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orange · warm

#dfaa97

a light, vivid orange · warm · closest name: Dark Salmon

Token name suggestion: Meadow Clay

RGB
223, 170, 151
HSL
16°, 53%, 73%
CMYK
0, 24, 32, 13
Luminance
0.4667

#dfaa97 is a light vivid orange, 16° on the wheel and 8/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.33:1). As text it scores 2.03:1 on white — use #B85A39 instead. Nearest name is Dark Salmon, nearest Tailwind family is orange.

hsl(16 53% 73%)rgb(223 170 151)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dfaa97 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dfaa97
Hue
16°
orange
Saturation
53%
vivid
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
73%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4667
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
8/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
10.33:1
Closest name
Dark Salmon
ΔE2000 7.1
Chroma
24.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.782
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
orange
500 · ΔE 19.5
Web-safe
#CC9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue16° of 360°
Saturation53%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dfaa97.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool8% 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
Red34%
Green62%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#dfaa97
HEX (8-digit)#dfaa97ff
RGBrgb(223, 170, 151)
RGBArgba(223, 170, 151, 1)
HSLhsl(16, 53%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(16, 32%, 87%)
HWBhwb(16 59% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 24%, 32%, 13%)
LABlab(74.0 16.8 17.3)
LCHlch(74.0 24.1 45.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.782 0.068 40.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(50.39, 46.67, 35.63)
Decimal14658199
Display P3color(display-p3 0.875 0.667 0.592)
Web-safe#CC9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dfaa97;
background-color: #dfaa97;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dfaa97;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dfaa97] bg-[#dfaa97]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dfaa97;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.875, green: 0.667, blue: 0.592)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.875, green: 0.667, blue: 0.592, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DFAA97</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDFAA97)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDFAA97)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(151, 170, 223)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(223, 170, 151)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(223, 170, 151)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 223, 170, 151)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8745f, 0.6667f, 0.5922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{223,170,151}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dfaa97 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dfaa97 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#61301E, #EEDAD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dfaa97 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: #FBF6F4;
  --brand-100: #F6EDE9;
  --brand-200: #EDD7CE;
  --brand-300: #dfaa97;
  --brand-400: #D7967E;
  --brand-500: #CA7353;
  --brand-600: #BB5C3A;
  --brand-700: #9C4C30;
  --brand-800: #7D3D26;
  --brand-900: #5B2F1F;
  --brand-950: #391D14;
  --brand: #dfaa97;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F4;
  --brand-border: #ECCCC1;
  --brand-hover: #D7947C;
  --brand-pressed: #CE7D60;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241814;
    --brand-ink: #EEDAD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF6F4',
        100: '#F6EDE9',
        200: '#EDD7CE',
        300: '#dfaa97',
        400: '#D7967E',
        500: '#CA7353',
        600: '#BB5C3A',
        700: '#9C4C30',
        800: '#7D3D26',
        900: '#5B2F1F',
        950: '#391D14',
        DEFAULT: '#dfaa97',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF6F4,
  '100': #F6EDE9,
  '200': #EDD7CE,
  '300': #dfaa97,
  '400': #D7967E,
  '500': #CA7353,
  '600': #BB5C3A,
  '700': #9C4C30,
  '800': #7D3D26,
  '900': #5B2F1F,
  '950': #391D14,
);
$brand-base: #dfaa97;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF6F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F6EDE9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EDD7CE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#dfaa97", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D7967E", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#CA7353", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#BB5C3A", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#9C4C30", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7D3D26", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5B2F1F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#391D14", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dfaa97 · 10.33:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.03:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.33:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dfaa97 as text scores 2.03:1 on white and 10.33:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #61301E at 5.30:1.

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
#B85A39 · 4.61:1
AA on white−26% L
#B85A39
The quick fox
#8A432A · 7.20:1
AAA on white−38% L
#8A432A
The quick fox
#dfaa97 · 10.33:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dfaa97
The quick fox
#dfaa97 · 10.33:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dfaa97

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #CF8064 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
#dfaa97 on white: 2.03:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dfaa97 on black: 10.33:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dfaa97 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dfaa97.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.03:1AaAa
Slate 501.94:1AaAa
Slate 1001.85:1AaAa
Slate 2001.65:1AaAa
Slate 3001.37:1AaAa
Slate 4001.26:1AaAa
Slate 5002.34:1AaAa
Slate 6003.73:1AaAa
Slate 7005.10:1AaAa
Slate 8007.20:1AaAa
Slate 9008.79:1AaAa
Black10.33:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B7AF96
deuteranopia · #C3BA97
tritanopia · #ECA2A5

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. #dfaa97 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.

#FBF6F4
#F6EDE9
#EDD7CE
#dfaa97
#D7967E
#CA7353
#BB5C3A
#9C4C30
#7D3D26
#5B2F1F
#391D14
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FBF6F4Darkest = 950 · #391D14Text 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 0.017 40.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.027 40.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.041 40.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.053 40.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.063 40.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.068 40.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.068 40.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.064 40.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.057 40.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.048 40.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.038 40.6);
}

Colors that work with #dfaa97

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#FAF6F4
Tinted page background
Border#ECCCC1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B604B
Captions on the surface
Accent#2B9FA1
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#61301E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F9EFEC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241814
Dark-mode background
Hover#D7947C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#CE7D60
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F2F0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#EAB4A1
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 #dfaa97

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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 #61301E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #CF8064

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • 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#97CCDF
Analogous left#DF97A8
Analogous right#DFCE97
Split-complement 1#97DFCE
Split-complement 2#97A8DF
Triadic 1#97DFAA
Triadic 2#AA97DF
Tetradic#A8DF97
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°16°

#dfaa97 sits at 16°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.5%
Green66.7%
Blue59.2%
R · 0–255
223
0xdf
G · 0–255
170
0xaa
B · 0–255
151
0x97

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta23.8%
Yellow32.3%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 69%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dfaa97 text on a black background

contrast 10.33:1

Card sample

#dfaa97 text on a white background

contrast 2.03:1

Card sample

#dfaa97 on grey

1.85:1

#dfaa97 on its own surface

1.89:1

#dfaa97 on its dark surface

8.50:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dfaa97;
Background color
Panel with #dfaa97 background
background-color: #dfaa97;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dfaa97;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(223, 170, 151, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(223, 170, 151, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dfaa97;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dfaa97, #DFDA97);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfaa97, #D2DF97);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dfaa97;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dfaa97;
caret-color: #dfaa97;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dfaa97;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F9EFEC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dfaa97;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dfaa97 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dfaa97 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, 170, 151, 0.5)
rgb(223 170 151 / 50%)
#dfaa9780
hsl(16 53% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dfaa97 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dfaa971a#FCF7F5
20%#dfaa9733#F9EEEA
40%#dfaa9766#F2DDD5
60%#dfaa9799#ECCCC1
80%#dfaa97cc#E5BBAC

Gradients from #dfaa97

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, #EDD0C6, #dfaa97 45%, #61301E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dfaa97, #D7D880);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfaa97, #97CCDF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F5E3DD 0%, #dfaa97 45%, #61301E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF6F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #EBBECC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E6DEAE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #61301E 0%, transparent 65%), #dfaa97;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dfaa97

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.

#dfaa97 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 10.33:1.

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.

#dfaa97, answered

What color is #dfaa97?

#dfaa97 is a light vivid orange, closest to Dark Salmon (ΔE2000 7.1). It sits at 16° on the hue wheel with 53% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dfaa97?

rgb(223, 170, 151) — 223 red, 170 green and 151 blue out of 255, or 87.5% / 66.7% / 59.2% by channel.

What is #dfaa97 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(16, 53%, 73%) and hsv(16, 32%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dfaa97 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4667 and perceived brightness is 73%, so black text on it reaches 10.33:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dfaa97?

Black. It scores 10.33:1 against #dfaa97, versus 2.03:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dfaa97 accessible on a white background?

#dfaa97 on white scores 2.03:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #B85A39 to reach 4.5:1, or #8A432A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dfaa97?

#97CCDF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #97DFCE and #97A8DF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dfaa97?

For interface work: #FAF6F4 as the surface, #ECCCC1 for borders, #9B604B for secondary text, #2B9FA1 as an accent and #61301E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DF97A8 and #DFCE97 stays calm, while #97CCDF is the loudest partner.

What is #dfaa97 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 24%, 32%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dfaa97 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 8 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DFB397; nudged cooler, #E0969D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dfaa97?

The orange family — its 500 step is #f97316, ΔE2000 19.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dfaa97 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dfaa97 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dfaa97] or text-[#dfaa97], 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 #dfaa97 with 50% opacity?

rgba(223, 170, 151, 0.5), or #dfaa9780 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFD5CB; over black, #70554C.

Is #dfaa97 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9999, ΔE2000 8.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dfaa97 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 chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #dfaa97?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EDD0C6, #dfaa97 45%, #61301E). For more colour, a short hue run to #D7D880 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dfaa97 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dfaa97 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.