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Plain Mocha

#b28552
Notes

Plain Mocha (#B28552) is a true orange with a warm character. It leans warm, pulling light toward red, orange, and yellow. Naturally inviting, it suits editorial and hospitality contexts. Its HSL profile (32°, 38%, 51%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary azure. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#b28552
RGB
rgb(178, 133, 82)
HSL
hsl(32, 38%, 51%)
HWB
hwb(32 32% 30%)
OKLCH
oklch(64.9% 0.087 68.7)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6710 0.5287 0.3516)
HSV
hsv(32, 54%, 70%)
LAB
lab(58.84% 11.20 34.01)
LCH
lch(58.84% 35.81 71.78)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 25%, 54%, 30%)

Etymology

Plain
adjective

Latin planus, flat, level — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues that read as undecorated and direct. Plain white, plain blue: moderate saturation, no shift, no surface effect. Sits in the crisp-bucket center, with the implication of restraint rather than absence.

Mocha
noun

A variety of agate from the Yemeni port of al-Mukhā — characterized by tree-like dendritic inclusions in a yellow-tan ground. Also the Yemeni coffee that gave its name to the chocolate-coffee drink. The color refers to a polished mocha-agate cabochon: a soft, slightly muted warm tan with the matte finish of cryptocrystalline silica.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

Click any swatch to explore

Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#b28552
Original
#94874e
Protanopia
#9f9253
Deuteranopia
#c07a79
Tritanopia
#8b8b8b
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AA Largeon White
3.30:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAon Black
6.37:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

The CSS Color 4 wide-gamut form of this color. Both swatches render the same color on every display — the P3 form only diverges from sRGB when a designer pushes channels outside sRGB's reach.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##B28552
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6710 0.5287 0.3516)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.087

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

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