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red · warm

#f9c8cd

a pale, electric red · warm · closest name: Pink

Token name suggestion: Frost Ember

RGB
249, 200, 205
HSL
354°, 80%, 88%
CMYK
0, 20, 18, 2
Luminance
0.6586

#f9c8cd is a pale electric red, 354° on the wheel and 20/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.17:1). As text it scores 1.48:1 on white — use #E61E32 instead. Nearest name is Pink, nearest Tailwind family is pink.

hsl(354 80% 88%)rgb(249 200 205)Base step 200AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #f9c8cd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#f9c8cd
Hue
354°
red
Saturation
80%
electric
Lightness
88%
pale
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
85%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6586
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
20/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
14.17:1
Closest name
Pink
ΔE2000 3.7
Chroma
18.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.877
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
pink
500 · ΔE 28.2
Web-safe
#FFCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue354° of 360°
Saturation80%
Lightness88%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #f9c8cd.

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
Red31%
Green63%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#f9c8cd
HEX (8-digit)#f9c8cdff
RGBrgb(249, 200, 205)
RGBArgba(249, 200, 205, 1)
HSLhsl(354, 80%, 88%)
HSV / HSBhsv(354, 20%, 98%)
HWBhwb(354 78% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 20%, 18%, 2%)
LABlab(84.9 18.1 4.1)
LCHlch(84.9 18.6 12.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.877 0.056 11.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(70.74, 65.86, 66.73)
Decimal16369869
Display P3color(display-p3 0.976 0.784 0.804)
Web-safe#FFCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #f9c8cd;
background-color: #f9c8cd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #f9c8cd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#f9c8cd] bg-[#f9c8cd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #f9c8cd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.976, green: 0.784, blue: 0.804)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.976, green: 0.784, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#F9C8CD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFF9C8CD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFF9C8CD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 200, 249)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(249, 200, 205)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(249, 200, 205)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 249, 200, 205)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9765f, 0.7843f, 0.8039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{249,200,205}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #f9c8cd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #f9c8cd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#730D17, #EED3D5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #f9c8cd 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: #FCF3F4;
  --brand-100: #F9E6E8;
  --brand-200: #f9c8cd;
  --brand-300: #F49AA3;
  --brand-400: #EE6775;
  --brand-500: #E93547;
  --brand-600: #DD182C;
  --brand-700: #B81425;
  --brand-800: #93101D;
  --brand-900: #6A1019;
  --brand-950: #430A10;
  --brand: #f9c8cd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF4F5;
  --brand-border: #EDC0C4;
  --brand-hover: #F5A8B0;
  --brand-pressed: #F28792;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241415;
    --brand-ink: #EED3D5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF3F4',
        100: '#F9E6E8',
        200: '#f9c8cd',
        300: '#F49AA3',
        400: '#EE6775',
        500: '#E93547',
        600: '#DD182C',
        700: '#B81425',
        800: '#93101D',
        900: '#6A1019',
        950: '#430A10',
        DEFAULT: '#f9c8cd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF3F4,
  '100': #F9E6E8,
  '200': #f9c8cd,
  '300': #F49AA3,
  '400': #EE6775,
  '500': #E93547,
  '600': #DD182C,
  '700': #B81425,
  '800': #93101D,
  '900': #6A1019,
  '950': #430A10,
);
$brand-base: #f9c8cd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF3F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F9E6E8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#f9c8cd", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F49AA3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#EE6775", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E93547", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#DD182C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B81425", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#93101D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6A1019", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#430A10", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #f9c8cd · 14.17:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.48:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.17:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #f9c8cd as text scores 1.48:1 on white and 14.17:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #730D17 at 7.88:1.

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
#E61E32 · 4.57:1
AA on white−37% L
#E61E32
The quick fox
#AF1323 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−50% L
#AF1323
The quick fox
#f9c8cd · 14.17:1
AA on blackalready passes
#f9c8cd
The quick fox
#f9c8cd · 14.17:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#f9c8cd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #EE6775 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
#f9c8cd on white: 1.48:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#f9c8cd on black: 14.17:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #f9c8cd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #f9c8cd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.48:1AaAa
Slate 501.42:1AaAa
Slate 1001.35:1AaAa
Slate 2001.20:1AaAa
Slate 3001.00:1AaAa
Slate 4001.73:1AaAa
Slate 5003.21:1AaAa
Slate 6005.11:1AaAa
Slate 7006.99:1AaAa
Slate 8009.87:1AaAa
Slate 90012.05:1AaAa
Black14.17:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CFCFCD
deuteranopia · #DBD7CC
tritanopia · #FFC4CA

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. #f9c8cd 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.

#FCF3F4
#F9E6E8
#f9c8cd
#F49AA3
#EE6775
#E93547
#DD182C
#B81425
#93101D
#6A1019
#430A10
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #FCF3F4Darkest = 950 · #430A10Text 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 0.014 11.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.022 11.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.034 11.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.044 11.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.052 11.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.056 11.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.056 11.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.053 11.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.047 11.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.039 11.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.031 11.4);
}

Colors that work with #f9c8cd

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#FAF4F5
Tinted page background
Border#EDC0C4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B4B53
Captions on the surface
Accent#11BB7F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#730D17
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FCE8EA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241415
Dark-mode background
Hover#F5A8B0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#F28792
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F3F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FDD8DC
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 #f9c8cd

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 #730D17
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #EE6775

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight12/100
  • 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#C8F9F4
Analogous left#F9C8E5
Analogous right#F9DBC8
Split-complement 1#C8F9DB
Split-complement 2#C8E5F9
Triadic 1#CDF9C8
Triadic 2#C8CDF9
Tetradic#E5F9C8
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°354°

#f9c8cd sits at 354°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red97.6%
Green78.4%
Blue80.4%
R · 0–255
249
0xf9
G · 0–255
200
0xc8
B · 0–255
205
0xcd

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta19.7%
Yellow17.7%
Key (black)2.4%

Total ink coverage is 40%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#f9c8cd text on a black background

contrast 14.17:1

Card sample

#f9c8cd text on a white background

contrast 1.48:1

Card sample

#f9c8cd on grey

1.35:1

#f9c8cd on its own surface

1.36:1

#f9c8cd on its dark surface

11.95:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #f9c8cd;
Background color
Panel with #f9c8cd background
background-color: #f9c8cd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #f9c8cd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(249, 200, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(249, 200, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #f9c8cd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #f9c8cd, #F9E4C8);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f9c8cd, #F9F0C8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #f9c8cd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #f9c8cd;
caret-color: #f9c8cd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #f9c8cd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FCE8EA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #f9c8cd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#f9c8cd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #f9c8cd 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(249, 200, 205, 0.5)
rgb(249 200 205 / 50%)
#f9c8cd80
hsl(354 80% 88% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #f9c8cd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#f9c8cd1a#FEFAFA
20%#f9c8cd33#FEF4F5
40%#f9c8cd66#FDE9EB
60%#f9c8cd99#FBDEE1
80%#f9c8cdcc#FAD3D7

Gradients from #f9c8cd

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, #FDEDEE, #f9c8cd 45%, #730D17);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #f9c8cd, #F6DCAC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f9c8cd, #C8F9F4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FDF1F2 0%, #f9c8cd 45%, #730D17 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF4F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #FEF6FB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FCEFE3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #730D17 0%, transparent 65%), #f9c8cd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #f9c8cd

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.

#f9c8cd 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 14.17:1.

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.

#f9c8cd, answered

What color is #f9c8cd?

#f9c8cd is a pale electric red, closest to Pink (ΔE2000 3.7). It sits at 354° on the hue wheel with 80% saturation and 88% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #f9c8cd?

rgb(249, 200, 205) — 249 red, 200 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 97.6% / 78.4% / 80.4% by channel.

What is #f9c8cd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(354, 80%, 88%) and hsv(354, 20%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #f9c8cd a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6586 and perceived brightness is 85%, so black text on it reaches 14.17:1.

Should I use black or white text on #f9c8cd?

Black. It scores 14.17:1 against #f9c8cd, versus 1.48:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #f9c8cd accessible on a white background?

#f9c8cd on white scores 1.48:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #E61E32 to reach 4.5:1, or #AF1323 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #f9c8cd?

#C8F9F4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C8F9DB and #C8E5F9, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #f9c8cd?

For interface work: #FAF4F5 as the surface, #EDC0C4 for borders, #9B4B53 for secondary text, #11BB7F as an accent and #730D17 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F9C8E5 and #F9DBC8 stays calm, while #C8F9F4 is the loudest partner.

What is #f9c8cd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 20%, 18%, 2%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #f9c8cd 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 #F9D5C8; nudged cooler, #FAC7DF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #f9c8cd?

The pink family — its 500 step is #ec4899, ΔE2000 28.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #f9c8cd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #f9c8cd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#f9c8cd] or text-[#f9c8cd], 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 #f9c8cd with 50% opacity?

rgba(249, 200, 205, 0.5), or #f9c8cd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FCE4E6; over black, #7D6467.

Is #f9c8cd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFCCCC, ΔE2000 2.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #f9c8cd 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 #f9c8cd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FDEDEE, #f9c8cd 45%, #730D17). For more colour, a short hue run to #F6DCAC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #f9c8cd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #f9c8cd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.