Sepia #985E2B

About this color

#985E2B is a medium-dark, moderately saturated brown. In OKLCH its lightness is 54%, its chroma 0.100 and its hue 59°. Its hue sits on the warm side of the wheel. It is the named color Sepia. White text reads best on it, at 5.28:1.

Colors that go with Sepia

Matches found by rotating Sepia around the OKLCH hue wheel, each labelled with the closest name in our list.

Color palettes with Sepia

Curated color palettes that contain a color within ΔE 0.06 (OKLab) of Sepia, closest first.

• Pretzel and Rye
• Saffron and Harissa
• Cabana and Sundae
• Almanac Wallpaper
• Roast Table
• Caramel Grind
• Cinnamon and Molasses
• Cortado Counter

Similar named colors

The eight named colors closest to Sepia, with their ΔE distance.

• Raw Sienna #9A6200 ΔE 0.029
• Earth #A2653E ΔE 0.031
• Raw Umber #A75E09 ΔE 0.032
• Sienna #A0522D ΔE 0.033
• Cocoa #875F42 ΔE 0.037
• Dirt Brown #836539 ΔE 0.039
• Warm Brown #964E02 ΔE 0.041
• Dirt #8A6E45 ΔE 0.045

More about Sepia

• Shades of brown
• What brown means

How to make Sepia

A starting recipe from common paint colors, found with a spectral paint model (the color mixer’s paint mode). Real pigments vary, so mix a small test batch and adjust.

• 4 parts brown
• 3 parts orange
• 1 part gray

Recipe result: #995E28, a difference of ΔE 0.003 from Sepia. That is very close: most people will not see the difference.

What colors make brown? | Color mixing chart

Codes for Sepia in every format

Contrast

WCAG 2 contrast ratios are the conformance target: AA needs 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text, AAA needs 7:1. APCA Lc values are supplementary guidance from the WCAG 3 drafts.

Shades and tints of Sepia

A 50–950 scale built in OKLCH: the hue is held, lightness follows a Tailwind v4-like curve, and every step is kept inside the sRGB gamut. This color sits at step 600.

1. Step 50

   50

   #F9F5F1

   oklch(97.2% 0.007 67.7)

2. Step 100

   100

   #F1E8E1

   oklch(93.6% 0.014 60.6)

3. Step 200

   200

   #E6D6C9

   oklch(88.6% 0.025 61.6)

4. Step 300

   300

   #D7BAA4

   oklch(80.8% 0.045 59.3)

5. Step 400

   400

   #C39673

   oklch(70.7% 0.073 59.1)

6. Step 500

   500

   #B37B4E

   oklch(63% 0.093 58.8)

7. Step 600

   600 (this color)

   #985E2B

   oklch(53.7% 0.1 59.2)

8. Step 700

   700

   #875224

   oklch(49% 0.093 58.7)

9. Step 800

   800

   #6E441F

   oklch(42.8% 0.077 59.7)

10. Step 900

    900

    #59391F

    oklch(37.6% 0.06 58.6)

11. Step 950

    950

    #342213

    oklch(27% 0.037 60.1)

Export this scale for Tailwind in the Tailwind colors tool

Sepia with color blindness

Simulated with the Machado et al. (2009) model. ΔE is how far the color moves: below about 0.02 you would not notice a change.