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orange · warm

#bc8d52

a balanced, soft orange · warm · closest name: Peru

Token name suggestion: Signal Amber

RGB
188, 141, 82
HSL
33°, 44%, 53%
CMYK
0, 25, 56, 26
Luminance
0.3035

#bc8d52 is a balanced soft orange, 33° on the wheel and 3/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.07:1). As text it scores 2.97:1 on white — use #966E3A instead. Nearest name is Peru, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(33 44% 53%)rgb(188 141 82)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bc8d52 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bc8d52
Hue
33°
orange
Saturation
44%
soft
Lightness
53%
balanced
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
59%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3035
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
3/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.07:1
Closest name
Peru
ΔE2000 6.1
Chroma
39.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.676
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 13.5
Web-safe
#CC9966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue33° of 360°
Saturation44%
Lightness53%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bc8d52.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool3% 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
Red35%
Green63%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#bc8d52
HEX (8-digit)#bc8d52ff
RGBrgb(188, 141, 82)
RGBArgba(188, 141, 82, 1)
HSLhsl(33, 44%, 53%)
HSV / HSBhsv(33, 56%, 74%)
HWBhwb(33 32% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 25%, 56%, 26%)
LABlab(62.0 11.1 38.1)
LCHlch(62.0 39.6 73.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.676 0.095 71.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.79, 30.35, 12.17)
Decimal12356946
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.553 0.322)
Web-safe#CC9966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bc8d52;
background-color: #bc8d52;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bc8d52;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bc8d52] bg-[#bc8d52]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bc8d52;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.553, blue: 0.322)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.553, blue: 0.322, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BC8D52</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBC8D52)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBC8D52)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(82, 141, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 141, 82)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 141, 82)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 141, 82)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.5529f, 0.3216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,141,82}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bc8d52 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bc8d52 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5C4324, #EEE2D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bc8d52 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: #FAF8F5;
  --brand-100: #F5F0EA;
  --brand-200: #EBDFD1;
  --brand-300: #E0CAAE;
  --brand-400: #D0AF86;
  --brand-500: #bc8d52;
  --brand-600: #B18144;
  --brand-700: #936B39;
  --brand-800: #76562E;
  --brand-900: #564024;
  --brand-950: #362817;
  --brand: #bc8d52;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #E8D8C4;
  --brand-hover: #A97B41;
  --brand-pressed: #8F6837;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241D14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE2D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF8F5',
        100: '#F5F0EA',
        200: '#EBDFD1',
        300: '#E0CAAE',
        400: '#D0AF86',
        500: '#bc8d52',
        600: '#B18144',
        700: '#936B39',
        800: '#76562E',
        900: '#564024',
        950: '#362817',
        DEFAULT: '#bc8d52',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF8F5,
  '100': #F5F0EA,
  '200': #EBDFD1,
  '300': #E0CAAE,
  '400': #D0AF86,
  '500': #bc8d52,
  '600': #B18144,
  '700': #936B39,
  '800': #76562E,
  '900': #564024,
  '950': #362817,
);
$brand-base: #bc8d52;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF8F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F5F0EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EBDFD1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E0CAAE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D0AF86", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#bc8d52", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B18144", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#936B39", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#76562E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#564024", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#362817", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$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#000000 on #bc8d52 · 7.07:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.97:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.07:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bc8d52 as text scores 2.97:1 on white and 7.07:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5C4324 at 3.10:1.

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
#966E3A · 4.58:1
AA on white−12% L
#966E3A
The quick fox
#72532C · 7.03:1
AAA on white−22% L
#72532C
The quick fox
#bc8d52 · 7.07:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bc8d52
The quick fox
#bc8d52 · 7.07:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bc8d52

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #BB8A4E 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
#bc8d52 on white: 2.97:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bc8d52 on black: 7.07:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bc8d52 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bc8d52.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.97:1AaAa
Slate 502.84:1AaAa
Slate 1002.71:1AaAa
Slate 2002.41:1AaAa
Slate 3002.00:1AaAa
Slate 4001.16:1AaAa
Slate 5001.60:1AaAa
Slate 6002.55:1AaAa
Slate 7003.49:1AaAa
Slate 8004.93:1AaAa
Slate 9006.01:1AaAa
Black7.07:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9E8F4D
deuteranopia · #A99A53
tritanopia · #CB817F

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. #bc8d52 is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FAF8F5
#F5F0EA
#EBDFD1
#E0CAAE
#D0AF86
#bc8d52
#B18144
#936B39
#76562E
#564024
#362817
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FAF8F5Darkest = 950 · #362817Text 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 0.024 71.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.038 71.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.057 71.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.074 71.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.088 71.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.095 71.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.095 71.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.090 71.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.080 71.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.067 71.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.052 71.3);
}

Colors that work with #bc8d52

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

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#FAF8F4
Tinted page background
Border#E8D8C4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B774B
Captions on the surface
Accent#357997
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5C4324
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F8F3ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241D14
Dark-mode background
Hover#A97B41
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8F6837
Two steps down
Disabled#CDC1B1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CD9856
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 #bc8d52

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #5C4324
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #BB8A4E

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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • Weight47/100
  • 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#5281BC
Analogous left#BC5852
Analogous right#B6BC52
Split-complement 1#52B6BC
Split-complement 2#5852BC
Triadic 1#52BC8D
Triadic 2#8D52BC
Tetradic#52BC58
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°33°

#bc8d52 sits at 33°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green55.3%
Blue32.2%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
141
0x8d
B · 0–255
82
0x52

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta25.0%
Yellow56.4%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 108%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bc8d52 text on a black background

contrast 7.07:1

Card sample

#bc8d52 text on a white background

contrast 2.97:1

Card sample

#bc8d52 on grey

2.71:1

#bc8d52 on its own surface

2.80:1

#bc8d52 on its dark surface

5.61:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bc8d52;
Background color
Panel with #bc8d52 background
background-color: #bc8d52;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bc8d52;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 141, 82, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 141, 82, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bc8d52;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bc8d52, #A4BC52);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc8d52, #8ABC52);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bc8d52;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bc8d52;
caret-color: #bc8d52;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bc8d52;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F8F3ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bc8d52;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bc8d52 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bc8d52 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(188, 141, 82, 0.5)
rgb(188 141 82 / 50%)
#bc8d5280
hsl(33 44% 53% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bc8d52 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bc8d521a#F8F4EE
20%#bc8d5233#F2E8DC
40%#bc8d5266#E4D1BA
60%#bc8d5299#D7BB97
80%#bc8d52cc#C9A475

Gradients from #bc8d52

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, #CDAA7E, #bc8d52 45%, #5C4324);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bc8d52, #8CAC43);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc8d52, #5281BC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D6B994 0%, #bc8d52 45%, #5C4324 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF8F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #CA7779 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B8C568 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5C4324 0%, transparent 65%), #bc8d52;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bc8d52

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.

#bc8d52 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

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 7.07:1.

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.

#bc8d52, answered

What color is #bc8d52?

#bc8d52 is a balanced soft orange, closest to Peru (ΔE2000 6.1). It sits at 33° on the hue wheel with 44% saturation and 53% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bc8d52?

rgb(188, 141, 82) — 188 red, 141 green and 82 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 55.3% / 32.2% by channel.

What is #bc8d52 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(33, 44%, 53%) and hsv(33, 56%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bc8d52 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3035 and perceived brightness is 59%, so black text on it reaches 7.07:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bc8d52?

Black. It scores 7.07:1 against #bc8d52, versus 2.97:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bc8d52 accessible on a white background?

#bc8d52 on white scores 2.97:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #966E3A to reach 4.5:1, or #72532C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bc8d52?

#5281BC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #52B6BC and #5852BC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bc8d52?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #E8D8C4 for borders, #9B774B for secondary text, #357997 as an accent and #5C4324 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BC5852 and #B6BC52 stays calm, while #5281BC is the loudest partner.

What is #bc8d52 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 25%, 56%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bc8d52 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 3 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C39064; nudged cooler, #BEB64F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bc8d52?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 13.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bc8d52 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bc8d52 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bc8d52] or text-[#bc8d52], 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 #bc8d52 with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 141, 82, 0.5), or #bc8d5280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DEC6A9; over black, #5E4729.

Is #bc8d52 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9966, ΔE2000 4.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bc8d52 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #bc8d52?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CDAA7E, #bc8d52 45%, #5C4324). For more colour, a short hue run to #8CAC43 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bc8d52 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bc8d52 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.