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red · warm

#f9edeb

a pale, vivid red · warm · closest name: Sea Shell

Token name suggestion: Mist Cardinal

RGB
249, 237, 235
HSL
9°, 54%, 95%
CMYK
0, 5, 6, 2
Luminance
0.8671

#f9edeb is a pale vivid red, 9° on the wheel and 12/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (18.34:1). As text it scores 1.14:1 on white — use #C5523E instead. Nearest name is Sea Shell, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(9 54% 95%)rgb(249 237 235)Base step 100AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #f9edeb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#f9edeb
Hue
red
Saturation
54%
vivid
Lightness
95%
pale
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
94%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8671
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
12/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
18.34:1
Closest name
Sea Shell
ΔE2000 3.3
Chroma
4.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.955
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 30.8
Web-safe
#FFFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue9° of 360°
Saturation54%
Lightness95%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #f9edeb.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool12% 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
Red23%
Green70%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#f9edeb
HEX (8-digit)#f9edebff
RGBrgb(249, 237, 235)
RGBArgba(249, 237, 235, 1)
HSLhsl(9, 54%, 95%)
HSV / HSBhsv(9, 6%, 98%)
HWBhwb(9 92% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 5%, 6%, 2%)
LABlab(94.6 3.7 2.4)
LCHlch(94.6 4.4 33.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.955 0.013 28.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(84.34, 86.71, 90.87)
Decimal16379371
Display P3color(display-p3 0.976 0.929 0.922)
Web-safe#FFFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #f9edeb;
background-color: #f9edeb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #f9edeb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#f9edeb] bg-[#f9edeb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #f9edeb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.976, green: 0.929, blue: 0.922)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.976, green: 0.929, blue: 0.922, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#F9EDEB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFF9EDEB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFF9EDEB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(235, 237, 249)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(249, 237, 235)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(249, 237, 235)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 249, 237, 235)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9765f, 0.9294f, 0.9216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{249,237,235}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #f9edeb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #f9edeb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#62271D, #EED7D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #f9edeb 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: #FBF5F4;
  --brand-100: #f9edeb;
  --brand-200: #EED3CE;
  --brand-300: #E5B1A9;
  --brand-400: #D88B7E;
  --brand-500: #CB6452;
  --brand-600: #BC4B39;
  --brand-700: #9D3F2F;
  --brand-800: #7E3226;
  --brand-900: #5B281F;
  --brand-950: #391913;
  --brand: #f9edeb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF5F4;
  --brand-border: #ECC7C0;
  --brand-hover: #F1D4D0;
  --brand-pressed: #E8BCB4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241614;
    --brand-ink: #EED7D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF5F4',
        100: '#f9edeb',
        200: '#EED3CE',
        300: '#E5B1A9',
        400: '#D88B7E',
        500: '#CB6452',
        600: '#BC4B39',
        700: '#9D3F2F',
        800: '#7E3226',
        900: '#5B281F',
        950: '#391913',
        DEFAULT: '#f9edeb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF5F4,
  '100': #f9edeb,
  '200': #EED3CE,
  '300': #E5B1A9,
  '400': #D88B7E,
  '500': #CB6452,
  '600': #BC4B39,
  '700': #9D3F2F,
  '800': #7E3226,
  '900': #5B281F,
  '950': #391913,
);
$brand-base: #f9edeb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF5F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#f9edeb", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EED3CE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E5B1A9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D88B7E", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#CB6452", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#BC4B39", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#9D3F2F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7E3226", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5B281F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#391913", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #f9edeb · 18.34:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.14:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 18.34:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #f9edeb as text scores 1.14:1 on white and 18.34:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #62271D at 10.04:1.

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
#C5523E · 4.52:1
AA on white−44% L
#C5523E
The quick fox
#953C2D · 7.09:1
AAA on white−57% L
#953C2D
The quick fox
#f9edeb · 18.34:1
AA on blackalready passes
#f9edeb
The quick fox
#f9edeb · 18.34:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#f9edeb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #D37C6D 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
#f9edeb on white: 1.14:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#f9edeb on black: 18.34:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #f9edeb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #f9edeb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.14:1AaAa
Slate 501.09:1AaAa
Slate 1001.05:1AaAa
Slate 2001.08:1AaAa
Slate 3001.30:1AaAa
Slate 4002.24:1AaAa
Slate 5004.16:1AaAa
Slate 6006.62:1AaAa
Slate 7009.04:1AaAa
Slate 80012.78:1AaAa
Slate 90015.59:1AaAa
Black18.34:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #EFEEEB
deuteranopia · #F2F0EB
tritanopia · #FCECEC

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. #f9edeb is pinned to step 100; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FBF5F4
#f9edeb
#EED3CE
#E5B1A9
#D88B7E
#CB6452
#BC4B39
#9D3F2F
#7E3226
#5B281F
#391913
Base = 100Lightest = 50 · #FBF5F4Darkest = 950 · #391913Text 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 0.003 28.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.005 28.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.008 28.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.010 28.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.012 28.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.013 28.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.013 28.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.013 28.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.011 28.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.009 28.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.007 28.9);
}

Colors that work with #f9edeb

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#ECC7C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B564B
Captions on the surface
Accent#27A595
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#62271D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F9EDEB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241614
Dark-mode background
Hover#F1D4D0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#E8BCB4
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F3F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F8E1DE
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 #f9edeb

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 #62271D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #D37C6D

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 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight5/100
  • 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#EBF7F9
Analogous left#F9EBF0
Analogous right#F9F4EB
Split-complement 1#EBF9F4
Split-complement 2#EBF0F9
Triadic 1#EBF9ED
Triadic 2#EDEBF9
Tetradic#F0F9EB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°9°

#f9edeb sits at 9°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red97.6%
Green92.9%
Blue92.2%
R · 0–255
249
0xf9
G · 0–255
237
0xed
B · 0–255
235
0xeb

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta4.8%
Yellow5.6%
Key (black)2.4%

Total ink coverage is 13%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#f9edeb text on a black background

contrast 18.34:1

Card sample

#f9edeb text on a white background

contrast 1.14:1

Card sample

#f9edeb on grey

1.05:1

#f9edeb on its own surface

1.06:1

#f9edeb on its dark surface

15.29:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #f9edeb;
Background color
Panel with #f9edeb background
background-color: #f9edeb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #f9edeb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(249, 237, 235, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(249, 237, 235, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #f9edeb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #f9edeb, #F9F6EB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f9edeb, #F8F9EB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #f9edeb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #f9edeb;
caret-color: #f9edeb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #f9edeb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F9EDEB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #f9edeb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#f9edeb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #f9edeb 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, 237, 235, 0.5)
rgb(249 237 235 / 50%)
#f9edeb80
hsl(9 54% 95% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #f9edeb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#f9edeb1a#FEFDFD
20%#f9edeb33#FEFBFB
40%#f9edeb66#FDF8F7
60%#f9edeb99#FBF4F3
80%#f9edebcc#FAF1EF

Gradients from #f9edeb

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, #FAF1EF, #f9edeb 45%, #62271D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #f9edeb, #F2EFD3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f9edeb, #EBF7F9);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FBF4F3 0%, #f9edeb 45%, #62271D 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%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #62271D 0%, transparent 65%), #f9edeb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #f9edeb

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.

#f9edeb 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

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 18.34:1.

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.

#f9edeb, answered

What color is #f9edeb?

#f9edeb is a pale vivid red, closest to Sea Shell (ΔE2000 3.3). It sits at 9° on the hue wheel with 54% saturation and 95% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #f9edeb?

rgb(249, 237, 235) — 249 red, 237 green and 235 blue out of 255, or 97.6% / 92.9% / 92.2% by channel.

What is #f9edeb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(9, 54%, 95%) and hsv(9, 6%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #f9edeb a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8671 and perceived brightness is 94%, so black text on it reaches 18.34:1.

Should I use black or white text on #f9edeb?

Black. It scores 18.34:1 against #f9edeb, versus 1.14:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #f9edeb accessible on a white background?

#f9edeb on white scores 1.14:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #C5523E to reach 4.5:1, or #953C2D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #f9edeb?

#EBF7F9 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EBF9F4 and #EBF0F9, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #f9edeb?

For interface work: #FAF5F4 as the surface, #ECC7C0 for borders, #9B564B for secondary text, #27A595 as an accent and #62271D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F9EBF0 and #F9F4EB stays calm, while #EBF7F9 is the loudest partner.

What is #f9edeb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 5%, 6%, 2%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #f9edeb warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 12 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F9F1EB; nudged cooler, #F9EBEE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #f9edeb?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 30.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #f9edeb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #f9edeb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#f9edeb] or text-[#f9edeb], 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 #f9edeb with 50% opacity?

rgba(249, 237, 235, 0.5), or #f9edeb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FCF6F5; over black, #7D7776.

Is #f9edeb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFFFF, ΔE2000 6.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #f9edeb 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 #f9edeb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FAF1EF, #f9edeb 45%, #62271D). For more colour, a short hue run to #F2EFD3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #f9edeb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #f9edeb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.