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orange · warm

#dec09d

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Apricot

RGB
222, 192, 157
HSL
32°, 50%, 74%
CMYK
0, 14, 29, 13
Luminance
0.5566

#dec09d is a light vivid orange, 32° on the wheel and 2/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.13:1). As text it scores 1.73:1 on white — use #9A6B34 instead. Nearest name is Tan, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(32 50% 74%)rgb(222 192 157)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dec09d is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dec09d
Hue
32°
orange
Saturation
50%
vivid
Lightness
74%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5566
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
2/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.13:1
Closest name
Tan
ΔE2000 3.6
Chroma
22.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.825
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 17.8
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue32° of 360°
Saturation50%
Lightness74%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dec09d.

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#dec09d
HEX (8-digit)#dec09dff
RGBrgb(222, 192, 157)
RGBArgba(222, 192, 157, 1)
HSLhsl(32, 50%, 74%)
HSV / HSBhsv(32, 29%, 87%)
HWBhwb(32 62% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 14%, 29%, 13%)
LABlab(79.4 5.5 21.6)
LCHlch(79.4 22.3 75.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.825 0.058 71.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(55.06, 55.67, 39.74)
Decimal14598301
Display P3color(display-p3 0.871 0.753 0.616)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dec09d;
background-color: #dec09d;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dec09d;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dec09d] bg-[#dec09d]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dec09d;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.871, green: 0.753, blue: 0.616)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.871, green: 0.753, blue: 0.616, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DEC09D</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDEC09D)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDEC09D)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(157, 192, 222)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(222, 192, 157)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(222, 192, 157)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 222, 192, 157)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8706f, 0.7529f, 0.6157f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{222,192,157}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dec09d 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dec09d 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5F4220, #EEE1D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dec09d 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: #dec09d;
  --brand-400: #D5AE81;
  --brand-500: #C69357;
  --brand-600: #B77F3E;
  --brand-700: #996A33;
  --brand-800: #7A5529;
  --brand-900: #593F21;
  --brand-950: #382815;
  --brand: #dec09d;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EAD8C2;
  --brand-hover: #D5AF82;
  --brand-pressed: #CC9E68;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241D14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE1D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF8F4',
        100: '#F6F0EA',
        200: '#ECDFCF',
        300: '#dec09d',
        400: '#D5AE81',
        500: '#C69357',
        600: '#B77F3E',
        700: '#996A33',
        800: '#7A5529',
        900: '#593F21',
        950: '#382815',
        DEFAULT: '#dec09d',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF8F4,
  '100': #F6F0EA,
  '200': #ECDFCF,
  '300': #dec09d,
  '400': #D5AE81,
  '500': #C69357,
  '600': #B77F3E,
  '700': #996A33,
  '800': #7A5529,
  '900': #593F21,
  '950': #382815,
);
$brand-base: #dec09d;
$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": "#dec09d", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D5AE81", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#C69357", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B77F3E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#996A33", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7A5529", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#593F21", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$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 #dec09d · 12.13:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.73:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.13:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dec09d as text scores 1.73:1 on white and 12.13:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5F4220 at 5.31:1.

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
#9A6B34 · 4.64:1
AA on white−34% L
#9A6B34
The quick fox
#745027 · 7.19:1
AAA on white−44% L
#745027
The quick fox
#dec09d · 12.13:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dec09d
The quick fox
#dec09d · 12.13:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dec09d

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C08845 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
#dec09d on white: 1.73:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dec09d on black: 12.13:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dec09d as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dec09d.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.73:1AaAa
Slate 501.65:1AaAa
Slate 1001.58:1AaAa
Slate 2001.40:1AaAa
Slate 3001.17:1AaAa
Slate 4001.48:1AaAa
Slate 5002.75:1AaAa
Slate 6004.38:1AaAa
Slate 7005.98:1AaAa
Slate 8008.45:1AaAa
Slate 90010.31:1AaAa
Black12.13:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CBC19B
deuteranopia · #D2C89E
tritanopia · #E9B9B6

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. #dec09d 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
#dec09d
#D5AE81
#C69357
#B77F3E
#996A33
#7A5529
#593F21
#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 71.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.023 71.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.035 71.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.045 71.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.053 71.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.058 71.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.058 71.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.055 71.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.049 71.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.041 71.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.032 71.2);
}

Colors that work with #dec09d

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#5F4220
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F9F3EC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241D14
Dark-mode background
Hover#D5AF82
One step down in lightness
Pressed#CC9E68
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F5F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E9CAA7
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 #dec09d

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 #5F4220
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #C08845

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#9DBBDE
Analogous left#DE9F9D
Analogous right#DBDE9D
Split-complement 1#9DDBDE
Split-complement 2#9F9DDE
Triadic 1#9DDEC0
Triadic 2#C09DDE
Tetradic#9DDE9F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°32°

#dec09d sits at 32°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.1%
Green75.3%
Blue61.6%
R · 0–255
222
0xde
G · 0–255
192
0xc0
B · 0–255
157
0x9d

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta13.5%
Yellow29.3%
Key (black)12.9%

Total ink coverage is 56%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dec09d text on a black background

contrast 12.13:1

Card sample

#dec09d text on a white background

contrast 1.73:1

Card sample

#dec09d on grey

1.58:1

#dec09d on its own surface

1.63:1

#dec09d on its dark surface

9.62:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dec09d;
Background color
Panel with #dec09d background
background-color: #dec09d;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dec09d;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(222, 192, 157, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(222, 192, 157, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dec09d;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dec09d, #D1DE9D);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dec09d, #C0DE9D);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dec09d;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dec09d;
caret-color: #dec09d;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dec09d;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F9F3EC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dec09d;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dec09d 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dec09d 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(222, 192, 157, 0.5)
rgb(222 192 157 / 50%)
#dec09d80
hsl(32 50% 74% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dec09d 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dec09d1a#FCF9F5
20%#dec09d33#F8F2EB
40%#dec09d66#F2E6D8
60%#dec09d99#EBD9C4
80%#dec09dcc#E5CDB1

Gradients from #dec09d

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, #EDDDCB, #dec09d 45%, #5F4220);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dec09d, #BFD686);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dec09d, #9DBBDE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F5ECE2 0%, #dec09d 45%, #5F4220 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%, #EBC3C5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E0E6B4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5F4220 0%, transparent 65%), #dec09d;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dec09d

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.

#dec09d 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 12.13:1.

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.

#dec09d, answered

What color is #dec09d?

#dec09d is a light vivid orange, closest to Tan (ΔE2000 3.6). It sits at 32° on the hue wheel with 50% saturation and 74% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dec09d?

rgb(222, 192, 157) — 222 red, 192 green and 157 blue out of 255, or 87.1% / 75.3% / 61.6% by channel.

What is #dec09d in HSL and HSV?

hsl(32, 50%, 74%) and hsv(32, 29%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dec09d a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5566 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 12.13:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dec09d?

Black. It scores 12.13:1 against #dec09d, versus 1.73:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dec09d accessible on a white background?

#dec09d on white scores 1.73:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9A6B34 to reach 4.5:1, or #745027 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dec09d?

#9DBBDE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #9DDBDE and #9F9DDE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dec09d?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EAD8C2 for borders, #9B764B for secondary text, #2F7D9D as an accent and #5F4220 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DE9F9D and #DBDE9D stays calm, while #9DBBDE is the loudest partner.

What is #dec09d in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 14%, 29%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dec09d 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 #E4C8B0; nudged cooler, #DFD99C.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dec09d?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 17.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dec09d as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dec09d in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dec09d] or text-[#dec09d], 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 #dec09d with 50% opacity?

rgba(222, 192, 157, 0.5), or #dec09d80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFE0CE; over black, #6F604F.

Is #dec09d a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 12.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dec09d 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 #dec09d?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EDDDCB, #dec09d 45%, #5F4220). For more colour, a short hue run to #BFD686 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dec09d in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dec09d at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.