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orange · warm

#df601d

a balanced, electric orange · warm · closest name: Chocolate

Token name suggestion: Studio Apricot

RGB
223, 96, 29
HSL
21°, 77%, 49%
CMYK
0, 57, 87, 13
Luminance
0.2414

#df601d is a balanced electric orange, 21° on the wheel and 5/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (5.83:1). As text it scores 3.60:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Chocolate, nearest Tailwind family is orange.

hsl(21 77% 49%)rgb(223 96 29)Base step 600AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #df601d is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#df601d
Hue
21°
orange
Saturation
77%
electric
Lightness
49%
balanced
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
56%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2414
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
5/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
5.83:1
Closest name
Chocolate
ΔE2000 4.4
Chroma
74.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.640
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
orange
500 · ΔE 7.4
Web-safe
#CC6633
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue21° of 360°
Saturation77%
Lightness49%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #df601d.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool5% 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
Red65%
Green35%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#df601d
HEX (8-digit)#df601dff
RGBrgb(223, 96, 29)
RGBArgba(223, 96, 29, 1)
HSLhsl(21, 77%, 49%)
HSV / HSBhsv(21, 87%, 87%)
HWBhwb(21 11% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 57%, 87%, 13%)
LABlab(56.2 46.5 58.1)
LCHlch(56.2 74.4 51.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.640 0.175 43.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(34.84, 24.15, 3.99)
Decimal14639133
Display P3color(display-p3 0.875 0.376 0.114)
Web-safe#CC6633

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #df601d;
background-color: #df601d;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #df601d;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#df601d] bg-[#df601d]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #df601d;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.875, green: 0.376, blue: 0.114)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.875, green: 0.376, blue: 0.114, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DF601D</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDF601D)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDF601D)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(29, 96, 223)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(223, 96, 29)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(223, 96, 29)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 223, 96, 29)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8745f, 0.3765f, 0.1137f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{223,96,29}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #df601d 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #df601d 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#71310F, #EEDCD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #df601d 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: #FCF6F3;
  --brand-100: #F9EDE7;
  --brand-200: #F4D7C7;
  --brand-300: #F2BA9C;
  --brand-400: #EC976A;
  --brand-500: #E57438;
  --brand-600: #df601d;
  --brand-700: #B54E17;
  --brand-800: #903E13;
  --brand-900: #693012;
  --brand-950: #411E0B;
  --brand: #df601d;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F4;
  --brand-border: #EDCFC0;
  --brand-hover: #BF5219;
  --brand-pressed: #A04515;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241914;
    --brand-ink: #EEDCD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF6F3',
        100: '#F9EDE7',
        200: '#F4D7C7',
        300: '#F2BA9C',
        400: '#EC976A',
        500: '#E57438',
        600: '#df601d',
        700: '#B54E17',
        800: '#903E13',
        900: '#693012',
        950: '#411E0B',
        DEFAULT: '#df601d',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF6F3,
  '100': #F9EDE7,
  '200': #F4D7C7,
  '300': #F2BA9C,
  '400': #EC976A,
  '500': #E57438,
  '600': #df601d,
  '700': #B54E17,
  '800': #903E13,
  '900': #693012,
  '950': #411E0B,
);
$brand-base: #df601d;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF6F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F9EDE7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F4D7C7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F2BA9C", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#EC976A", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E57438", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#df601d", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B54E17", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#903E13", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#693012", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#411E0B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #df601d · 5.83:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.60:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 5.83:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #df601d as text scores 3.60:1 on white and 5.83:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #71310F at 2.71:1.

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
#C45419 · 4.54:1
AA on white−6% L
#C45419
The quick fox
#923F13 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−17% L
#923F13
The quick fox
#df601d · 5.83:1
AA on blackalready passes
#df601d
The quick fox
#E6783F · 7.12:1
AAA on black+8% L
#E6783F

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #DF601D 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
#df601d on white: 3.60:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#df601d on black: 5.83:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #df601d as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #df601d.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.60:1AaAa
Slate 503.44:1AaAa
Slate 1003.29:1AaAa
Slate 2002.92:1AaAa
Slate 3002.43:1AaAa
Slate 4001.41:1AaAa
Slate 5001.32:1AaAa
Slate 6002.10:1AaAa
Slate 7002.87:1AaAa
Slate 8004.06:1AaAa
Slate 9004.95:1AaAa
Black5.83:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #85750E
deuteranopia · #A49216
tritanopia · #F54154

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. #df601d is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FCF6F3
#F9EDE7
#F4D7C7
#F2BA9C
#EC976A
#E57438
#df601d
#B54E17
#903E13
#693012
#411E0B
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FCF6F3Darkest = 950 · #411E0BText 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 0.044 43.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.070 43.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.105 43.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.136 43.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.161 43.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.175 43.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.175 43.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.164 43.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.147 43.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.122 43.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.096 43.7);
}

Colors that work with #df601d

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#FAF6F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDCFC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B664B
Captions on the surface
Accent#13A9B9
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#71310F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FCEFE8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241914
Dark-mode background
Hover#BF5219
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A04515
Two steps down
Disabled#C6B1A6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F06821
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 #df601d

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • 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
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #71310F
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight51/100
  • 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#1D9CDF
Analogous left#DF1D3B
Analogous right#DFC11D
Split-complement 1#1DDFC1
Split-complement 2#1D3BDF
Triadic 1#1DDF60
Triadic 2#601DDF
Tetradic#3BDF1D
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°21°

#df601d sits at 21°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.5%
Green37.6%
Blue11.4%
R · 0–255
223
0xdf
G · 0–255
96
0x60
B · 0–255
29
0x1d

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta57.0%
Yellow87.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 157%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#df601d text on a black background

contrast 5.83:1

Card sample

#df601d text on a white background

contrast 3.60:1

Card sample

#df601d on grey

3.29:1

#df601d on its own surface

3.35:1

#df601d on its dark surface

4.76:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #df601d;
Background color
Panel with #df601d background
background-color: #df601d;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #df601d;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(223, 96, 29, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(223, 96, 29, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #df601d;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #df601d, #DDDF1D);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #df601d, #ACDF1D);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #df601d;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #df601d;
caret-color: #df601d;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #df601d;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FCEFE8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #df601d;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#df601d 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #df601d 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(223, 96, 29, 0.5)
rgb(223 96 29 / 50%)
#df601d80
hsl(21 77% 49% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #df601d 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#df601d1a#FCEFE8
20%#df601d33#F9DFD2
40%#df601d66#F2BFA5
60%#df601d99#ECA077
80%#df601dcc#E5804A

Gradients from #df601d

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, #E88551, #df601d 45%, #71310F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #df601d, #B4C419);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #df601d, #1D9CDF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EC986C 0%, #df601d 45%, #71310F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF6F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E7486E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E5D836 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #71310F 0%, transparent 65%), #df601d;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #df601d

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.

#df601d 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 5.83:1.

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.

#df601d, answered

What color is #df601d?

#df601d is a balanced electric orange, closest to Chocolate (ΔE2000 4.4). It sits at 21° on the hue wheel with 77% saturation and 49% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #df601d?

rgb(223, 96, 29) — 223 red, 96 green and 29 blue out of 255, or 87.5% / 37.6% / 11.4% by channel.

What is #df601d in HSL and HSV?

hsl(21, 77%, 49%) and hsv(21, 87%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #df601d a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2414 and perceived brightness is 56%, so black text on it reaches 5.83:1.

Should I use black or white text on #df601d?

Black. It scores 5.83:1 against #df601d, versus 3.60:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #df601d accessible on a white background?

#df601d on white scores 3.60:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #C45419 to reach 4.5:1, or #923F13 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #df601d?

#1D9CDF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #1DDFC1 and #1D3BDF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #df601d?

For interface work: #FAF6F4 as the surface, #EDCFC0 for borders, #9B664B for secondary text, #13A9B9 as an accent and #71310F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DF1D3B and #DFC11D stays calm, while #1D9CDF is the loudest partner.

What is #df601d in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 57%, 87%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #df601d warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 5 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E47731; nudged cooler, #E11A1F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #df601d?

The orange family — its 500 step is #f97316, ΔE2000 7.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #df601d as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #df601d in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#df601d] or text-[#df601d], 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 #df601d with 50% opacity?

rgba(223, 96, 29, 0.5), or #df601d80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFB08E; over black, #70300F.

Is #df601d a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC6633, ΔE2000 4.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #df601d 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 #df601d?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E88551, #df601d 45%, #71310F). For more colour, a short hue run to #B4C419 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #df601d in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #df601d at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.