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green · warm

#ecf0dc

a pale, soft green · warm · closest name: Beige

Token name suggestion: Whisper Fern

RGB
236, 240, 220
HSL
72°, 40%, 90%
CMYK
2, 0, 8, 6
Luminance
0.8532

#ecf0dc is a pale soft green, 72° on the wheel and 35/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (18.06:1). As text it scores 1.16:1 on white — use #6C7A34 instead. Nearest name is Beige, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(72 40% 90%)rgb(236 240 220)Base step 200AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ecf0dc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ecf0dc
Hue
72°
green
Saturation
40%
soft
Lightness
90%
pale
Brightness
94%
HSV value
Perceived
93%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8532
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
35/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
18.06:1
Closest name
Beige
ΔE2000 2.5
Chroma
10.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.947
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 27
Web-safe
#FFFFCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue72° of 360°
Saturation40%
Lightness90%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ecf0dc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool35% 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
Red21%
Green73%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#ecf0dc
HEX (8-digit)#ecf0dcff
RGBrgb(236, 240, 220)
RGBArgba(236, 240, 220, 1)
HSLhsl(72, 40%, 90%)
HSV / HSBhsv(72, 8%, 94%)
HWBhwb(72 86% 6%)
CMYKcmyk(2%, 0%, 8%, 6%)
LABlab(94.0 -4.8 9.2)
LCHlch(94.0 10.4 117.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.947 0.027 116.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(78.67, 85.32, 80.02)
Decimal15528156
Display P3color(display-p3 0.925 0.941 0.863)
Web-safe#FFFFCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ecf0dc;
background-color: #ecf0dc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ecf0dc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ecf0dc] bg-[#ecf0dc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ecf0dc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.925, green: 0.941, blue: 0.863)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.925, green: 0.941, blue: 0.863, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ECF0DC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFECF0DC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFECF0DC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(220, 240, 236)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(236, 240, 220)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(236, 240, 220)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 236, 240, 220)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9255f, 0.9412f, 0.8627f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{236,240,220}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ecf0dc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ecf0dc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4F5926, #E8EDD4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ecf0dc 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: #F9FAF5;
  --brand-100: #F3F4EB;
  --brand-200: #ecf0dc;
  --brand-300: #D4DDB0;
  --brand-400: #BFCD89;
  --brand-500: #AABC62;
  --brand-600: #98AB49;
  --brand-700: #7E8F3D;
  --brand-800: #657231;
  --brand-900: #4B5427;
  --brand-950: #2F3418;
  --brand: #ecf0dc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9FAF4;
  --brand-border: #E0E7C6;
  --brand-hover: #DEE5C3;
  --brand-pressed: #D1DBAA;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #212414;
    --brand-ink: #E8EDD4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9FAF5',
        100: '#F3F4EB',
        200: '#ecf0dc',
        300: '#D4DDB0',
        400: '#BFCD89',
        500: '#AABC62',
        600: '#98AB49',
        700: '#7E8F3D',
        800: '#657231',
        900: '#4B5427',
        950: '#2F3418',
        DEFAULT: '#ecf0dc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9FAF5,
  '100': #F3F4EB,
  '200': #ecf0dc,
  '300': #D4DDB0,
  '400': #BFCD89,
  '500': #AABC62,
  '600': #98AB49,
  '700': #7E8F3D,
  '800': #657231,
  '900': #4B5427,
  '950': #2F3418,
);
$brand-base: #ecf0dc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9FAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3F4EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#ecf0dc", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D4DDB0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BFCD89", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AABC62", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#98AB49", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7E8F3D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#657231", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4B5427", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2F3418", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ecf0dc · 18.06:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.16:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 18.06:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ecf0dc as text scores 1.16:1 on white and 18.06:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4F5926 at 6.48:1.

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
#6C7A34 · 4.70:1
AA on white−56% L
#6C7A34
The quick fox
#535E28 · 7.00:1
AAA on white−64% L
#535E28
The quick fox
#ecf0dc · 18.06:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ecf0dc
The quick fox
#ecf0dc · 18.06:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ecf0dc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #899A42 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
#ecf0dc on white: 1.16:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ecf0dc on black: 18.06:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ecf0dc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ecf0dc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.16:1AaAa
Slate 501.11:1AaAa
Slate 1001.06:1AaAa
Slate 2001.06:1AaAa
Slate 3001.28:1AaAa
Slate 4002.21:1AaAa
Slate 5004.09:1AaAa
Slate 6006.52:1AaAa
Slate 7008.91:1AaAa
Slate 80012.58:1AaAa
Slate 90015.36:1AaAa
Black18.06:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #F3EEDB
deuteranopia · #F3EEDD
tritanopia · #EEEEEA

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. #ecf0dc is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9FAF5
#F3F4EB
#ecf0dc
#D4DDB0
#BFCD89
#AABC62
#98AB49
#7E8F3D
#657231
#4B5427
#2F3418
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F9FAF5Darkest = 950 · #2F3418Text step on white = 800
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 0.007 116.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.011 116.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.016 116.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.021 116.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.025 116.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.027 116.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.027 116.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.025 116.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.023 116.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.019 116.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.015 116.1);
}

Colors that work with #ecf0dc

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#F9FAF4
Tinted page background
Border#E0E7C6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8B9B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#393D93
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4F5926
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5F7ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#212414
Dark-mode background
Hover#DEE5C3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#D1DBAA
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F7F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F1F5E0
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 #ecf0dc

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 #4F5926
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #899A42

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

safegrowingnaturalpermissive

Green means go, well, and grown. It carries finance, sustainability and health with almost no explanation needed.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

Red/green pairs are the most common colour-blindness failure — never let the two carry meaning alone.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight10/100
  • 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#E0DCF0
Analogous left#F0EADC
Analogous right#E2F0DC
Split-complement 1#DCE2F0
Split-complement 2#EADCF0
Triadic 1#DCECF0
Triadic 2#F0DCEC
Tetradic#DCF0EA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°72°

#ecf0dc sits at 72°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red92.5%
Green94.1%
Blue86.3%
R · 0–255
236
0xec
G · 0–255
240
0xf0
B · 0–255
220
0xdc

CMYK percentages

Cyan1.7%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow8.3%
Key (black)5.9%

Total ink coverage is 16%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ecf0dc text on a black background

contrast 18.06:1

Card sample

#ecf0dc text on a white background

contrast 1.16:1

Card sample

#ecf0dc on grey

1.06:1

#ecf0dc on its own surface

1.11:1

#ecf0dc on its dark surface

13.61:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ecf0dc;
Background color
Panel with #ecf0dc background
background-color: #ecf0dc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ecf0dc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(236, 240, 220, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(236, 240, 220, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ecf0dc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ecf0dc, #DFF0DC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ecf0dc, #DCF0DE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ecf0dc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ecf0dc;
caret-color: #ecf0dc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ecf0dc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5F7ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ecf0dc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ecf0dc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ecf0dc 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, 240, 220, 0.5)
rgb(236 240 220 / 50%)
#ecf0dc80
hsl(72 40% 90% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ecf0dc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ecf0dc1a#FDFEFC
20%#ecf0dc33#FBFCF8
40%#ecf0dc66#F7F9F1
60%#ecf0dc99#F4F6EA
80%#ecf0dccc#F0F3E3

Gradients from #ecf0dc

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, #F7F9F1, #ecf0dc 45%, #4F5926);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ecf0dc, #C8E7C7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ecf0dc, #E0DCF0);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F9FAF4 0%, #ecf0dc 45%, #4F5926 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9FAF4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F3F9F1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4F5926 0%, transparent 65%), #ecf0dc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ecf0dc

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.

#ecf0dc in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
SustainabilityFinanceHealth and wellnessAgriculture
Common UI roles
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
Print note

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

On screens

Very light values are indistinguishable from white on a dim phone screen outdoors. Give it a border if the boundary matters.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 18.06:1.

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.

#ecf0dc, answered

What color is #ecf0dc?

#ecf0dc is a pale soft green, closest to Beige (ΔE2000 2.5). It sits at 72° on the hue wheel with 40% saturation and 90% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ecf0dc?

rgb(236, 240, 220) — 236 red, 240 green and 220 blue out of 255, or 92.5% / 94.1% / 86.3% by channel.

What is #ecf0dc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(72, 40%, 90%) and hsv(72, 8%, 94%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ecf0dc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8532 and perceived brightness is 93%, so black text on it reaches 18.06:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ecf0dc?

Black. It scores 18.06:1 against #ecf0dc, versus 1.16:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ecf0dc accessible on a white background?

#ecf0dc on white scores 1.16:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6C7A34 to reach 4.5:1, or #535E28 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ecf0dc?

#E0DCF0 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DCE2F0 and #EADCF0, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ecf0dc?

For interface work: #F9FAF4 as the surface, #E0E7C6 for borders, #8B9B4B for secondary text, #393D93 as an accent and #4F5926 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F0EADC and #E2F0DC stays calm, while #E0DCF0 is the loudest partner.

What is #ecf0dc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(2%, 0%, 8%, 6%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ecf0dc warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 35 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F0EDDC; nudged cooler, #E5F1DC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ecf0dc?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 27 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ecf0dc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ecf0dc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ecf0dc] or text-[#ecf0dc], 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 #ecf0dc with 50% opacity?

rgba(236, 240, 220, 0.5), or #ecf0dc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F6F8EE; over black, #76786E.

Is #ecf0dc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFFCC, ΔE2000 9.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ecf0dc mean?

As a green, it reads safe, growing, natural. Green means go, well, and grown. It carries finance, sustainability and health with almost no explanation needed. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #ecf0dc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F7F9F1, #ecf0dc 45%, #4F5926). For more colour, a short hue run to #C8E7C7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ecf0dc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ecf0dc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.