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orange · warm

#cba280

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

Token name suggestion: True Clay

RGB
203, 162, 128
HSL
27°, 42%, 65%
CMYK
0, 20, 37, 20
Luminance
0.4010

#cba280 is a balanced soft orange, 27° on the wheel and 2/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.02:1). As text it scores 2.33:1 on white — use #9B6940 instead. Nearest name is Tan, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(27 42% 65%)rgb(203 162 128)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cba280 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cba280
Hue
27°
orange
Saturation
42%
soft
Lightness
65%
balanced
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4010
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
2/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.02:1
Closest name
Tan
ΔE2000 6.5
Chroma
25.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.741
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 16.4
Web-safe
#CC9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue27° of 360°
Saturation42%
Lightness65%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cba280.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool2% 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
Red32%
Green64%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#cba280
HEX (8-digit)#cba280ff
RGBrgb(203, 162, 128)
RGBArgba(203, 162, 128, 1)
HSLhsl(27, 42%, 65%)
HSV / HSBhsv(27, 37%, 80%)
HWBhwb(27 50% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 20%, 37%, 20%)
LABlab(69.5 10.4 23.4)
LCHlch(69.5 25.7 66.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.741 0.067 61.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(41.45, 40.10, 25.97)
Decimal13345408
Display P3color(display-p3 0.796 0.635 0.502)
Web-safe#CC9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cba280;
background-color: #cba280;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cba280;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cba280] bg-[#cba280]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cba280;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.796, green: 0.635, blue: 0.502)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.796, green: 0.635, blue: 0.502, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CBA280</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCBA280)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCBA280)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(128, 162, 203)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(203, 162, 128)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(203, 162, 128)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 203, 162, 128)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7961f, 0.6353f, 0.5020f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{203,162,128}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cba280 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cba280 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5A3D25, #EDDFD4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cba280 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: #FAF7F5;
  --brand-100: #F5EFEB;
  --brand-200: #EADDD2;
  --brand-300: #DEC5AF;
  --brand-400: #cba280;
  --brand-500: #BE8A60;
  --brand-600: #AE7647;
  --brand-700: #91623B;
  --brand-800: #744E2F;
  --brand-900: #553B26;
  --brand-950: #352518;
  --brand: #cba280;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF7F4;
  --brand-border: #E7D5C5;
  --brand-hover: #C18F67;
  --brand-pressed: #B67D4D;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241B14;
    --brand-ink: #EDDFD4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF7F5',
        100: '#F5EFEB',
        200: '#EADDD2',
        300: '#DEC5AF',
        400: '#cba280',
        500: '#BE8A60',
        600: '#AE7647',
        700: '#91623B',
        800: '#744E2F',
        900: '#553B26',
        950: '#352518',
        DEFAULT: '#cba280',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF7F5,
  '100': #F5EFEB,
  '200': #EADDD2,
  '300': #DEC5AF,
  '400': #cba280,
  '500': #BE8A60,
  '600': #AE7647,
  '700': #91623B,
  '800': #744E2F,
  '900': #553B26,
  '950': #352518,
);
$brand-base: #cba280;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF7F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F5EFEB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EADDD2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DEC5AF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#cba280", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#BE8A60", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#AE7647", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#91623B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#744E2F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#553B26", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#352518", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cba280 · 9.02:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.33:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.02:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cba280 as text scores 2.33:1 on white and 9.02:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5A3D25 at 4.24:1.

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
#9B6940 · 4.68:1
AA on white−22% L
#9B6940
The quick fox
#734E2F · 7.34:1
AAA on white−33% L
#734E2F
The quick fox
#cba280 · 9.02:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cba280
The quick fox
#cba280 · 9.02:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cba280

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #BE8A5F 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
#cba280 on white: 2.33:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cba280 on black: 9.02:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cba280 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cba280.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.33:1AaAa
Slate 502.23:1AaAa
Slate 1002.13:1AaAa
Slate 2001.89:1AaAa
Slate 3001.57:1AaAa
Slate 4001.10:1AaAa
Slate 5002.04:1AaAa
Slate 6003.25:1AaAa
Slate 7004.45:1AaAa
Slate 8006.28:1AaAa
Slate 9007.67:1AaAa
Black9.02:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AFA57E
deuteranopia · #B8AD80
tritanopia · #D89A99

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. #cba280 is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FAF7F5
#F5EFEB
#EADDD2
#DEC5AF
#cba280
#BE8A60
#AE7647
#91623B
#744E2F
#553B26
#352518
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FAF7F5Darkest = 950 · #352518Text 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 0.017 61.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.027 61.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.040 61.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.052 61.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.062 61.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.067 61.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.067 61.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.063 61.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.057 61.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.047 61.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.037 61.2);
}

Colors that work with #cba280

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#FAF7F4
Tinted page background
Border#E7D5C5
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B6F4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#378295
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5A3D25
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F8F2ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241B14
Dark-mode background
Hover#C18F67
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B67D4D
Two steps down
Disabled#E5DDD6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D9AC87
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 #cba280

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 #5A3D25
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #BE8A5F

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
  • Weight35/100
  • 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#80A9CB
Analogous left#CB8083
Analogous right#CBC780
Split-complement 1#80CBC7
Split-complement 2#8083CB
Triadic 1#80CBA2
Triadic 2#A280CB
Tetradic#83CB80
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°27°

#cba280 sits at 27°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.6%
Green63.5%
Blue50.2%
R · 0–255
203
0xcb
G · 0–255
162
0xa2
B · 0–255
128
0x80

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta20.2%
Yellow36.9%
Key (black)20.4%

Total ink coverage is 78%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cba280 text on a black background

contrast 9.02:1

Card sample

#cba280 text on a white background

contrast 2.33:1

Card sample

#cba280 on grey

2.13:1

#cba280 on its own surface

2.18:1

#cba280 on its dark surface

7.26:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cba280;
Background color
Panel with #cba280 background
background-color: #cba280;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cba280;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(203, 162, 128, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(203, 162, 128, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cba280;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cba280, #C2CB80);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cba280, #AFCB80);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cba280;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cba280;
caret-color: #cba280;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cba280;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F8F2ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cba280;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cba280 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cba280 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(203, 162, 128, 0.5)
rgb(203 162 128 / 50%)
#cba28080
hsl(27 42% 65% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cba280 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cba2801a#FAF6F2
20%#cba28033#F5ECE6
40%#cba28066#EADACC
60%#cba28099#E0C7B3
80%#cba280cc#D5B599

Gradients from #cba280

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, #DDC2AB, #cba280 45%, #5A3D25);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cba280, #B0C26A);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cba280, #80A9CB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E6D2C1 0%, #cba280 45%, #5A3D25 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%, #DAA4AB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D2D496 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5A3D25 0%, transparent 65%), #cba280;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cba280

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.

#cba280 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 9.02:1.

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.

#cba280, answered

What color is #cba280?

#cba280 is a balanced soft orange, closest to Tan (ΔE2000 6.5). It sits at 27° on the hue wheel with 42% saturation and 65% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cba280?

rgb(203, 162, 128) — 203 red, 162 green and 128 blue out of 255, or 79.6% / 63.5% / 50.2% by channel.

What is #cba280 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(27, 42%, 65%) and hsv(27, 37%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cba280 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4010 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 9.02:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cba280?

Black. It scores 9.02:1 against #cba280, versus 2.33:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cba280 accessible on a white background?

#cba280 on white scores 2.33:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9B6940 to reach 4.5:1, or #734E2F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cba280?

#80A9CB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #80CBC7 and #8083CB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cba280?

For interface work: #FAF7F4 as the surface, #E7D5C5 for borders, #9B6F4B for secondary text, #378295 as an accent and #5A3D25 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CB8083 and #CBC780 stays calm, while #80A9CB is the loudest partner.

What is #cba280 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 20%, 37%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cba280 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 2 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D2AE92; nudged cooler, #CD857E.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cba280?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 16.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cba280 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cba280 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cba280] or text-[#cba280], 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 #cba280 with 50% opacity?

rgba(203, 162, 128, 0.5), or #cba28080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5D1C0; over black, #665140.

Is #cba280 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9999, ΔE2000 15 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cba280 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 #cba280?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DDC2AB, #cba280 45%, #5A3D25). For more colour, a short hue run to #B0C26A keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cba280 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cba280 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.