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orange · warm

#e28321

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Marmalade

RGB
226, 131, 33
HSL
31°, 77%, 51%
CMYK
0, 42, 85, 11
Luminance
0.3251

#e28321 is a balanced electric orange, 31° on the wheel and 0/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.50:1). As text it scores 2.80:1 on white — use #AF6417 instead. Nearest name is Peru, nearest Tailwind family is orange.

hsl(31 77% 51%)rgb(226 131 33)Base step 600AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #e28321 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#e28321
Hue
31°
orange
Saturation
77%
electric
Lightness
51%
balanced
Brightness
89%
HSV value
Perceived
63%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3251
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
0/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
7.50:1
Closest name
Peru
ΔE2000 5
Chroma
69.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.699
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
orange
500 · ΔE 7.8
Web-safe
#CC9933
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue31° of 360°
Saturation77%
Lightness51%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #e28321.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool0% 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
Red50%
Green50%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#e28321
HEX (8-digit)#e28321ff
RGBrgb(226, 131, 33)
RGBArgba(226, 131, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(31, 77%, 51%)
HSV / HSBhsv(30, 85%, 89%)
HWBhwb(31 13% 11%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 42%, 85%, 11%)
LABlab(63.8 30.1 63.1)
LCHlch(63.8 69.9 64.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.699 0.154 59.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.76, 32.52, 5.62)
Decimal14844705
Display P3color(display-p3 0.886 0.514 0.129)
Web-safe#CC9933

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #e28321;
background-color: #e28321;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #e28321;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#e28321] bg-[#e28321]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #e28321;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.886, green: 0.514, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.886, green: 0.514, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#E28321</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFE28321)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFE28321)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 131, 226)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(226, 131, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(226, 131, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 226, 131, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8863f, 0.5137f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{226,131,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #e28321 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #e28321 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#71410F, #EEE1D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #e28321 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: #FCF7F3;
  --brand-100: #F9F0E7;
  --brand-200: #F4DEC7;
  --brand-300: #F2C89C;
  --brand-400: #ECAC6A;
  --brand-500: #E59039;
  --brand-600: #e28321;
  --brand-700: #B46718;
  --brand-800: #905313;
  --brand-900: #683E12;
  --brand-950: #41270B;
  --brand: #e28321;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF7F4;
  --brand-border: #EDD7C0;
  --brand-hover: #C6711A;
  --brand-pressed: #A65F16;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241C14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE1D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF7F3',
        100: '#F9F0E7',
        200: '#F4DEC7',
        300: '#F2C89C',
        400: '#ECAC6A',
        500: '#E59039',
        600: '#e28321',
        700: '#B46718',
        800: '#905313',
        900: '#683E12',
        950: '#41270B',
        DEFAULT: '#e28321',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF7F3,
  '100': #F9F0E7,
  '200': #F4DEC7,
  '300': #F2C89C,
  '400': #ECAC6A,
  '500': #E59039,
  '600': #e28321,
  '700': #B46718,
  '800': #905313,
  '900': #683E12,
  '950': #41270B,
);
$brand-base: #e28321;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF7F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F9F0E7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F4DEC7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F2C89C", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ECAC6A", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E59039", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#e28321", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B46718", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#905313", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#683E12", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#41270B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #e28321 · 7.50:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.80:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.50:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #e28321 as text scores 2.80:1 on white and 7.50:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #71410F at 3.04:1.

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
#AF6417 · 4.51:1
AA on white−12% L
#AF6417
The quick fox
#824A11 · 7.15:1
AAA on white−22% L
#824A11
The quick fox
#e28321 · 7.50:1
AA on blackalready passes
#e28321
The quick fox
#e28321 · 7.50:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#e28321

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #D87B1C 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
#e28321 on white: 2.80:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#e28321 on black: 7.50:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #e28321 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #e28321.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.80:1AaAa
Slate 502.68:1AaAa
Slate 1002.56:1AaAa
Slate 2002.27:1AaAa
Slate 3001.89:1AaAa
Slate 4001.09:1AaAa
Slate 5001.70:1AaAa
Slate 6002.71:1AaAa
Slate 7003.70:1AaAa
Slate 8005.23:1AaAa
Slate 9006.38:1AaAa
Black7.50:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A08D07
deuteranopia · #B7A321
tritanopia · #F86D71

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. #e28321 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.

#FCF7F3
#F9F0E7
#F4DEC7
#F2C89C
#ECAC6A
#E59039
#e28321
#B46718
#905313
#683E12
#41270B
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FCF7F3Darkest = 950 · #41270BText 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 0.039 59.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.062 59.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.092 59.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.120 59.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.142 59.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.154 59.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.154 59.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.145 59.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.129 59.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.108 59.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.085 59.7);
}

Colors that work with #e28321

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#EDD7C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B734B
Captions on the surface
Accent#138EB9
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#71410F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FCF2E8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241C14
Dark-mode background
Hover#C6711A
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A65F16
Two steps down
Disabled#C9BAAA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F08D28
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 #e28321

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 #71410F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #D87B1C

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
  • Weight49/100
  • 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#2180E2
Analogous left#E22321
Analogous right#E0E221
Split-complement 1#21E0E2
Split-complement 2#2321E2
Triadic 1#21E283
Triadic 2#8321E2
Tetradic#21E223
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°31°

#e28321 sits at 31°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red88.6%
Green51.4%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
226
0xe2
G · 0–255
131
0x83
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta42.0%
Yellow85.4%
Key (black)11.4%

Total ink coverage is 139%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#e28321 text on a black background

contrast 7.50:1

Card sample

#e28321 text on a white background

contrast 2.80:1

Card sample

#e28321 on grey

2.56:1

#e28321 on its own surface

2.62:1

#e28321 on its dark surface

6.00:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #e28321;
Background color
Panel with #e28321 background
background-color: #e28321;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #e28321;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(226, 131, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(226, 131, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #e28321;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #e28321, #C0E221);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e28321, #90E221);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #e28321;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #e28321;
caret-color: #e28321;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #e28321;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FCF2E8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #e28321;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#e28321 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #e28321 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(226, 131, 33, 0.5)
rgb(226 131 33 / 50%)
#e2832180
hsl(31 77% 51% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #e28321 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#e283211a#FCF3E9
20%#e2832133#F9E6D3
40%#e2832166#F3CDA6
60%#e2832199#EEB57A
80%#e28321cc#E89C4D

Gradients from #e28321

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, #E9A157, #e28321 45%, #71410F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #e28321, #9DCA1A);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e28321, #2180E2);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EDB072 0%, #e28321 45%, #71410F 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%, #E84E5A 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D6E63C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #71410F 0%, transparent 65%), #e28321;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #e28321

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.

#e28321 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 7.50:1.

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.

#e28321, answered

What color is #e28321?

#e28321 is a balanced electric orange, closest to Peru (ΔE2000 5). It sits at 31° on the hue wheel with 77% saturation and 51% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #e28321?

rgb(226, 131, 33) — 226 red, 131 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 88.6% / 51.4% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #e28321 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(31, 77%, 51%) and hsv(30, 85%, 89%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #e28321 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3251 and perceived brightness is 63%, so black text on it reaches 7.50:1.

Should I use black or white text on #e28321?

Black. It scores 7.50:1 against #e28321, versus 2.80:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #e28321 accessible on a white background?

#e28321 on white scores 2.80:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #AF6417 to reach 4.5:1, or #824A11 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #e28321?

#2180E2 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #21E0E2 and #2321E2, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #e28321?

For interface work: #FAF7F4 as the surface, #EDD7C0 for borders, #9B734B for secondary text, #138EB9 as an accent and #71410F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #E22321 and #E0E221 stays calm, while #2180E2 is the loudest partner.

What is #e28321 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 42%, 85%, 11%). 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 #e28321 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 0 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E58838; nudged cooler, #E53B1F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #e28321?

The orange family — its 500 step is #f97316, ΔE2000 7.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #e28321 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #e28321 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#e28321] or text-[#e28321], 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 #e28321 with 50% opacity?

rgba(226, 131, 33, 0.5), or #e2832180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F1C190; over black, #714211.

Is #e28321 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9933, ΔE2000 12.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #e28321 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 #e28321?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E9A157, #e28321 45%, #71410F). For more colour, a short hue run to #9DCA1A keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #e28321 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #e28321 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.