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orange · warm

#cd9246

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Clay

RGB
205, 146, 70
HSL
34°, 57%, 54%
CMYK
0, 29, 66, 20
Luminance
0.3398

#cd9246 is a balanced vivid orange, 34° on the wheel and 3/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.80:1). As text it scores 2.69:1 on white — use #9C6A2A instead. Nearest name is Peru, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(34 57% 54%)rgb(205 146 70)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cd9246 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cd9246
Hue
34°
orange
Saturation
57%
vivid
Lightness
54%
balanced
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
63%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3398
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
3/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
7.80:1
Closest name
Peru
ΔE2000 5.1
Chroma
50.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.703
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 9.3
Web-safe
#CC9933
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue34° of 360°
Saturation57%
Lightness54%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cd9246.

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
Red38%
Green61%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#cd9246
HEX (8-digit)#cd9246ff
RGBrgb(205, 146, 70)
RGBArgba(205, 146, 70, 1)
HSLhsl(34, 57%, 54%)
HSV / HSBhsv(34, 66%, 80%)
HWBhwb(34 27% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 29%, 66%, 20%)
LABlab(65.0 14.7 48.1)
LCHlch(65.0 50.3 73.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.703 0.117 70.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(36.56, 33.98, 10.43)
Decimal13472326
Display P3color(display-p3 0.804 0.573 0.275)
Web-safe#CC9933

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cd9246;
background-color: #cd9246;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cd9246;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cd9246] bg-[#cd9246]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cd9246;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.804, green: 0.573, blue: 0.275)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.804, green: 0.573, blue: 0.275, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CD9246</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCD9246)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCD9246)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(70, 146, 205)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(205, 146, 70)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(205, 146, 70)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 205, 146, 70)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8039f, 0.5725f, 0.2745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{205,146,70}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cd9246 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cd9246 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#64441B, #EEE2D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cd9246 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: #FBF8F4;
  --brand-100: #F7F1E9;
  --brand-200: #EFE0CD;
  --brand-300: #E7CBA7;
  --brand-400: #DBB17B;
  --brand-500: #cd9246;
  --brand-600: #C18334;
  --brand-700: #A16D2B;
  --brand-800: #805823;
  --brand-900: #5E411D;
  --brand-950: #3A2912;
  --brand: #cd9246;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EDD9C0;
  --brand-hover: #BC8033;
  --brand-pressed: #A06D2B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241D14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE2D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF8F4',
        100: '#F7F1E9',
        200: '#EFE0CD',
        300: '#E7CBA7',
        400: '#DBB17B',
        500: '#cd9246',
        600: '#C18334',
        700: '#A16D2B',
        800: '#805823',
        900: '#5E411D',
        950: '#3A2912',
        DEFAULT: '#cd9246',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF8F4,
  '100': #F7F1E9,
  '200': #EFE0CD,
  '300': #E7CBA7,
  '400': #DBB17B,
  '500': #cd9246,
  '600': #C18334,
  '700': #A16D2B,
  '800': #805823,
  '900': #5E411D,
  '950': #3A2912,
);
$brand-base: #cd9246;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF8F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F7F1E9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EFE0CD", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E7CBA7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#DBB17B", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#cd9246", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#C18334", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#A16D2B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#805823", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5E411D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3A2912", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cd9246 · 7.80:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.69:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.80:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cd9246 as text scores 2.69:1 on white and 7.80:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #64441B at 3.27:1.

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
#9C6A2A · 4.66:1
AA on white−15% L
#9C6A2A
The quick fox
#744F1F · 7.29:1
AAA on white−25% L
#744F1F
The quick fox
#cd9246 · 7.80:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cd9246
The quick fox
#cd9246 · 7.80:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cd9246

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C48635 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
#cd9246 on white: 2.69:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cd9246 on black: 7.80:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cd9246 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cd9246.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.69:1AaAa
Slate 502.57:1AaAa
Slate 1002.46:1AaAa
Slate 2002.19:1AaAa
Slate 3001.81:1AaAa
Slate 4001.05:1AaAa
Slate 5001.77:1AaAa
Slate 6002.81:1AaAa
Slate 7003.84:1AaAa
Slate 8005.43:1AaAa
Slate 9006.63:1AaAa
Black7.80:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A6953E
deuteranopia · #B4A348
tritanopia · #DE8381

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. #cd9246 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.

#FBF8F4
#F7F1E9
#EFE0CD
#E7CBA7
#DBB17B
#cd9246
#C18334
#A16D2B
#805823
#5E411D
#3A2912
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FBF8F4Darkest = 950 · #3A2912Text 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 0.029 70.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.047 70.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.070 70.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.091 70.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.107 70.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.117 70.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.117 70.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.110 70.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.098 70.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.082 70.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.064 70.7);
}

Colors that work with #cd9246

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#EDD9C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B784B
Captions on the surface
Accent#277DA5
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#64441B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FAF3EB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241D14
Dark-mode background
Hover#BC8033
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A06D2B
Two steps down
Disabled#CFC3B4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DC9D4B
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 #cd9246

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • 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
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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 #64441B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #C48635

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
  • Weight46/100
  • 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#4681CD
Analogous left#CD4F46
Analogous right#C4CD46
Split-complement 1#46C4CD
Split-complement 2#4F46CD
Triadic 1#46CD92
Triadic 2#9246CD
Tetradic#46CD4F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°34°

#cd9246 sits at 34°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.4%
Green57.3%
Blue27.5%
R · 0–255
205
0xcd
G · 0–255
146
0x92
B · 0–255
70
0x46

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta28.8%
Yellow65.9%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 114%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cd9246 text on a black background

contrast 7.80:1

Card sample

#cd9246 text on a white background

contrast 2.69:1

Card sample

#cd9246 on grey

2.46:1

#cd9246 on its own surface

2.54:1

#cd9246 on its dark surface

6.18:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cd9246;
Background color
Panel with #cd9246 background
background-color: #cd9246;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cd9246;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(205, 146, 70, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(205, 146, 70, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cd9246;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cd9246, #AECD46);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cd9246, #8CCD46);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cd9246;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cd9246;
caret-color: #cd9246;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cd9246;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FAF3EB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cd9246;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cd9246 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cd9246 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(205, 146, 70, 0.5)
rgb(205 146 70 / 50%)
#cd924680
hsl(34 57% 54% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cd9246 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cd92461a#FAF4ED
20%#cd924633#F5E9DA
40%#cd924666#EBD3B5
60%#cd924699#E1BE90
80%#cd9246cc#D7A86B

Gradients from #cd9246

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, #DAAE76, #cd9246 45%, #64441B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cd9246, #94C034);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cd9246, #4681CD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E0BD8E 0%, #cd9246 45%, #64441B 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%, #D86E70 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C2D35E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #64441B 0%, transparent 65%), #cd9246;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cd9246

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.

#cd9246 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 7.80:1.

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.

#cd9246, answered

What color is #cd9246?

#cd9246 is a balanced vivid orange, closest to Peru (ΔE2000 5.1). It sits at 34° on the hue wheel with 57% saturation and 54% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cd9246?

rgb(205, 146, 70) — 205 red, 146 green and 70 blue out of 255, or 80.4% / 57.3% / 27.5% by channel.

What is #cd9246 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(34, 57%, 54%) and hsv(34, 66%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cd9246 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3398 and perceived brightness is 63%, so black text on it reaches 7.80:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cd9246?

Black. It scores 7.80:1 against #cd9246, versus 2.69:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cd9246 accessible on a white background?

#cd9246 on white scores 2.69:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9C6A2A to reach 4.5:1, or #744F1F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cd9246?

#4681CD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #46C4CD and #4F46CD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cd9246?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EDD9C0 for borders, #9B784B for secondary text, #277DA5 as an accent and #64441B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CD4F46 and #C4CD46 stays calm, while #4681CD is the loudest partner.

What is #cd9246 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 29%, 66%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cd9246 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 #D2935A; nudged cooler, #CFC544.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cd9246?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 9.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cd9246 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cd9246 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cd9246] or text-[#cd9246], 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 #cd9246 with 50% opacity?

rgba(205, 146, 70, 0.5), or #cd924680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E6C9A3; over black, #674923.

Is #cd9246 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9933, ΔE2000 5.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cd9246 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 #cd9246?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DAAE76, #cd9246 45%, #64441B). For more colour, a short hue run to #94C034 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cd9246 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cd9246 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.