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orange · warm

#ddbf9b

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Marmalade

RGB
221, 191, 155
HSL
33°, 49%, 74%
CMYK
0, 14, 30, 13
Luminance
0.5500

#ddbf9b is a light vivid orange, 33° on the wheel and 2/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.00:1). As text it scores 1.75:1 on white — use #9B6C35 instead. Nearest name is Tan, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(33 49% 74%)rgb(221 191 155)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ddbf9b is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ddbf9b
Hue
33°
orange
Saturation
49%
vivid
Lightness
74%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
77%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5500
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
2/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.00:1
Closest name
Tan
ΔE2000 3.2
Chroma
22.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.821
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 17.5
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue33° of 360°
Saturation49%
Lightness74%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ddbf9b.

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
Red28%
Green68%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#ddbf9b
HEX (8-digit)#ddbf9bff
RGBrgb(221, 191, 155)
RGBArgba(221, 191, 155, 1)
HSLhsl(33, 49%, 74%)
HSV / HSBhsv(33, 30%, 87%)
HWBhwb(33 61% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 14%, 30%, 13%)
LABlab(79.0 5.4 22.1)
LCHlch(79.0 22.8 76.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.821 0.059 71.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(54.37, 55.00, 38.76)
Decimal14532507
Display P3color(display-p3 0.867 0.749 0.608)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ddbf9b;
background-color: #ddbf9b;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ddbf9b;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ddbf9b] bg-[#ddbf9b]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ddbf9b;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.867, green: 0.749, blue: 0.608)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.867, green: 0.749, blue: 0.608, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DDBF9B</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDDBF9B)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDDBF9B)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(155, 191, 221)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(221, 191, 155)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(221, 191, 155)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 221, 191, 155)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8667f, 0.7490f, 0.6078f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{221,191,155}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ddbf9b 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ddbf9b 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5F4320, #EEE2D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ddbf9b 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: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-100: #F6F0EA;
  --brand-200: #ECDFCF;
  --brand-300: #ddbf9b;
  --brand-400: #D4AF81;
  --brand-500: #C69457;
  --brand-600: #B7803E;
  --brand-700: #986B34;
  --brand-800: #7A5529;
  --brand-900: #594021;
  --brand-950: #382815;
  --brand: #ddbf9b;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EAD8C2;
  --brand-hover: #D4AE80;
  --brand-pressed: #CB9D66;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241D14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE2D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF8F4',
        100: '#F6F0EA',
        200: '#ECDFCF',
        300: '#ddbf9b',
        400: '#D4AF81',
        500: '#C69457',
        600: '#B7803E',
        700: '#986B34',
        800: '#7A5529',
        900: '#594021',
        950: '#382815',
        DEFAULT: '#ddbf9b',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF8F4,
  '100': #F6F0EA,
  '200': #ECDFCF,
  '300': #ddbf9b,
  '400': #D4AF81,
  '500': #C69457,
  '600': #B7803E,
  '700': #986B34,
  '800': #7A5529,
  '900': #594021,
  '950': #382815,
);
$brand-base: #ddbf9b;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF8F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F6F0EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#ECDFCF", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ddbf9b", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D4AF81", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#C69457", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B7803E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#986B34", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7A5529", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#594021", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#382815", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ddbf9b · 12.00:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.75:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.00:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ddbf9b as text scores 1.75:1 on white and 12.00:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5F4320 at 5.19:1.

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
#9B6C35 · 4.58:1
AA on white−33% L
#9B6C35
The quick fox
#755228 · 7.01:1
AAA on white−43% L
#755228
The quick fox
#ddbf9b · 12.00:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ddbf9b
The quick fox
#ddbf9b · 12.00:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ddbf9b

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C18947 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
#ddbf9b on white: 1.75:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ddbf9b on black: 12.00:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ddbf9b as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ddbf9b.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.75:1AaAa
Slate 501.67:1AaAa
Slate 1001.60:1AaAa
Slate 2001.42:1AaAa
Slate 3001.18:1AaAa
Slate 4001.47:1AaAa
Slate 5002.72:1AaAa
Slate 6004.33:1AaAa
Slate 7005.92:1AaAa
Slate 8008.36:1AaAa
Slate 90010.20:1AaAa
Black12.00:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CAC099
deuteranopia · #D1C79C
tritanopia · #E8B8B5

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. #ddbf9b 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.

#FAF8F4
#F6F0EA
#ECDFCF
#ddbf9b
#D4AF81
#C69457
#B7803E
#986B34
#7A5529
#594021
#382815
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FAF8F4Darkest = 950 · #382815Text 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 0.015 71.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 71.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.035 71.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.046 71.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.054 71.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.059 71.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.059 71.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.056 71.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.050 71.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.041 71.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 71.9);
}

Colors that work with #ddbf9b

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#EAD8C2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B764B
Captions on the surface
Accent#2F7D9D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5F4320
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F9F3EC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241D14
Dark-mode background
Hover#D4AE80
One step down in lightness
Pressed#CB9D66
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F4F2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E8C9A4
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 #ddbf9b

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 #5F4320
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #C18947

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
  • Weight26/100
  • 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#9BB9DD
Analogous left#DD9E9B
Analogous right#DADD9B
Split-complement 1#9BDADD
Split-complement 2#9E9BDD
Triadic 1#9BDDBF
Triadic 2#BF9BDD
Tetradic#9BDD9E
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°33°

#ddbf9b sits at 33°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red86.7%
Green74.9%
Blue60.8%
R · 0–255
221
0xdd
G · 0–255
191
0xbf
B · 0–255
155
0x9b

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta13.6%
Yellow29.9%
Key (black)13.3%

Total ink coverage is 57%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ddbf9b text on a black background

contrast 12.00:1

Card sample

#ddbf9b text on a white background

contrast 1.75:1

Card sample

#ddbf9b on grey

1.60:1

#ddbf9b on its own surface

1.65:1

#ddbf9b on its dark surface

9.52:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ddbf9b;
Background color
Panel with #ddbf9b background
background-color: #ddbf9b;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ddbf9b;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(221, 191, 155, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(221, 191, 155, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ddbf9b;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ddbf9b, #CFDD9B);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ddbf9b, #BEDD9B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ddbf9b;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ddbf9b;
caret-color: #ddbf9b;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ddbf9b;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F9F3EC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ddbf9b;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ddbf9b 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ddbf9b 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, 191, 155, 0.5)
rgb(221 191 155 / 50%)
#ddbf9b80
hsl(33 49% 74% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ddbf9b 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ddbf9b1a#FCF9F5
20%#ddbf9b33#F8F2EB
40%#ddbf9b66#F1E5D7
60%#ddbf9b99#EBD9C3
80%#ddbf9bcc#E4CCAF

Gradients from #ddbf9b

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, #EDDCC9, #ddbf9b 45%, #5F4320);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ddbf9b, #BDD584);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ddbf9b, #9BB9DD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F4EBDF 0%, #ddbf9b 45%, #5F4320 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%, #EAC1C3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DEE5B2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5F4320 0%, transparent 65%), #ddbf9b;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ddbf9b

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.

#ddbf9b 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 12.00:1.

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.

#ddbf9b, answered

What color is #ddbf9b?

#ddbf9b is a light vivid orange, closest to Tan (ΔE2000 3.2). It sits at 33° on the hue wheel with 49% saturation and 74% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ddbf9b?

rgb(221, 191, 155) — 221 red, 191 green and 155 blue out of 255, or 86.7% / 74.9% / 60.8% by channel.

What is #ddbf9b in HSL and HSV?

hsl(33, 49%, 74%) and hsv(33, 30%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ddbf9b a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5500 and perceived brightness is 77%, so black text on it reaches 12.00:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ddbf9b?

Black. It scores 12.00:1 against #ddbf9b, versus 1.75:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ddbf9b accessible on a white background?

#ddbf9b on white scores 1.75:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9B6C35 to reach 4.5:1, or #755228 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ddbf9b?

#9BB9DD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #9BDADD and #9E9BDD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ddbf9b?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EAD8C2 for borders, #9B764B for secondary text, #2F7D9D as an accent and #5F4320 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DD9E9B and #DADD9B stays calm, while #9BB9DD is the loudest partner.

What is #ddbf9b in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 14%, 30%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ddbf9b 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 #E3C6AE; nudged cooler, #DED89A.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ddbf9b?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 17.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ddbf9b as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ddbf9b in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ddbf9b] or text-[#ddbf9b], 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 #ddbf9b with 50% opacity?

rgba(221, 191, 155, 0.5), or #ddbf9b80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EEDFCD; over black, #6F604E.

Is #ddbf9b a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 12.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ddbf9b 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 #ddbf9b?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EDDCC9, #ddbf9b 45%, #5F4320). For more colour, a short hue run to #BDD584 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ddbf9b in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ddbf9b at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.