #6B3A38;
  --brand-900: #4F2D2C;
  --brand-950: #311C1B;
  --brand: #dabab9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF5F5;
  --brand-border: #E3CACA;
  --brand-hover: #CEA3A2;
  --brand-pressed: #C18C8A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241414;
    --brand-ink: #EAD8D7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F6F6',
        100: '#F3ECEC',
        200: '#E7D5D5',
        300: '#dabab9',
        400: '#C59291',
        500: '#B16E6C',
        600: '#A05755',
        700: '#854847',
        800: '#6B3A38',
        900: '#4F2D2C',
        950: '#311C1B',
        DEFAULT: '#dabab9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F6F6,
  '100': #F3ECEC,
  '200': #E7D5D5,
  '300': #dabab9,
  '400': #C59291,
  '500': #B16E6C,
  '600': #A05755,
  '700': #854847,
  '800': #6B3A38,
  '900': #4F2D2C,
  '950': #311C1B,
);
$brand-base: #dabab9;
$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": "#F3ECEC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E7D5D5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#dabab9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C59291", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#B16E6C", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A05755", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#854847", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6B3A38", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4F2D2C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#311C1B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dabab9 · 11.71:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.79:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.71:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dabab9 as text scores 1.79:1 on white and 11.71:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #532D2C at 6.58:1.

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
#AA615F · 4.58:1
AA on white−27% L
#AA615F
The quick fox
#824745 · 7.15:1
AAA on white−40% L
#824745
The quick fox
#dabab9 · 11.71:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dabab9
The quick fox
#dabab9 · 11.71:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dabab9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #BE8584 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
#dabab9 on white: 1.79:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dabab9 on black: 11.71:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dabab9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dabab9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.79:1AaAa
Slate 501.71:1AaAa
Slate 1001.64:1AaAa
Slate 2001.46:1AaAa
Slate 3001.21:1AaAa
Slate 4001.43:1AaAa
Slate 5002.65:1AaAa
Slate 6004.22:1AaAa
Slate 7005.77:1AaAa
Slate 8008.15:1AaAa
Slate 9009.95:1AaAa
Black11.71:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C0BEB9
deuteranopia · #C7C4B9
tritanopia · #E1B7BA

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. #dabab9 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
#F3ECEC
#E7D5D5
#dabab9
#C59291
#B16E6C
#A05755
#854847
#6B3A38
#4F2D2C
#311C1B
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F6F6Darkest = 950 · #311C1BText 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 0.009 20.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.015 20.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.022 20.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.029 20.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.034 20.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.037 20.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.037 20.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.035 20.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.031 20.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.026 20.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.020 20.1);
}

Colors that work with #dabab9

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#FAF5F5
Tinted page background
Border#E3CACA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#96524F
Captions on the surface
Accent#43897A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#532D2C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6EFEE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241414
Dark-mode background
Hover#CEA3A2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C18C8A
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F3F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E5C3C2
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 #dabab9

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 #532D2C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #BE8584

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
  • Weight21/100
  • 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#B9D9DA
Analogous left#DAB9C8
Analogous right#DACAB9
Split-complement 1#B9DACA
Split-complement 2#B9C8DA
Triadic 1#B9DABA
Triadic 2#BAB9DA
Tetradic#C8DAB9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°2°

#dabab9 sits at 2°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.5%
Green72.9%
Blue72.5%
R · 0–255
218
0xda
G · 0–255
186
0xba
B · 0–255
185
0xb9

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta14.7%
Yellow15.1%
Key (black)14.5%

Total ink coverage is 44%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dabab9 text on a black background

contrast 11.71:1

Card sample

#dabab9 text on a white background

contrast 1.79:1

Card sample

#dabab9 on grey

1.64:1

#dabab9 on its own surface

1.66:1

#dabab9 on its dark surface

9.88:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dabab9;
Background color
Panel with #dabab9 background
background-color: #dabab9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dabab9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(218, 186, 185, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(218, 186, 185, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dabab9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dabab9, #DAD0B9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dabab9, #DAD8B9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dabab9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dabab9;
caret-color: #dabab9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dabab9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6EFEE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dabab9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dabab9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dabab9 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, 186, 185, 0.5)
rgb(218 186 185 / 50%)
#dabab980
hsl(2 31% 79% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dabab9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dabab91a#FBF8F8
20%#dabab933#F8F1F1
40%#dabab966#F0E3E3
60%#dabab999#E9D6D5
80%#dabab9cc#E1C8C7

Gradients from #dabab9

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, #EFE1E1, #dabab9 45%, #532D2C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dabab9, #CFC6A5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dabab9, #B9D9DA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FAF5F5 0%, #dabab9 45%, #532D2C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF5F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #ECDAE4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E5DBCD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #532D2C 0%, transparent 65%), #dabab9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dabab9

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.

#dabab9 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 11.71:1.

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.

#dabab9, answered

What color is #dabab9?

#dabab9 is a light soft red, closest to Pink (ΔE2000 9.4). It sits at 2° on the hue wheel with 31% saturation and 79% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dabab9?

rgb(218, 186, 185) — 218 red, 186 green and 185 blue out of 255, or 85.5% / 72.9% / 72.5% by channel.

What is #dabab9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(2, 31%, 79%) and hsv(2, 15%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dabab9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5353 and perceived brightness is 77%, so black text on it reaches 11.71:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dabab9?

Black. It scores 11.71:1 against #dabab9, versus 1.79:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dabab9 accessible on a white background?

#dabab9 on white scores 1.79:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #AA615F to reach 4.5:1, or #824745 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dabab9?

#B9D9DA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B9DACA and #B9C8DA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dabab9?

For interface work: #FAF5F5 as the surface, #E3CACA for borders, #96524F for secondary text, #43897A as an accent and #532D2C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DAB9C8 and #DACAB9 stays calm, while #B9D9DA is the loudest partner.

What is #dabab9 in CMYK for printing?

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

Is #dabab9 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 20 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DAC5B9; nudged cooler, #DBB8C4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dabab9?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 27.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dabab9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dabab9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dabab9] or text-[#dabab9], 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 #dabab9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(218, 186, 185, 0.5), or #dabab980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EDDDDC; over black, #6D5D5D.

Is #dabab9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 12.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dabab9 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 #dabab9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EFE1E1, #dabab9 45%, #532D2C). For more colour, a short hue run to #CFC6A5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dabab9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dabab9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.