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Apricot Ink Faint
Color detail

Apricot Ink Faint

Orange · Hue 40
Hex
#272520
RGB
rgb(39, 37, 32)
HSL
hsl(40, 10%, 14%)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 5%, 18%, 85%)
Metrics
S 10% · L 14%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
15.3:1AA
on black
1.4:1Fail
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Apricot Ink Faint (#272520) belongs to the orange family — hue 40°, 10% saturation, 14% lightness. Copy the hex, RGB, or HSL value above, or paste the CSS custom property below into your stylesheet to reference this color directly.

CSS
:root {
  --colorarchive-apricot-ink-faint: #272520;
  --colorarchive-apricot-ink-faint-hsl: hsl(40, 10%, 14%);
  --colorarchive-apricot-ink-faint-rgb: rgb(39, 37, 32);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Design Context

EarthyArtisanalGrounded
Common in

Coffee & Bakery · Craft & Handmade · Outdoor Gear

Pairs well with

Olive green, warm cream, or slate gray for organic, natural palettes

Design tip

Great for artisanal brands and rustic interfaces. Combines well with textured backgrounds and serif typography.

Cultural context ▶

Burnt orange and terra cotta evoke earthiness, autumn, and craftsmanship. Popular in Southwestern and Mediterranean design.

Color Origins

Orange family

Citrus, fire, and the only color named after a fruit.

Heritage

Orange is unusual: in English the color was named after the fruit, not the other way around — before the fruit reached Europe in the 16th century, this hue was simply 'yellow-red'. Earlier pigments included realgar (toxic), saffron (priceless), and orpiment. Cadmium orange, introduced in the 19th century, gave painters from the Impressionists onward a stable, brilliant orange that didn't fade or poison.

Across cultures

In Hindu and Buddhist tradition saffron orange marks renunciation — the robe of monks across Theravada and Tibetan lineages. The Dutch House of Orange-Nassau gave the Netherlands a national identity color, still worn at football matches and on King's Day. In Ireland, orange is the Protestant counterpart to green's Catholic association — the country's flag literally encodes the divide. Halloween's orange-and-black is a 20th-century American invention that has since gone global.

In the wild

Hermès orange is a brand asset traceable to a 1942 wartime cardboard shortage. Penguin Books used orange-and-white spines as a class signal — fiction was always orange. Nickelodeon, Fanta, and easyJet all chose orange for the same reason: it reads playful and consumer-friendly while staying outside the more crowded red and yellow lanes. NASA flight suits use International Orange specifically because nothing in nature matches it, making astronauts maximally visible against any background.

How it reads

Orange is warm without the urgency of red. It signals appetite (used heavily in fast food), creativity, and approachability. At low saturation it becomes terracotta, rust, or apricot — earthy palettes for hospitality and craft. At high saturation it reads as a sport, energy drink, or warning hazard. Orange and teal is the most common modern film-grade pairing; the contrast between warm skin tones and cool shadows is engineered for it.

This particular tone

A dim, atmospheric reading — closer to a colored shadow than a stated hue. Excellent as a near-black on dark UI or as a moody background.

Lightness band: At this depth the hue starts behaving like a neutral — it can substitute for black in many contexts while still carrying a faint chromatic temperature. It pairs especially well with off-whites and warm metallics.

Saturation band: The low saturation pulls this color toward earthen, vintage, or editorial palettes. It reads as confident and grown-up rather than playful, and it tolerates being used in large blocks without becoming visually noisy.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #272520.

  • Meituan 美团neutral
    Slate Black · #222222
    →
  • Netflixneutral
    Netflix Black · #221F1F
    →
  • Supabaseneutral
    Surface · #2A2A2A
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #272520.

  • Korea (Obangsaek)Obangsaek Black (흑 / heuk)
    #1F1F1F · North — water element, ink and lacquer
    →
  • China (Traditional)Ink Wash Black (墨)
    #1C1C1C · Pine-soot ink stick (mò)
    →
  • MexicoVolcanic Black
    #1F1A17 · Obsidian + Popocatépetl basalt
    →

Tonal strip

All lightness levels at this hue and saturation. Click any to navigate.

Palette moves

Instead of stopping at one swatch, use nearby, opposite, and tonal neighbors to branch into a broader palette.

Lighter companion
Apricot Nocturne Faint
#38352E · hsl(40, 10%, 20%)
Complementary counterpoint
Cobalt Ink Faint
#202327 · hsl(220, 10%, 14%)
Analogous lead
Citrine Ink Faint
#272720 · hsl(60, 10%, 14%)
Analogous echo
Vermillion Ink Faint
#272220 · hsl(15, 10%, 14%)
Triadic +120°
Teal Ink Faint
#202725 · hsl(160, 10%, 14%)
Triadic +240°
Mulberry Ink Faint
#252027 · hsl(280, 10%, 14%)
Split-comp +150°
Cerulean Ink Faint
#202627 · hsl(190, 10%, 14%)
Split-comp +210°
Violet Ink Faint
#212027 · hsl(250, 10%, 14%)
Export preview
Base: Apricot Ink Faint #272520
Lighter companion: Apricot Nocturne Faint #38352E
Complementary counterpoint: Cobalt Ink Faint #202327
Analogous lead: Citrine Ink Faint #272720
Analogous echo: Vermillion Ink Faint #272220
Triadic +120°: Teal Ink Faint #202725
Triadic +240°: Mulberry Ink Faint #252027
Split-comp +150°: Cerulean Ink Faint #202627
Split-comp +210°: Violet Ink Faint #212027

Compare

See how Apricot Ink Faint compares side by side with related colors.

vsApricot Nocturne FaintvsCobalt Ink FaintvsCitrine Ink FaintvsVermillion Ink FaintvsTeal Ink FaintvsMulberry Ink Faint

Nearest neighbors

The closest archive matches by hue, saturation, and lightness.

Search by hex
Nearby match
Taupe Gray Ink
#252422 · hsl(40, 5%, 14%)
Nearby match
Apricot Ink Muted
#2A261D · hsl(40, 18%, 14%)
Nearby match
Apricot Nocturne Faint
#38352E · hsl(40, 10%, 20%)
Nearby match
Saffron Ink Faint
#272520 · hsl(45, 10%, 14%)
Nearby match
Taupe Gray Nocturne
#363430 · hsl(40, 5%, 20%)
Nearby match
Apricot Ink Dust
#2D271A · hsl(40, 26%, 14%)

Accessible pairings

Archive colors that meet WCAG contrast standards when paired with this color. Use as text-on-background or background-on-text.

Contrast checker
AAA14.6:1
Cobalt Veil Faint
#F9FAFA
AAA14.6:1
Cobalt Veil Muted
#F9FAFB
AAA14.6:1
Cobalt Veil Dust
#F9F9FB
AAA14.5:1
Cobalt Veil Soft
#F8F9FC
AAA14.5:1
Cobalt Veil Clear
#F7F9FD
AAA14.5:1
Cobalt Veil Vivid
#F6F9FE

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#262622
Protanopia
#262621
Tritanopia
#272222
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Vermillion Ink Faint#272220 · hsl(15, 10%, 14%)Vermillion Nocturne Faint#38302E · hsl(15, 10%, 20%)Vermillion Shadow Faint#4F4440 · hsl(15, 10%, 28%)Vermillion Dusk Faint#5F524E · hsl(15, 10%, 34%)Vermillion Velvet Faint#766660 · hsl(15, 10%, 42%)Vermillion Core Faint#87746E · hsl(15, 10%, 48%)Vermillion Radiant Faint#95847E · hsl(15, 10%, 54%)Vermillion Tone Faint#A3948F · hsl(15, 10%, 60%)