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orange · warm

#bb552b

a balanced, vivid orange · warm · closest name: Sienna

Token name suggestion: Atlas Amber

RGB
187, 85, 43
HSL
18°, 63%, 45%
CMYK
0, 55, 77, 27
Luminance
0.1724

#bb552b is a balanced vivid orange, 18° on the wheel and 7/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (4.72:1). As text it scores 4.72:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Sienna, nearest Tailwind family is red.

hsl(18 63% 45%)rgb(187 85 43)Base step 600AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bb552b is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bb552b
Hue
18°
orange
Saturation
63%
vivid
Lightness
45%
balanced
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
48%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1724
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
7/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
4.72:1
Closest name
Sienna
ΔE2000 5.9
Chroma
57.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.571
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
red
500 · ΔE 13.8
Web-safe
#CC6633
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue18° of 360°
Saturation63%
Lightness45%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bb552b.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool7% 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
Red61%
Green38%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#bb552b
HEX (8-digit)#bb552bff
RGBrgb(187, 85, 43)
RGBArgba(187, 85, 43, 1)
HSLhsl(18, 63%, 45%)
HSV / HSBhsv(18, 77%, 73%)
HWBhwb(18 17% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 55%, 77%, 27%)
LABlab(48.6 38.5 43.0)
LCHlch(48.6 57.7 48.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.571 0.143 41.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(24.18, 17.24, 4.34)
Decimal12277035
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.333 0.169)
Web-safe#CC6633

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bb552b;
background-color: #bb552b;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bb552b;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bb552b] bg-[#bb552b]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bb552b;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.333, blue: 0.169)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.333, blue: 0.169, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BB552B</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBB552B)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBB552B)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(43, 85, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 85, 43)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 85, 43)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 85, 43)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.3333f, 0.1686f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,85,43}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bb552b 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bb552b 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#682F18, #EEDBD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bb552b 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: #FBF6F4;
  --brand-100: #F7EDE8;
  --brand-200: #F0D6CC;
  --brand-300: #EAB8A4;
  --brand-400: #E09576;
  --brand-500: #D57249;
  --brand-600: #bb552b;
  --brand-700: #A64B26;
  --brand-800: #853C1F;
  --brand-900: #602F1A;
  --brand-950: #3C1D10;
  --brand: #bb552b;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F4;
  --brand-border: #EDCDC0;
  --brand-hover: #9E4824;
  --brand-pressed: #813B1E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241914;
    --brand-ink: #EEDBD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF6F4',
        100: '#F7EDE8',
        200: '#F0D6CC',
        300: '#EAB8A4',
        400: '#E09576',
        500: '#D57249',
        600: '#bb552b',
        700: '#A64B26',
        800: '#853C1F',
        900: '#602F1A',
        950: '#3C1D10',
        DEFAULT: '#bb552b',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF6F4,
  '100': #F7EDE8,
  '200': #F0D6CC,
  '300': #EAB8A4,
  '400': #E09576,
  '500': #D57249,
  '600': #bb552b,
  '700': #A64B26,
  '800': #853C1F,
  '900': #602F1A,
  '950': #3C1D10,
);
$brand-base: #bb552b;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF6F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F7EDE8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F0D6CC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#EAB8A4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E09576", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#D57249", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#bb552b", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#A64B26", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#853C1F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#602F1A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3C1D10", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bb552b · 4.72:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.72:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.45:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #bb552b as text scores 4.72:1 on white and 4.45:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #FAEFEA at 4.18:1.

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
#bb552b · 4.72:1
AA on whitealready passes
#bb552b
The quick fox
#8D4021 · 7.27:1
AAA on white−11% L
#8D4021
The quick fox
#BF572C · 4.61:1
AA on black+1% L
#BF572C
The quick fox
#D97F5A · 7.13:1
AAA on black+15% L
#D97F5A

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #BB552B 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
#bb552b on white: 4.72:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bb552b on black: 4.45:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bb552b as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bb552b.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.72:1AaAa
Slate 504.51:1AaAa
Slate 1004.31:1AaAa
Slate 2003.83:1AaAa
Slate 3003.18:1AaAa
Slate 4001.84:1AaAa
Slate 5001.01:1AaAa
Slate 6001.60:1AaAa
Slate 7002.19:1AaAa
Slate 8003.10:1AaAa
Slate 9003.78:1AaAa
Black4.45:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #716526
deuteranopia · #8A7C28
tritanopia · #CD3F4C

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. #bb552b is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FBF6F4
#F7EDE8
#F0D6CC
#EAB8A4
#E09576
#D57249
#bb552b
#A64B26
#853C1F
#602F1A
#3C1D10
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FBF6F4Darkest = 950 · #3C1D10Text step on white = 600
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 0.036 41.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.057 41.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.086 41.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.112 41.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.132 41.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.143 41.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.143 41.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.135 41.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.120 41.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.100 41.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.079 41.4);
}

Colors that work with #bb552b

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#FAF6F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDCDC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B624B
Captions on the surface
Accent#22A4AA
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#682F18
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FAEFEA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241914
Dark-mode background
Hover#9E4824
One step down in lightness
Pressed#813B1E
Two steps down
Disabled#BEA399
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D85722
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 #bb552b

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
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. The mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight55/100
  • 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#2B91BB
Analogous left#BB2B49
Analogous right#BB9D2B
Split-complement 1#2BBB9D
Split-complement 2#2B49BB
Triadic 1#2BBB55
Triadic 2#552BBB
Tetradic#49BB2B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°18°

#bb552b sits at 18°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green33.3%
Blue16.9%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
85
0x55
B · 0–255
43
0x2b

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta54.5%
Yellow77.0%
Key (black)26.7%

Total ink coverage is 158%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bb552b text on a black background

contrast 4.45:1

Card sample

#bb552b text on a white background

contrast 4.72:1

Card sample

#bb552b on grey

4.31:1

#bb552b on its own surface

4.40:1

#bb552b on its dark surface

3.63:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bb552b;
Background color
Panel with #bb552b background
background-color: #bb552b;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bb552b;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 85, 43, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 85, 43, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bb552b;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bb552b, #BBB52B);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bb552b, #9DBB2B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bb552b;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bb552b;
caret-color: #bb552b;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bb552b;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FAEFEA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bb552b;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bb552b 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bb552b 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(187, 85, 43, 0.5)
rgb(187 85 43 / 50%)
#bb552b80
hsl(18 63% 45% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bb552b 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bb552b1a#F8EEEA
20%#bb552b33#F1DDD5
40%#bb552b66#E4BBAA
60%#bb552b99#D69980
80%#bb552bcc#C97755

Gradients from #bb552b

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, #D6754D, #bb552b 45%, #682F18);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bb552b, #9DA225);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bb552b, #2B91BB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DC8866 0%, #bb552b 45%, #682F18 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF6F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D4456F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D0BD34 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #682F18 0%, transparent 65%), #bb552b;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bb552b

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.

#bb552b 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

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

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 4.45:1 — lift it to #BF572C 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.

#bb552b, answered

What color is #bb552b?

#bb552b is a balanced vivid orange, closest to Sienna (ΔE2000 5.9). It sits at 18° on the hue wheel with 63% saturation and 45% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bb552b?

rgb(187, 85, 43) — 187 red, 85 green and 43 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 33.3% / 16.9% by channel.

What is #bb552b in HSL and HSV?

hsl(18, 63%, 45%) and hsv(18, 77%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bb552b a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1724 and perceived brightness is 48%, so white text on it reaches 4.72:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bb552b?

White. It scores 4.72:1 against #bb552b, versus 4.45:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #bb552b accessible on a white background?

#bb552b on white scores 4.72:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #bb552b?

#2B91BB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #2BBB9D and #2B49BB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bb552b?

For interface work: #FAF6F4 as the surface, #EDCDC0 for borders, #9B624B for secondary text, #22A4AA as an accent and #682F18 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BB2B49 and #BB9D2B stays calm, while #2B91BB is the loudest partner.

What is #bb552b in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 55%, 77%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bb552b warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 7 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CF6C30; nudged cooler, #BD2934.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bb552b?

The red family — its 500 step is #ef4444, ΔE2000 13.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bb552b as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bb552b in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bb552b] or text-[#bb552b], 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 #bb552b with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 85, 43, 0.5), or #bb552b80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDAA95; over black, #5E2B16.

Is #bb552b a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC6633, ΔE2000 6.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bb552b 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 #bb552b?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D6754D, #bb552b 45%, #682F18). For more colour, a short hue run to #9DA225 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bb552b in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bb552b at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.