Acoustic Brown as a scale
Eleven steps from #766b69, built by moving lightness in OKLCh and keeping the hue where it is. Every step is gamut-mapped by giving up chroma, never by clipping channels — clipping is what turns a light blue purple.
| Stop | Hex | OKLCh L | Chroma | On white | On black | APCA on white | ΔE00 from the step above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | #fff2ef | 97.0% | 0.014 | 1.10:1 | 19.17:1 | 0 | — |
| 100 | #f4e7e5 | 93.8% | 0.014 | 1.21:1 | 17.43:1 | 10 | 2.2 |
| 200 | #dfd2d0 | 87.4% | 0.014 | 1.47:1 | 14.28:1 | 22 | 4.7 |
| 300 | #cabebb | 81.0% | 0.014 | 1.82:1 | 11.57:1 | 34 | 5.1 |
| 400 | #b6aaa7 | 74.6% | 0.014 | 2.27:1 | 9.25:1 | 45 | 5.5 |
| 500 | #a29694 | 68.2% | 0.014 | 2.88:1 | 7.30:1 | 55 | 6.0 |
| 600 | #8e8380 | 61.8% | 0.014 | 3.69:1 | 5.69:1 | 65 | 6.6 |
| 700 | #7b706e | 55.4% | 0.014 | 4.80:1 | 4.37:1 | 73 | 7.3 |
| 800 | #685e5c | 49.0% | 0.014 | 6.30:1 | 3.33:1 | 81 | 7.0 |
| 900 | #3f3534 | 34.0% | 0.014 | 11.83:1 | 1.78:1 | 97 | 13.8 |
| 950 | #170f0e | 18.0% | 0.014 | 18.86:1 | 1.11:1 | 105 | 11.9 |
What is true of this ramp
- 10 of the 10 adjacent pairs differ by ΔE00 2 or more. Every step here is a step a reader can see.
- The tightest pair is 50 to100, at ΔE00 2.2.
- No step had to give up chroma: sRGB has room for this hue at every lightness in the ramp.
- 4 steps clear 4.5:1 on white (700, 800, 900, 950), and 7 on black (50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600).
Harmonies from Acoustic Brown
complement
the hue directly opposite, at the same lightness. #657072 (+180°)
analogous
the two neighbours 30° either side. #756b6d (+-30°), #746c66 (+30°)
split complement
the two hues either side of the opposite, 30° apart from it. #65716e (+150°), #676f76 (+210°)
triad
the circle divided in three. #68706a (+120°), #6a6e76 (+240°)
tetrad
the circle divided in four. #6d6f66 (+90°), #657072 (+180°), #6f6c75 (+270°)
The ramp as CSS
:root {
--acoustic-brown-50: #fff2ef;
--acoustic-brown-100: #f4e7e5;
--acoustic-brown-200: #dfd2d0;
--acoustic-brown-300: #cabebb;
--acoustic-brown-400: #b6aaa7;
--acoustic-brown-500: #a29694;
--acoustic-brown-600: #8e8380;
--acoustic-brown-700: #7b706e;
--acoustic-brown-800: #685e5c;
--acoustic-brown-900: #3f3534;
--acoustic-brown-950: #170f0e;
}