Skip to content
orange · warm

#b55012

a dark, electric orange · warm · closest name: Sienna

Token name suggestion: Forest Apricot

RGB
181, 80, 18
HSL
23°, 82%, 39%
CMYK
0, 56, 90, 29
Luminance
0.1560

#b55012 is a dark electric orange, 23° on the wheel and 4/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.10:1). As text it scores 5.10:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Sienna, nearest Tailwind family is orange.

hsl(23 82% 39%)rgb(181 80 18)Base step 700AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b55012 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b55012
Hue
23°
orange
Saturation
82%
electric
Lightness
39%
dark
Brightness
71%
HSV value
Perceived
46%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1560
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
4/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
5.10:1
Closest name
Sienna
ΔE2000 6
Chroma
63.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.553
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
orange
500 · ΔE 16.9
Web-safe
#CC6600
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue23° of 360°
Saturation82%
Lightness39%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b55012.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool4% 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
Red63%
Green37%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#b55012
HEX (8-digit)#b55012ff
RGBrgb(181, 80, 18)
RGBArgba(181, 80, 18, 1)
HSLhsl(23, 82%, 39%)
HSV / HSBhsv(23, 90%, 71%)
HWBhwb(23 7% 29%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 56%, 90%, 29%)
LABlab(46.5 38.0 51.4)
LCHlch(46.5 63.9 53.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.553 0.147 46.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(22.04, 15.61, 2.42)
Decimal11882514
Display P3color(display-p3 0.710 0.314 0.071)
Web-safe#CC6600

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b55012;
background-color: #b55012;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b55012;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b55012] bg-[#b55012]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b55012;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.710, green: 0.314, blue: 0.071)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.710, green: 0.314, blue: 0.071, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B55012</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB55012)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB55012)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(18, 80, 181)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(181, 80, 18)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(181, 80, 18)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 181, 80, 18)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7098f, 0.3137f, 0.0706f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{181,80,18}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b55012 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b55012 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#74330C, #EEDDD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b55012 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: #FCF6F2;
  --brand-100: #F9EDE6;
  --brand-200: #F6D8C6;
  --brand-300: #F5BC99;
  --brand-400: #F09A66;
  --brand-500: #EB7933;
  --brand-600: #DF6216;
  --brand-700: #b55012;
  --brand-800: #94420F;
  --brand-900: #6B320F;
  --brand-950: #431F09;
  --brand: #b55012;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF7F4;
  --brand-border: #EDD1C0;
  --brand-hover: #94420F;
  --brand-pressed: #74330C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241A14;
    --brand-ink: #EEDDD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF6F2',
        100: '#F9EDE6',
        200: '#F6D8C6',
        300: '#F5BC99',
        400: '#F09A66',
        500: '#EB7933',
        600: '#DF6216',
        700: '#b55012',
        800: '#94420F',
        900: '#6B320F',
        950: '#431F09',
        DEFAULT: '#b55012',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF6F2,
  '100': #F9EDE6,
  '200': #F6D8C6,
  '300': #F5BC99,
  '400': #F09A66,
  '500': #EB7933,
  '600': #DF6216,
  '700': #b55012,
  '800': #94420F,
  '900': #6B320F,
  '950': #431F09,
);
$brand-base: #b55012;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF6F2", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F9EDE6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F6D8C6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F5BC99", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F09A66", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#EB7933", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#DF6216", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#b55012", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#94420F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6B320F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#431F09", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#ffffff", "$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#ffffff on #b55012 · 5.10:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.10:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.12:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #b55012 as text scores 5.10:1 on white and 4.12:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #FDF0E8 at 4.56:1.

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
#b55012 · 5.10:1
AA on whitealready passes
#b55012
The quick fox
#90400E · 7.18:1
AAA on white−8% L
#90400E
The quick fox
#C35613 · 4.66:1
AA on black+3% L
#C35613
The quick fox
#EA762E · 7.13:1
AAA on black+16% L
#EA762E

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B55012 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
#b55012 on white: 5.10:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b55012 on black: 4.12:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b55012 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b55012.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.10:1AaAa
Slate 504.87:1AaAa
Slate 1004.65:1AaAa
Slate 2004.13:1AaAa
Slate 3003.43:1AaAa
Slate 4001.99:1AaAa
Slate 5001.07:1AaAa
Slate 6001.49:1AaAa
Slate 7002.03:1AaAa
Slate 8002.87:1AaAa
Slate 9003.50:1AaAa
Black4.12:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #6D6002
deuteranopia · #86770C
tritanopia · #C73845

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. #b55012 is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FCF6F2
#F9EDE6
#F6D8C6
#F5BC99
#F09A66
#EB7933
#DF6216
#b55012
#94420F
#6B320F
#431F09
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #FCF6F2Darkest = 950 · #431F09Text 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 0.037 46.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.059 46.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.088 46.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.115 46.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.136 46.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.147 46.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.147 46.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.138 46.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.124 46.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.103 46.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.081 46.0);
}

Colors that work with #b55012

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#ffffff
White wins here
Surface#FAF7F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDD1C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B694B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0EA7BE
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#74330C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDF0E8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241A14
Dark-mode background
Hover#94420F
One step down in lightness
Pressed#74330C
Two steps down
Disabled#B19686
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D25509
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 #b55012

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Black text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Any size
Safe as a fill behind white type
Yes
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

friendlyenergeticaffordablesocial

Orange is red with the aggression taken out — approachable, active, and strongly associated with buying and doing.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

Hard to make feel premium, and it collides with the "caution" band in status systems.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight61/100
  • 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#1277B5
Analogous left#B51226
Analogous right#B5A112
Split-complement 1#12B5A1
Split-complement 2#1226B5
Triadic 1#12B550
Triadic 2#5012B5
Tetradic#26B512
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°23°

#b55012 sits at 23°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red71.0%
Green31.4%
Blue7.1%
R · 0–255
181
0xb5
G · 0–255
80
0x50
B · 0–255
18
0x12

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta55.8%
Yellow90.1%
Key (black)29.0%

Total ink coverage is 175%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#b55012 text on a black background

contrast 4.12:1

Card sample

#b55012 text on a white background

contrast 5.10:1

Card sample

#b55012 on grey

4.65:1

#b55012 on its own surface

4.77:1

#b55012 on its dark surface

3.34:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b55012;
Background color
Panel with #b55012 background
background-color: #b55012;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b55012;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(181, 80, 18, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(181, 80, 18, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b55012;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b55012, #ADB512);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b55012, #85B512);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b55012;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b55012;
caret-color: #b55012;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b55012;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FDF0E8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b55012;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b55012 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b55012 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(181, 80, 18, 0.5)
rgb(181 80 18 / 50%)
#b5501280
hsl(23 82% 39% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b55012 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b550121a#F8EEE7
20%#b5501233#F0DCD0
40%#b5501266#E1B9A0
60%#b5501299#D39671
80%#b55012cc#C47341

Gradients from #b55012

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, #E8691C, #b55012 45%, #74330C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b55012, #87990F);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b55012, #1277B5);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EB7C38 0%, #b55012 45%, #74330C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF7F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E31740 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D1CA15 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #74330C 0%, transparent 65%), #b55012;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b55012

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.

#b55012 in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
E-commerceFood deliveryLogisticsCreator tools
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
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

Too dim on dark surfaces at 4.12:1 — lift it to #C35613 for body text, or reserve it for fills.

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.

#b55012, answered

What color is #b55012?

#b55012 is a dark electric orange, closest to Sienna (ΔE2000 6). It sits at 23° on the hue wheel with 82% saturation and 39% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #b55012?

rgb(181, 80, 18) — 181 red, 80 green and 18 blue out of 255, or 71% / 31.4% / 7.1% by channel.

What is #b55012 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(23, 82%, 39%) and hsv(23, 90%, 71%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b55012 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1560 and perceived brightness is 46%, so white text on it reaches 5.10:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b55012?

White. It scores 5.10:1 against #b55012, versus 4.12:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #b55012 accessible on a white background?

#b55012 on white scores 5.10:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #b55012?

#1277B5 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #12B5A1 and #1226B5, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b55012?

For interface work: #FAF7F4 as the surface, #EDD1C0 for borders, #9B694B for secondary text, #0EA7BE as an accent and #74330C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B51226 and #B5A112 stays calm, while #1277B5 is the loudest partner.

What is #b55012 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 56%, 90%, 29%). 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 #b55012 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 4 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CC5F14; nudged cooler, #B71210.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b55012?

The orange family — its 500 step is #f97316, ΔE2000 16.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b55012 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b55012 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b55012] or text-[#b55012], 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 #b55012 with 50% opacity?

rgba(181, 80, 18, 0.5), or #b5501280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DAA889; over black, #5B2809.

Is #b55012 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC6600, ΔE2000 9.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b55012 mean?

As a orange, it reads friendly, energetic, affordable. Orange is red with the aggression taken out — approachable, active, and strongly associated with buying and doing. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #b55012?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E8691C, #b55012 45%, #74330C). For more colour, a short hue run to #87990F keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b55012 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b55012 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.