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red · warm

#ffaca3

a light, electric red · warm · closest name: Light Pink

Token name suggestion: Meadow Ember

RGB
255, 172, 163
HSL
6°, 100%, 82%
CMYK
0, 33, 36, 0
Luminance
0.5341

#ffaca3 is a light electric red, 6° on the wheel and 13/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.68:1). As text it scores 1.80:1 on white — use #EB1700 instead. Nearest name is Light Pink, nearest Tailwind family is rose.

hsl(6 100% 82%)rgb(255 172 163)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ffaca3 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ffaca3
Hue
red
Saturation
100%
electric
Lightness
82%
light
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5341
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
13/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.68:1
Closest name
Light Pink
ΔE2000 8
Chroma
34.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.823
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
rose
500 · ΔE 22
Web-safe
#FF9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue6° of 360°
Saturation100%
Lightness82%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ffaca3.

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
Red40%
Green55%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#ffaca3
HEX (8-digit)#ffaca3ff
RGBrgb(255, 172, 163)
RGBArgba(255, 172, 163, 1)
HSLhsl(6, 100%, 82%)
HSV / HSBhsv(6, 36%, 100%)
HWBhwb(6 64% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 33%, 36%, 0%)
LABlab(78.1 29.4 17.1)
LCHlch(78.1 34.0 30.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.823 0.099 26.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(62.61, 53.41, 41.66)
Decimal16755875
Display P3color(display-p3 1.000 0.675 0.639)
Web-safe#FF9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ffaca3;
background-color: #ffaca3;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ffaca3;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ffaca3] bg-[#ffaca3]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ffaca3;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 1.000, green: 0.675, blue: 0.639)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 1.000, green: 0.675, blue: 0.639, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FFACA3</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFFACA3)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFFACA3)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(163, 172, 255)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(255, 172, 163)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(255, 172, 163)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 255, 172, 163)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(1.0000f, 0.6745f, 0.6392f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{255,172,163}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ffaca3 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ffaca3 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#800D00, #EED5D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ffaca3 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: #FEF2F1;
  --brand-100: #FCE6E3;
  --brand-200: #FCC6C0;
  --brand-300: #ffaca3;
  --brand-400: #FF6757;
  --brand-500: #FF351F;
  --brand-600: #F51800;
  --brand-700: #CC1400;
  --brand-800: #A31000;
  --brand-900: #761005;
  --brand-950: #490A03;
  --brand: #ffaca3;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF5F4;
  --brand-border: #EDC4C0;
  --brand-hover: #FF8C80;
  --brand-pressed: #FF6C5C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241514;
    --brand-ink: #EED5D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FEF2F1',
        100: '#FCE6E3',
        200: '#FCC6C0',
        300: '#ffaca3',
        400: '#FF6757',
        500: '#FF351F',
        600: '#F51800',
        700: '#CC1400',
        800: '#A31000',
        900: '#761005',
        950: '#490A03',
        DEFAULT: '#ffaca3',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FEF2F1,
  '100': #FCE6E3,
  '200': #FCC6C0,
  '300': #ffaca3,
  '400': #FF6757,
  '500': #FF351F,
  '600': #F51800,
  '700': #CC1400,
  '800': #A31000,
  '900': #761005,
  '950': #490A03,
);
$brand-base: #ffaca3;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FEF2F1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCE6E3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FCC6C0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ffaca3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FF6757", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FF351F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F51800", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#CC1400", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A31000", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#761005", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#490A03", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ffaca3 · 11.68:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.80:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.68:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ffaca3 as text scores 1.80:1 on white and 11.68:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #800D00 at 5.91:1.

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
#EB1700 · 4.51:1
AA on white−36% L
#EB1700
The quick fox
#AD1100 · 7.35:1
AAA on white−48% L
#AD1100
The quick fox
#ffaca3 · 11.68:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ffaca3
The quick fox
#ffaca3 · 11.68:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ffaca3

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #FF5E4D 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
#ffaca3 on white: 1.80:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ffaca3 on black: 11.68:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ffaca3 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ffaca3.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.80:1AaAa
Slate 501.72:1AaAa
Slate 1001.64:1AaAa
Slate 2001.46:1AaAa
Slate 3001.21:1AaAa
Slate 4001.43:1AaAa
Slate 5002.65:1AaAa
Slate 6004.22:1AaAa
Slate 7005.76:1AaAa
Slate 8008.14:1AaAa
Slate 9009.93:1AaAa
Black11.68:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BDB7A2
deuteranopia · #D1C8A2
tritanopia · #FFA2AA

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. #ffaca3 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.

#FEF2F1
#FCE6E3
#FCC6C0
#ffaca3
#FF6757
#FF351F
#F51800
#CC1400
#A31000
#761005
#490A03
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FEF2F1Darkest = 950 · #490A03Text 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 0.025 26.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.040 26.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.060 26.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.077 26.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.091 26.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.099 26.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.099 26.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.093 26.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.083 26.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.070 26.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.055 26.3);
}

Colors that work with #ffaca3

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#9B524B
Captions on the surface
Accent#00CCAD
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#800D00
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFE8E5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241514
Dark-mode background
Hover#FF8C80
One step down in lightness
Pressed#FF6C5C
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F3F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFBFB8
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 #ffaca3

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 #800D00
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #FF5E4D

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 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight18/100
  • 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#A3F6FF
Analogous left#FFA3C8
Analogous right#FFDAA3
Split-complement 1#A3FFDA
Split-complement 2#A3C8FF
Triadic 1#A3FFAC
Triadic 2#ACA3FF
Tetradic#C8FFA3
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°6°

#ffaca3 sits at 6°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red100.0%
Green67.5%
Blue63.9%
R · 0–255
255
0xff
G · 0–255
172
0xac
B · 0–255
163
0xa3

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta32.5%
Yellow36.1%
Key (black)0.0%

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

Color previews

#ffaca3 text on a black background

contrast 11.68:1

Card sample

#ffaca3 text on a white background

contrast 1.80:1

Card sample

#ffaca3 on grey

1.64:1

#ffaca3 on its own surface

1.66:1

#ffaca3 on its dark surface

9.80:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ffaca3;
Background color
Panel with #ffaca3 background
background-color: #ffaca3;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ffaca3;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(255, 172, 163, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(255, 172, 163, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ffaca3;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ffaca3, #FFE9A3);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ffaca3, #FEFFA3);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ffaca3;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ffaca3;
caret-color: #ffaca3;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ffaca3;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFE8E5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ffaca3;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ffaca3 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ffaca3 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(255, 172, 163, 0.5)
rgb(255 172 163 / 50%)
#ffaca380
hsl(6 100% 82% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ffaca3 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ffaca31a#FFF7F6
20%#ffaca333#FFEEED
40%#ffaca366#FFDEDA
60%#ffaca399#FFCDC8
80%#ffaca3cc#FFBDB5

Gradients from #ffaca3

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, #FFE3E0, #ffaca3 45%, #800D00);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ffaca3, #FFEC85);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ffaca3, #A3F6FF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FFF1F0 0%, #ffaca3 45%, #800D00 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%, #FFD6EA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FFECC2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #800D00 0%, transparent 65%), #ffaca3;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ffaca3

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.

#ffaca3 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 11.68:1.

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.

#ffaca3, answered

What color is #ffaca3?

#ffaca3 is a light electric red, closest to Light Pink (ΔE2000 8). It sits at 6° on the hue wheel with 100% saturation and 82% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ffaca3?

rgb(255, 172, 163) — 255 red, 172 green and 163 blue out of 255, or 100% / 67.5% / 63.9% by channel.

What is #ffaca3 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(6, 100%, 82%) and hsv(6, 36%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ffaca3 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5341 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 11.68:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ffaca3?

Black. It scores 11.68:1 against #ffaca3, versus 1.80:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ffaca3 accessible on a white background?

#ffaca3 on white scores 1.80:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #EB1700 to reach 4.5:1, or #AD1100 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ffaca3?

#A3F6FF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #A3FFDA and #A3C8FF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ffaca3?

For interface work: #FAF5F4 as the surface, #EDC4C0 for borders, #9B524B for secondary text, #00CCAD as an accent and #800D00 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FFA3C8 and #FFDAA3 stays calm, while #A3F6FF is the loudest partner.

What is #ffaca3 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 33%, 36%, 0%). 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 #ffaca3 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 #FFC2A3; nudged cooler, #FFA3BC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ffaca3?

The rose family — its 500 step is #f43f5e, ΔE2000 22 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ffaca3 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ffaca3 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ffaca3] or text-[#ffaca3], 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 #ffaca3 with 50% opacity?

rgba(255, 172, 163, 0.5), or #ffaca380 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FFD6D1; over black, #805652.

Is #ffaca3 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FF9999, ΔE2000 5.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ffaca3 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 #ffaca3?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FFE3E0, #ffaca3 45%, #800D00). For more colour, a short hue run to #FFEC85 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ffaca3 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ffaca3 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.