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orange · warm

#c4841f

a dark, vivid orange · warm · closest name: Dark Goldenrod

Token name suggestion: Slate Apricot

RGB
196, 132, 31
HSL
37°, 73%, 45%
CMYK
0, 33, 84, 23
Luminance
0.2834

#c4841f is a dark vivid orange, 37° on the wheel and 6/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (6.67:1). As text it scores 3.15:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Dark Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(37 73% 45%)rgb(196 132 31)Base step 600AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c4841f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c4841f
Hue
37°
orange
Saturation
73%
vivid
Lightness
45%
dark
Brightness
77%
HSV value
Perceived
58%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2834
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
6/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
6.67:1
Closest name
Dark Goldenrod
ΔE2000 4.9
Chroma
61.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.663
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 10.6
Web-safe
#CC9933
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue37° of 360°
Saturation73%
Lightness45%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c4841f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool6% 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
Red41%
Green58%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#c4841f
HEX (8-digit)#c4841fff
RGBrgb(196, 132, 31)
RGBArgba(196, 132, 31, 1)
HSLhsl(37, 73%, 45%)
HSV / HSBhsv(37, 84%, 77%)
HWBhwb(37 12% 23%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 33%, 84%, 23%)
LABlab(60.2 16.7 59.2)
LCHlch(60.2 61.5 74.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.663 0.132 72.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.27, 28.34, 5.12)
Decimal12878879
Display P3color(display-p3 0.769 0.518 0.122)
Web-safe#CC9933

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c4841f;
background-color: #c4841f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c4841f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c4841f] bg-[#c4841f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c4841f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.769, green: 0.518, blue: 0.122)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.769, green: 0.518, blue: 0.122, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C4841F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC4841F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC4841F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(31, 132, 196)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(196, 132, 31)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(196, 132, 31)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 196, 132, 31)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7686f, 0.5176f, 0.1216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{196,132,31}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c4841f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c4841f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#6E4A11, #EEE3D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c4841f 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: #FCF8F3;
  --brand-100: #F8F2E7;
  --brand-200: #F3E3C9;
  --brand-300: #F0D09E;
  --brand-400: #E8B96E;
  --brand-500: #E0A13D;
  --brand-600: #c4841f;
  --brand-700: #B0771C;
  --brand-800: #8D5F16;
  --brand-900: #664614;
  --brand-950: #402C0D;
  --brand: #c4841f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EDDBC0;
  --brand-hover: #A56F1A;
  --brand-pressed: #865A15;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241E14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE3D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF8F3',
        100: '#F8F2E7',
        200: '#F3E3C9',
        300: '#F0D09E',
        400: '#E8B96E',
        500: '#E0A13D',
        600: '#c4841f',
        700: '#B0771C',
        800: '#8D5F16',
        900: '#664614',
        950: '#402C0D',
        DEFAULT: '#c4841f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF8F3,
  '100': #F8F2E7,
  '200': #F3E3C9,
  '300': #F0D09E,
  '400': #E8B96E,
  '500': #E0A13D,
  '600': #c4841f,
  '700': #B0771C,
  '800': #8D5F16,
  '900': #664614,
  '950': #402C0D,
);
$brand-base: #c4841f;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF8F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F8F2E7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F3E3C9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F0D09E", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E8B96E", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E0A13D", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#c4841f", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B0771C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#8D5F16", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#664614", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#402C0D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c4841f · 6.67:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.15:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 6.67:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #c4841f as text scores 3.15:1 on white and 6.67:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #6E4A11 at 2.52:1.

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
#9C6919 · 4.72:1
AA on white−9% L
#9C6919
The quick fox
#754F12 · 7.28:1
AAA on white−18% L
#754F12
The quick fox
#c4841f · 6.67:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c4841f
The quick fox
#CD8A20 · 7.25:1
AAA on black+2% L
#CD8A20

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C4841F 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
#c4841f on white: 3.15:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c4841f on black: 6.67:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c4841f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c4841f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.15:1AaAa
Slate 503.01:1AaAa
Slate 1002.88:1AaAa
Slate 2002.55:1AaAa
Slate 3002.12:1AaAa
Slate 4001.23:1AaAa
Slate 5001.51:1AaAa
Slate 6002.41:1AaAa
Slate 7003.29:1AaAa
Slate 8004.64:1AaAa
Slate 9005.67:1AaAa
Black6.67:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9A8804
deuteranopia · #A99723
tritanopia · #D67471

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. #c4841f 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.

#FCF8F3
#F8F2E7
#F3E3C9
#F0D09E
#E8B96E
#E0A13D
#c4841f
#B0771C
#8D5F16
#664614
#402C0D
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FCF8F3Darkest = 950 · #402C0DText step on white = 800
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 0.033 72.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.053 72.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.079 72.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.103 72.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.122 72.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.132 72.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.132 72.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.124 72.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.111 72.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.093 72.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.073 72.4);
}

Colors that work with #c4841f

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#EDDBC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B7C4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1A8AC9
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#6E4A11
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FCF4E9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241E14
Dark-mode background
Hover#A56F1A
One step down in lightness
Pressed#865A15
Two steps down
Disabled#BCAE97
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E29315
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 #c4841f

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • 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
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • 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
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #6E4A11
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 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
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight56/100
  • 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#1F5FC4
Analogous left#C4311F
Analogous right#B2C41F
Split-complement 1#1FB2C4
Split-complement 2#311FC4
Triadic 1#1FC484
Triadic 2#841FC4
Tetradic#1FC431
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°37°

#c4841f sits at 37°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red76.9%
Green51.8%
Blue12.2%
R · 0–255
196
0xc4
G · 0–255
132
0x84
B · 0–255
31
0x1f

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta32.7%
Yellow84.2%
Key (black)23.1%

Total ink coverage is 140%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c4841f text on a black background

contrast 6.67:1

Card sample

#c4841f text on a white background

contrast 3.15:1

Card sample

#c4841f on grey

2.88:1

#c4841f on its own surface

2.97:1

#c4841f on its dark surface

5.25:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c4841f;
Background color
Panel with #c4841f background
background-color: #c4841f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c4841f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(196, 132, 31, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(196, 132, 31, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c4841f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c4841f, #96C41F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4841f, #6DC41F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c4841f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c4841f;
caret-color: #c4841f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c4841f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FCF4E9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c4841f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c4841f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c4841f 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(196, 132, 31, 0.5)
rgb(196 132 31 / 50%)
#c4841f80
hsl(37 73% 45% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c4841f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c4841f1a#F9F3E9
20%#c4841f33#F3E6D2
40%#c4841f66#E7CEA5
60%#c4841f99#DCB579
80%#c4841fcc#D09D4C

Gradients from #c4841f

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, #E1A23F, #c4841f 45%, #6E4A11);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c4841f, #76AA1B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4841f, #1F5FC4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E5AF5A 0%, #c4841f 45%, #6E4A11 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%, #DF3B37 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B9DD25 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #6E4A11 0%, transparent 65%), #c4841f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c4841f

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.

#c4841f 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 6.67:1.

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.

#c4841f, answered

What color is #c4841f?

#c4841f is a dark vivid orange, closest to Dark Goldenrod (ΔE2000 4.9). It sits at 37° on the hue wheel with 73% saturation and 45% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #c4841f?

rgb(196, 132, 31) — 196 red, 132 green and 31 blue out of 255, or 76.9% / 51.8% / 12.2% by channel.

What is #c4841f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(37, 73%, 45%) and hsv(37, 84%, 77%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c4841f a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2834 and perceived brightness is 58%, so black text on it reaches 6.67:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c4841f?

Black. It scores 6.67:1 against #c4841f, versus 3.15:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #c4841f accessible on a white background?

#c4841f on white scores 3.15:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #9C6919 to reach 4.5:1, or #754F12 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c4841f?

#1F5FC4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #1FB2C4 and #311FC4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c4841f?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EDDBC0 for borders, #9B7C4B for secondary text, #1A8AC9 as an accent and #6E4A11 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C4311F and #B2C41F stays calm, while #1F5FC4 is the loudest partner.

What is #c4841f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 33%, 84%, 23%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c4841f warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 6 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C4721F; nudged cooler, #C6C31D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c4841f?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 10.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c4841f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c4841f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c4841f] or text-[#c4841f], 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 #c4841f with 50% opacity?

rgba(196, 132, 31, 0.5), or #c4841f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E2C28F; over black, #624210.

Is #c4841f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9933, ΔE2000 6.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c4841f 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 #c4841f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E1A23F, #c4841f 45%, #6E4A11). For more colour, a short hue run to #76AA1B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c4841f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c4841f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.