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orange · warm

#dbcac3

a light, soft orange · warm · closest name: Light Gray

Token name suggestion: Meadow Clay

RGB
219, 202, 195
HSL
18°, 25%, 81%
CMYK
0, 8, 11, 14
Luminance
0.6124

#dbcac3 is a light soft orange, 18° on the wheel and 19/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.25:1). As text it scores 1.59:1 on white — use #966C5A instead. Nearest name is Light Gray, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(18 25% 81%)rgb(219 202 195)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dbcac3 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dbcac3
Hue
18°
orange
Saturation
25%
soft
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
81%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6124
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
19/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
13.25:1
Closest name
Light Gray
ΔE2000 7.7
Chroma
7.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.851
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 26.3
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue18° of 360°
Saturation25%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dbcac3.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool19% 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
Red25%
Green69%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#dbcac3
HEX (8-digit)#dbcac3ff
RGBrgb(219, 202, 195)
RGBArgba(219, 202, 195, 1)
HSLhsl(18, 25%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(18, 11%, 86%)
HWBhwb(18 76% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 8%, 11%, 14%)
LABlab(82.5 4.8 5.6)
LCHlch(82.5 7.4 49.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.851 0.021 43.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(60.18, 61.24, 60.27)
Decimal14404291
Display P3color(display-p3 0.859 0.792 0.765)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dbcac3;
background-color: #dbcac3;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dbcac3;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dbcac3] bg-[#dbcac3]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dbcac3;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.859, green: 0.792, blue: 0.765)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.859, green: 0.792, blue: 0.765, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DBCAC3</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDBCAC3)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDBCAC3)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(195, 202, 219)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(219, 202, 195)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(219, 202, 195)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 219, 202, 195)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8588f, 0.7922f, 0.7647f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{219,202,195}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dbcac3 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dbcac3 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#503930, #E8DDD9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dbcac3 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: #F9F7F6;
  --brand-100: #F3EEED;
  --brand-200: #E5DBD7;
  --brand-300: #dbcac3;
  --brand-400: #C0A296;
  --brand-500: #AB8373;
  --brand-600: #996E5C;
  --brand-700: #805B4D;
  --brand-800: #66493D;
  --brand-900: #4B372F;
  --brand-950: #2F231D;
  --brand: #dbcac3;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F7F5;
  --brand-border: #E0D2CC;
  --brand-hover: #CEB6AD;
  --brand-pressed: #C0A396;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #231915;
    --brand-ink: #E8DDD9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F7F6',
        100: '#F3EEED',
        200: '#E5DBD7',
        300: '#dbcac3',
        400: '#C0A296',
        500: '#AB8373',
        600: '#996E5C',
        700: '#805B4D',
        800: '#66493D',
        900: '#4B372F',
        950: '#2F231D',
        DEFAULT: '#dbcac3',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F7F6,
  '100': #F3EEED,
  '200': #E5DBD7,
  '300': #dbcac3,
  '400': #C0A296,
  '500': #AB8373,
  '600': #996E5C,
  '700': #805B4D,
  '800': #66493D,
  '900': #4B372F,
  '950': #2F231D,
);
$brand-base: #dbcac3;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F7F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3EEED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E5DBD7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#dbcac3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C0A296", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AB8373", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#996E5C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#805B4D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#66493D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4B372F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2F231D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dbcac3 · 13.25:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.59:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.25:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dbcac3 as text scores 1.59:1 on white and 13.25:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #503930 at 6.73:1.

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
#966C5A · 4.58:1
AA on white−34% L
#966C5A
The quick fox
#705043 · 7.20:1
AAA on white−46% L
#705043
The quick fox
#dbcac3 · 13.25:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dbcac3
The quick fox
#dbcac3 · 13.25:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dbcac3

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B18C7D 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
#dbcac3 on white: 1.59:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dbcac3 on black: 13.25:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dbcac3 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dbcac3.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.59:1AaAa
Slate 501.52:1AaAa
Slate 1001.45:1AaAa
Slate 2001.29:1AaAa
Slate 3001.07:1AaAa
Slate 4001.62:1AaAa
Slate 5003.00:1AaAa
Slate 6004.78:1AaAa
Slate 7006.53:1AaAa
Slate 8009.23:1AaAa
Slate 90011.26:1AaAa
Black13.25:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CECBC3
deuteranopia · #D2CFC3
tritanopia · #E0C8C8

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. #dbcac3 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.

#F9F7F6
#F3EEED
#E5DBD7
#dbcac3
#C0A296
#AB8373
#996E5C
#805B4D
#66493D
#4B372F
#2F231D
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F7F6Darkest = 950 · #2F231DText 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 0.005 43.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.009 43.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.013 43.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.017 43.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.020 43.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.021 43.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.021 43.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.020 43.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.018 43.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.015 43.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.012 43.8);
}

Colors that work with #dbcac3

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#F9F7F5
Tinted page background
Border#E0D2CC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8F6756
Captions on the surface
Accent#488284
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#503930
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5F1EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#231915
Dark-mode background
Hover#CEB6AD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C0A396
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F4F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E6D4CC
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 #dbcac3

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
  • 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 #503930
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B18C7D

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.

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

Hard to make feel premium, and it collides with the "caution" band in status systems.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight19/100
  • 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#C3D4DB
Analogous left#DBC3C8
Analogous right#DBD6C3
Split-complement 1#C3DBD6
Split-complement 2#C3C8DB
Triadic 1#C3DBCA
Triadic 2#CAC3DB
Tetradic#C8DBC3
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°18°

#dbcac3 sits at 18°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.9%
Green79.2%
Blue76.5%
R · 0–255
219
0xdb
G · 0–255
202
0xca
B · 0–255
195
0xc3

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta7.8%
Yellow11.0%
Key (black)14.1%

Total ink coverage is 33%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dbcac3 text on a black background

contrast 13.25:1

Card sample

#dbcac3 text on a white background

contrast 1.59:1

Card sample

#dbcac3 on grey

1.45:1

#dbcac3 on its own surface

1.48:1

#dbcac3 on its dark surface

10.85:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dbcac3;
Background color
Panel with #dbcac3 background
background-color: #dbcac3;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dbcac3;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(219, 202, 195, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(219, 202, 195, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dbcac3;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dbcac3, #DBDAC3);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dbcac3, #D6DBC3);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dbcac3;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dbcac3;
caret-color: #dbcac3;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dbcac3;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5F1EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dbcac3;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dbcac3 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dbcac3 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(219, 202, 195, 0.5)
rgb(219 202 195 / 50%)
#dbcac380
hsl(18 25% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dbcac3 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dbcac31a#FBFAF9
20%#dbcac333#F8F4F3
40%#dbcac366#F1EAE7
60%#dbcac399#E9DFDB
80%#dbcac3cc#E2D5CF

Gradients from #dbcac3

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, #F2ECE9, #dbcac3 45%, #503930);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dbcac3, #CED0B0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dbcac3, #C3D4DB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F9F7F5 0%, #dbcac3 45%, #503930 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F7F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #EEE3E6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E7E4D6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #503930 0%, transparent 65%), #dbcac3;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dbcac3

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.

#dbcac3 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
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 13.25:1.

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.

#dbcac3, answered

What color is #dbcac3?

#dbcac3 is a light soft orange, closest to Light Gray (ΔE2000 7.7). It sits at 18° on the hue wheel with 25% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dbcac3?

rgb(219, 202, 195) — 219 red, 202 green and 195 blue out of 255, or 85.9% / 79.2% / 76.5% by channel.

What is #dbcac3 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(18, 25%, 81%) and hsv(18, 11%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dbcac3 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6124 and perceived brightness is 81%, so black text on it reaches 13.25:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dbcac3?

Black. It scores 13.25:1 against #dbcac3, versus 1.59:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dbcac3 accessible on a white background?

#dbcac3 on white scores 1.59:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #966C5A to reach 4.5:1, or #705043 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dbcac3?

#C3D4DB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C3DBD6 and #C3C8DB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dbcac3?

For interface work: #F9F7F5 as the surface, #E0D2CC for borders, #8F6756 for secondary text, #488284 as an accent and #503930 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DBC3C8 and #DBD6C3 stays calm, while #C3D4DB is the loudest partner.

What is #dbcac3 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 8%, 11%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dbcac3 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 19 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DBCDC3; nudged cooler, #DCC2C4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dbcac3?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 26.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dbcac3 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dbcac3 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dbcac3] or text-[#dbcac3], 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 #dbcac3 with 50% opacity?

rgba(219, 202, 195, 0.5), or #dbcac380 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EDE5E1; over black, #6E6562.

Is #dbcac3 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 7.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dbcac3 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #dbcac3?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F2ECE9, #dbcac3 45%, #503930). For more colour, a short hue run to #CED0B0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dbcac3 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dbcac3 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.