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orange · warm

#dda331

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Marmalade

RGB
221, 163, 49
HSL
40°, 72%, 53%
CMYK
0, 26, 78, 13
Luminance
0.4179

#dda331 is a balanced vivid orange, 40° on the wheel and 8/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.36:1). As text it scores 2.24:1 on white — use #996E19 instead. Nearest name is Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(40 72% 53%)rgb(221 163 49)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dda331 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dda331
Hue
40°
orange
Saturation
72%
vivid
Lightness
53%
balanced
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4179
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
8/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
9.36:1
Closest name
Goldenrod
ΔE2000 2.6
Chroma
64.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.752
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 6.1
Web-safe
#CC9933
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue40° of 360°
Saturation72%
Lightness53%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dda331.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool8% 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
Red37%
Green63%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#dda331
HEX (8-digit)#dda331ff
RGBrgb(221, 163, 49)
RGBArgba(221, 163, 49, 1)
HSLhsl(40, 72%, 53%)
HSV / HSBhsv(40, 78%, 87%)
HWBhwb(40 19% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 26%, 78%, 13%)
LABlab(70.7 11.4 63.5)
LCHlch(70.7 64.5 79.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.752 0.140 79.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(43.47, 41.79, 8.68)
Decimal14525233
Display P3color(display-p3 0.867 0.639 0.192)
Web-safe#CC9933

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dda331;
background-color: #dda331;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dda331;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dda331] bg-[#dda331]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dda331;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.867, green: 0.639, blue: 0.192)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.867, green: 0.639, blue: 0.192, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DDA331</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDDA331)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDDA331)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(49, 163, 221)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(221, 163, 49)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(221, 163, 49)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 221, 163, 49)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8667f, 0.6392f, 0.1922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{221,163,49}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dda331 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dda331 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#6D4F12, #EEE5D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dda331 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: #FCF9F3;
  --brand-100: #F8F2E7;
  --brand-200: #F3E5C9;
  --brand-300: #EFD49F;
  --brand-400: #E7BF6F;
  --brand-500: #dda331;
  --brand-600: #D29723;
  --brand-700: #AF7E1D;
  --brand-800: #8C6517;
  --brand-900: #664A15;
  --brand-950: #3F2E0D;
  --brand: #dda331;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EDDEC0;
  --brand-hover: #C99021;
  --brand-pressed: #AA7A1C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241F14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE5D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF9F3',
        100: '#F8F2E7',
        200: '#F3E5C9',
        300: '#EFD49F',
        400: '#E7BF6F',
        500: '#dda331',
        600: '#D29723',
        700: '#AF7E1D',
        800: '#8C6517',
        900: '#664A15',
        950: '#3F2E0D',
        DEFAULT: '#dda331',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF9F3,
  '100': #F8F2E7,
  '200': #F3E5C9,
  '300': #EFD49F,
  '400': #E7BF6F,
  '500': #dda331,
  '600': #D29723,
  '700': #AF7E1D,
  '800': #8C6517,
  '900': #664A15,
  '950': #3F2E0D,
);
$brand-base: #dda331;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF9F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F8F2E7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F3E5C9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#EFD49F", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E7BF6F", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#dda331", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#D29723", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#AF7E1D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#8C6517", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#664A15", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3F2E0D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dda331 · 9.36:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.24:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.36:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dda331 as text scores 2.24:1 on white and 9.36:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #6D4F12 at 3.37:1.

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
#996E19 · 4.57:1
AA on white−18% L
#996E19
The quick fox
#715213 · 7.20:1
AAA on white−27% L
#715213
The quick fox
#dda331 · 9.36:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dda331
The quick fox
#dda331 · 9.36:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dda331

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C08A20 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
#dda331 on white: 2.24:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dda331 on black: 9.36:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dda331 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dda331.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.24:1AaAa
Slate 502.14:1AaAa
Slate 1002.05:1AaAa
Slate 2001.82:1AaAa
Slate 3001.51:1AaAa
Slate 4001.14:1AaAa
Slate 5002.12:1AaAa
Slate 6003.38:1AaAa
Slate 7004.61:1AaAa
Slate 8006.52:1AaAa
Slate 9007.96:1AaAa
Black9.36:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BAA51C
deuteranopia · #C7B336
tritanopia · #F0928D

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. #dda331 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.

#FCF9F3
#F8F2E7
#F3E5C9
#EFD49F
#E7BF6F
#dda331
#D29723
#AF7E1D
#8C6517
#664A15
#3F2E0D
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FCF9F3Darkest = 950 · #3F2E0DText 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 0.035 79.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.056 79.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.084 79.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.110 79.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.129 79.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.140 79.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.140 79.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.132 79.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.118 79.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.098 79.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.077 79.7);
}

Colors that work with #dda331

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#EDDEC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B804B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1974B3
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#6D4F12
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FBF5E9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241F14
Dark-mode background
Hover#C99021
One step down in lightness
Pressed#AA7A1C
Two steps down
Disabled#CDC4B1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#EBAE37
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 #dda331

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 #6D4F12
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #C08A20

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
  • 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#316BDD
Analogous left#DD4D31
Analogous right#C1DD31
Split-complement 1#31C1DD
Split-complement 2#4D31DD
Triadic 1#31DDA3
Triadic 2#A331DD
Tetradic#31DD4D
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°40°

#dda331 sits at 40°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red86.7%
Green63.9%
Blue19.2%
R · 0–255
221
0xdd
G · 0–255
163
0xa3
B · 0–255
49
0x31

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta26.2%
Yellow77.8%
Key (black)13.3%

Total ink coverage is 117%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dda331 text on a black background

contrast 9.36:1

Card sample

#dda331 text on a white background

contrast 2.24:1

Card sample

#dda331 on grey

2.05:1

#dda331 on its own surface

2.12:1

#dda331 on its dark surface

7.30:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dda331;
Background color
Panel with #dda331 background
background-color: #dda331;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dda331;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(221, 163, 49, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(221, 163, 49, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dda331;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dda331, #A4DD31);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dda331, #79DD31);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dda331;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dda331;
caret-color: #dda331;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dda331;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FBF5E9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dda331;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dda331 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dda331 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(221, 163, 49, 0.5)
rgb(221 163 49 / 50%)
#dda33180
hsl(40 72% 53% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dda331 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dda3311a#FCF6EA
20%#dda33133#F8EDD6
40%#dda33166#F1DAAD
60%#dda33199#EBC883
80%#dda331cc#E4B55A

Gradients from #dda331

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, #E6BA65, #dda331 45%, #6D4F12);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dda331, #86CD22);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dda331, #316BDD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EAC680 0%, #dda331 45%, #6D4F12 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%, #E4675D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BCE14B 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #6D4F12 0%, transparent 65%), #dda331;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dda331

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.

#dda331 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 9.36:1.

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.

#dda331, answered

What color is #dda331?

#dda331 is a balanced vivid orange, closest to Goldenrod (ΔE2000 2.6). It sits at 40° on the hue wheel with 72% saturation and 53% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dda331?

rgb(221, 163, 49) — 221 red, 163 green and 49 blue out of 255, or 86.7% / 63.9% / 19.2% by channel.

What is #dda331 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(40, 72%, 53%) and hsv(40, 78%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dda331 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4179 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 9.36:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dda331?

Black. It scores 9.36:1 against #dda331, versus 2.24:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dda331 accessible on a white background?

#dda331 on white scores 2.24:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #996E19 to reach 4.5:1, or #715213 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dda331?

#316BDD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #31C1DD and #4D31DD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dda331?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EDDEC0 for borders, #9B804B for secondary text, #1974B3 as an accent and #6D4F12 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DD4D31 and #C1DD31 stays calm, while #316BDD is the loudest partner.

What is #dda331 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 26%, 78%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dda331 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 8 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DD8B31; nudged cooler, #DADF2E.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dda331?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 6.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dda331 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dda331 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dda331] or text-[#dda331], 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 #dda331 with 50% opacity?

rgba(221, 163, 49, 0.5), or #dda33180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EED198; over black, #6F5219.

Is #dda331 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9933, ΔE2000 3.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dda331 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 #dda331?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E6BA65, #dda331 45%, #6D4F12). For more colour, a short hue run to #86CD22 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dda331 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dda331 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.