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red · warm

#ec8b80

a light, vivid red · warm · closest name: Salmon

Token name suggestion: Morning Cherry

RGB
236, 139, 128
HSL
6°, 74%, 71%
CMYK
0, 41, 46, 8
Luminance
0.3786

#ec8b80 is a light vivid red, 6° on the wheel and 13/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.57:1). As text it scores 2.45:1 on white — use #DE3623 instead. Nearest name is Salmon, nearest Tailwind family is red.

hsl(6 74% 71%)rgb(236 139 128)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ec8b80 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ec8b80
Hue
red
Saturation
74%
vivid
Lightness
71%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3786
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
13/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.57:1
Closest name
Salmon
ΔE2000 3.9
Chroma
41.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.737
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
red
500 · ΔE 14.5
Web-safe
#FF9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue6° of 360°
Saturation74%
Lightness71%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ec8b80.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool13% 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
Red47%
Green49%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#ec8b80
HEX (8-digit)#ec8b80ff
RGBrgb(236, 139, 128)
RGBArgba(236, 139, 128, 1)
HSLhsl(6, 74%, 71%)
HSV / HSBhsv(6, 46%, 93%)
HWBhwb(6 50% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 41%, 46%, 8%)
LABlab(67.9 35.7 21.9)
LCHlch(67.9 41.9 31.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.737 0.120 27.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(47.72, 37.86, 25.21)
Decimal15502208
Display P3color(display-p3 0.925 0.545 0.502)
Web-safe#FF9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ec8b80;
background-color: #ec8b80;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ec8b80;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ec8b80] bg-[#ec8b80]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ec8b80;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.925, green: 0.545, blue: 0.502)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.925, green: 0.545, blue: 0.502, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#EC8B80</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFEC8B80)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFEC8B80)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(128, 139, 236)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(236, 139, 128)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(236, 139, 128)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 236, 139, 128)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9255f, 0.5451f, 0.5020f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{236,139,128}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ec8b80 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ec8b80 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#6F1A11, #EED5D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ec8b80 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: #FCF4F3;
  --brand-100: #F9E9E7;
  --brand-200: #F3CDC8;
  --brand-300: #F0A69D;
  --brand-400: #ec8b80;
  --brand-500: #E24D3C;
  --brand-600: #D53220;
  --brand-700: #B12A1B;
  --brand-800: #8E2115;
  --brand-900: #671C14;
  --brand-950: #40120C;
  --brand: #ec8b80;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF5F4;
  --brand-border: #EDC4C0;
  --brand-hover: #E76F61;
  --brand-pressed: #E35242;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241514;
    --brand-ink: #EED5D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF4F3',
        100: '#F9E9E7',
        200: '#F3CDC8',
        300: '#F0A69D',
        400: '#ec8b80',
        500: '#E24D3C',
        600: '#D53220',
        700: '#B12A1B',
        800: '#8E2115',
        900: '#671C14',
        950: '#40120C',
        DEFAULT: '#ec8b80',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF4F3,
  '100': #F9E9E7,
  '200': #F3CDC8,
  '300': #F0A69D,
  '400': #ec8b80,
  '500': #E24D3C,
  '600': #D53220,
  '700': #B12A1B,
  '800': #8E2115,
  '900': #671C14,
  '950': #40120C,
);
$brand-base: #ec8b80;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF4F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F9E9E7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F3CDC8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F0A69D", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ec8b80", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E24D3C", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#D53220", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B12A1B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#8E2115", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#671C14", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#40120C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ec8b80 · 8.57:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.45:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.57:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ec8b80 as text scores 2.45:1 on white and 8.57:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #6F1A11 at 4.68:1.

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
#DE3623 · 4.51:1
AA on white−21% L
#DE3623
The quick fox
#A62719 · 7.18:1
AAA on white−34% L
#A62719
The quick fox
#ec8b80 · 8.57:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ec8b80
The quick fox
#ec8b80 · 8.57:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ec8b80

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #E76F61 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
#ec8b80 on white: 2.45:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ec8b80 on black: 8.57:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ec8b80 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ec8b80.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.45:1AaAa
Slate 502.34:1AaAa
Slate 1002.24:1AaAa
Slate 2001.99:1AaAa
Slate 3001.65:1AaAa
Slate 4001.05:1AaAa
Slate 5001.94:1AaAa
Slate 6003.09:1AaAa
Slate 7004.23:1AaAa
Slate 8005.97:1AaAa
Slate 9007.29:1AaAa
Black8.57:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A1997F
deuteranopia · #B8AD7E
tritanopia · #FE7D88

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. #ec8b80 is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FCF4F3
#F9E9E7
#F3CDC8
#F0A69D
#ec8b80
#E24D3C
#D53220
#B12A1B
#8E2115
#671C14
#40120C
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FCF4F3Darkest = 950 · #40120CText 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 0.030 27.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.048 27.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.072 27.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.094 27.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.111 27.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.120 27.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.120 27.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.113 27.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.101 27.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.084 27.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.066 27.2);
}

Colors that work with #ec8b80

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#FAF5F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDC4C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B534B
Captions on the surface
Accent#16B69E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#6F1A11
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FCEBE9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241514
Dark-mode background
Hover#E76F61
One step down in lightness
Pressed#E35242
Two steps down
Disabled#F2EBEA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F5968C
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 #ec8b80

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
  • 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 #6F1A11
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #E76F61

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.

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

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-high
  • Weight29/100
  • 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#80E1EC
Analogous left#EC80AB
Analogous right#ECC180
Split-complement 1#80ECC1
Split-complement 2#80ABEC
Triadic 1#80EC8B
Triadic 2#8B80EC
Tetradic#ABEC80
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°6°

#ec8b80 sits at 6°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red92.5%
Green54.5%
Blue50.2%
R · 0–255
236
0xec
G · 0–255
139
0x8b
B · 0–255
128
0x80

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta41.1%
Yellow45.8%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 94%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ec8b80 text on a black background

contrast 8.57:1

Card sample

#ec8b80 text on a white background

contrast 2.45:1

Card sample

#ec8b80 on grey

2.24:1

#ec8b80 on its own surface

2.27:1

#ec8b80 on its dark surface

7.19:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ec8b80;
Background color
Panel with #ec8b80 background
background-color: #ec8b80;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ec8b80;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(236, 139, 128, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(236, 139, 128, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ec8b80;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ec8b80, #ECD380);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ec8b80, #EAEC80);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ec8b80;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ec8b80;
caret-color: #ec8b80;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ec8b80;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FCEBE9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ec8b80;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ec8b80 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ec8b80 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(236, 139, 128, 0.5)
rgb(236 139 128 / 50%)
#ec8b8080
hsl(6 74% 71% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ec8b80 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ec8b801a#FDF3F2
20%#ec8b8033#FBE8E6
40%#ec8b8066#F7D1CC
60%#ec8b8099#F4B9B3
80%#ec8b80cc#F0A299

Gradients from #ec8b80

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, #F4BCB5, #ec8b80 45%, #6F1A11);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ec8b80, #E8D565);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ec8b80, #80E1EC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F8D4D0 0%, #ec8b80 45%, #6F1A11 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF5F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #F3ACCE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F0D59B 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #6F1A11 0%, transparent 65%), #ec8b80;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ec8b80

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.

#ec8b80 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 8.57:1.

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.

#ec8b80, answered

What color is #ec8b80?

#ec8b80 is a light vivid red, closest to Salmon (ΔE2000 3.9). It sits at 6° on the hue wheel with 74% saturation and 71% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ec8b80?

rgb(236, 139, 128) — 236 red, 139 green and 128 blue out of 255, or 92.5% / 54.5% / 50.2% by channel.

What is #ec8b80 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(6, 74%, 71%) and hsv(6, 46%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ec8b80 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3786 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 8.57:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ec8b80?

Black. It scores 8.57:1 against #ec8b80, versus 2.45:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ec8b80 accessible on a white background?

#ec8b80 on white scores 2.45:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #DE3623 to reach 4.5:1, or #A62719 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ec8b80?

#80E1EC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #80ECC1 and #80ABEC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ec8b80?

For interface work: #FAF5F4 as the surface, #EDC4C0 for borders, #9B534B for secondary text, #16B69E as an accent and #6F1A11 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #EC80AB and #ECC180 stays calm, while #80E1EC is the loudest partner.

What is #ec8b80 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 41%, 46%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ec8b80 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 13 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #ECA380; nudged cooler, #ED7F9C.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ec8b80?

The red family — its 500 step is #ef4444, ΔE2000 14.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ec8b80 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ec8b80 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ec8b80] or text-[#ec8b80], 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 #ec8b80 with 50% opacity?

rgba(236, 139, 128, 0.5), or #ec8b8080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F6C5C0; over black, #764640.

Is #ec8b80 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FF9999, ΔE2000 5.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ec8b80 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 chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #ec8b80?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F4BCB5, #ec8b80 45%, #6F1A11). For more colour, a short hue run to #E8D565 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ec8b80 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ec8b80 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.