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orange · warm

#ddb296

a light, vivid orange · warm · closest name: Tan

Token name suggestion: Drift Clay

RGB
221, 178, 150
HSL
24°, 51%, 73%
CMYK
0, 20, 32, 13
Luminance
0.4941

#ddb296 is a light vivid orange, 24° on the wheel and 4/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.88:1). As text it scores 1.93:1 on white — use #A86336 instead. Nearest name is Tan, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(24 51% 73%)rgb(221 178 150)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ddb296 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ddb296
Hue
24°
orange
Saturation
51%
vivid
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4941
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
4/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
10.88:1
Closest name
Tan
ΔE2000 7.2
Chroma
23.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.795
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 18.2
Web-safe
#CC9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue24° of 360°
Saturation51%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ddb296.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool4% 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
Red31%
Green64%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#ddb296
HEX (8-digit)#ddb296ff
RGBrgb(221, 178, 150)
RGBArgba(221, 178, 150, 1)
HSLhsl(24, 51%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(24, 32%, 87%)
HWBhwb(24 59% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 20%, 32%, 13%)
LABlab(75.7 11.7 20.2)
LCHlch(75.7 23.3 60.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.795 0.063 54.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(51.25, 49.42, 35.69)
Decimal14529174
Display P3color(display-p3 0.867 0.698 0.588)
Web-safe#CC9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ddb296;
background-color: #ddb296;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ddb296;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ddb296] bg-[#ddb296]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ddb296;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.867, green: 0.698, blue: 0.588)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.867, green: 0.698, blue: 0.588, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DDB296</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDDB296)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDDB296)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(150, 178, 221)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(221, 178, 150)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(221, 178, 150)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 221, 178, 150)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8667f, 0.6980f, 0.5882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{221,178,150}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ddb296 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ddb296 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#60391F, #EEDED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ddb296 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: #FAF7F4;
  --brand-100: #F6EEEA;
  --brand-200: #EDDBCF;
  --brand-300: #ddb296;
  --brand-400: #D6A280;
  --brand-500: #C88355;
  --brand-600: #B96D3C;
  --brand-700: #9A5B32;
  --brand-800: #7B4928;
  --brand-900: #5A3720;
  --brand-950: #382214;
  --brand: #ddb296;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF7F4;
  --brand-border: #EBD2C1;
  --brand-hover: #D49E7B;
  --brand-pressed: #CC8A60;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241A14;
    --brand-ink: #EEDED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF7F4',
        100: '#F6EEEA',
        200: '#EDDBCF',
        300: '#ddb296',
        400: '#D6A280',
        500: '#C88355',
        600: '#B96D3C',
        700: '#9A5B32',
        800: '#7B4928',
        900: '#5A3720',
        950: '#382214',
        DEFAULT: '#ddb296',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF7F4,
  '100': #F6EEEA,
  '200': #EDDBCF,
  '300': #ddb296,
  '400': #D6A280,
  '500': #C88355,
  '600': #B96D3C,
  '700': #9A5B32,
  '800': #7B4928,
  '900': #5A3720,
  '950': #382214,
);
$brand-base: #ddb296;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF7F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F6EEEA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EDDBCF", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ddb296", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D6A280", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#C88355", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B96D3C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#9A5B32", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7B4928", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5A3720", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#382214", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ddb296 · 10.88:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.93:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.88:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ddb296 as text scores 1.93:1 on white and 10.88:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #60391F at 5.18:1.

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
#A86336 · 4.66:1
AA on white−29% L
#A86336
The quick fox
#7E4A29 · 7.24:1
AAA on white−40% L
#7E4A29
The quick fox
#ddb296 · 10.88:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ddb296
The quick fox
#ddb296 · 10.88:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ddb296

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C98558 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
#ddb296 on white: 1.93:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ddb296 on black: 10.88:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ddb296 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ddb296.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.93:1AaAa
Slate 501.84:1AaAa
Slate 1001.76:1AaAa
Slate 2001.57:1AaAa
Slate 3001.30:1AaAa
Slate 4001.33:1AaAa
Slate 5002.47:1AaAa
Slate 6003.93:1AaAa
Slate 7005.37:1AaAa
Slate 8007.58:1AaAa
Slate 9009.25:1AaAa
Black10.88:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BEB594
deuteranopia · #C8BE96
tritanopia · #EAAAAA

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. #ddb296 is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FAF7F4
#F6EEEA
#EDDBCF
#ddb296
#D6A280
#C88355
#B96D3C
#9A5B32
#7B4928
#5A3720
#382214
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FAF7F4Darkest = 950 · #382214Text 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 0.016 54.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.025 54.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.038 54.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.049 54.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.058 54.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.063 54.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.063 54.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.059 54.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.053 54.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.044 54.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.035 54.7);
}

Colors that work with #ddb296

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#EBD2C1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B6A4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#2D8E9F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#60391F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F9F1EC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241A14
Dark-mode background
Hover#D49E7B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#CC8A60
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F1EF
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E8BC9F
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 #ddb296

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
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • White text placed on it
  • 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 #60391F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #C98558

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 lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

Hard to make feel premium, and it collides with the "caution" band in status systems.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight27/100
  • 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#96C1DD
Analogous left#DD969D
Analogous right#DDD596
Split-complement 1#96DDD5
Split-complement 2#969DDD
Triadic 1#96DDB2
Triadic 2#B296DD
Tetradic#9DDD96
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°24°

#ddb296 sits at 24°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red86.7%
Green69.8%
Blue58.8%
R · 0–255
221
0xdd
G · 0–255
178
0xb2
B · 0–255
150
0x96

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta19.5%
Yellow32.1%
Key (black)13.3%

Total ink coverage is 65%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ddb296 text on a black background

contrast 10.88:1

Card sample

#ddb296 text on a white background

contrast 1.93:1

Card sample

#ddb296 on grey

1.76:1

#ddb296 on its own surface

1.81:1

#ddb296 on its dark surface

8.83:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ddb296;
Background color
Panel with #ddb296 background
background-color: #ddb296;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ddb296;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(221, 178, 150, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(221, 178, 150, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ddb296;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ddb296, #D9DD96);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ddb296, #C7DD96);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ddb296;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ddb296;
caret-color: #ddb296;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ddb296;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F9F1EC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ddb296;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ddb296 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ddb296 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, 178, 150, 0.5)
rgb(221 178 150 / 50%)
#ddb29680
hsl(24 51% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ddb296 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ddb2961a#FCF7F5
20%#ddb29633#F8F0EA
40%#ddb29666#F1E0D5
60%#ddb29699#EBD1C0
80%#ddb296cc#E4C1AB

Gradients from #ddb296

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, #ECD4C4, #ddb296 45%, #60391F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ddb296, #C9D57F);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ddb296, #96C1DD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3E5DB 0%, #ddb296 45%, #60391F 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%, #E9BCC5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E4E3AD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #60391F 0%, transparent 65%), #ddb296;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ddb296

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.

#ddb296 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
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
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 10.88:1.

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.

#ddb296, answered

What color is #ddb296?

#ddb296 is a light vivid orange, closest to Tan (ΔE2000 7.2). It sits at 24° on the hue wheel with 51% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ddb296?

rgb(221, 178, 150) — 221 red, 178 green and 150 blue out of 255, or 86.7% / 69.8% / 58.8% by channel.

What is #ddb296 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(24, 51%, 73%) and hsv(24, 32%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ddb296 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4941 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 10.88:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ddb296?

Black. It scores 10.88:1 against #ddb296, versus 1.93:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ddb296 accessible on a white background?

#ddb296 on white scores 1.93:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A86336 to reach 4.5:1, or #7E4A29 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ddb296?

#96C1DD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #96DDD5 and #969DDD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ddb296?

For interface work: #FAF7F4 as the surface, #EBD2C1 for borders, #9B6A4B for secondary text, #2D8E9F as an accent and #60391F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DD969D and #DDD596 stays calm, while #96C1DD is the loudest partner.

What is #ddb296 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 20%, 32%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ddb296 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 4 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E3C1A9; nudged cooler, #DE9794.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ddb296?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 18.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ddb296 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ddb296 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ddb296] or text-[#ddb296], 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 #ddb296 with 50% opacity?

rgba(221, 178, 150, 0.5), or #ddb29680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EED9CB; over black, #6F594B.

Is #ddb296 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9999, ΔE2000 13.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ddb296 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 #ddb296?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ECD4C4, #ddb296 45%, #60391F). For more colour, a short hue run to #C9D57F keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ddb296 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ddb296 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.