Skip to content
orange · warm

#e3ceaf

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Clay

RGB
227, 206, 175
HSL
36°, 48%, 79%
CMYK
0, 9, 23, 11
Luminance
0.6357

#e3ceaf is a light vivid orange, 36° on the wheel and 5/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.71:1). As text it scores 1.53:1 on white — use #966F35 instead. Nearest name is Wheat, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(36 48% 79%)rgb(227 206 175)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #e3ceaf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#e3ceaf
Hue
36°
orange
Saturation
48%
vivid
Lightness
79%
light
Brightness
89%
HSV value
Perceived
82%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6357
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
5/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
13.71:1
Closest name
Wheat
ΔE2000 4.9
Chroma
18.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.861
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 19.7
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue36° of 360°
Saturation48%
Lightness79%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #e3ceaf.

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
Red26%
Green69%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#e3ceaf
HEX (8-digit)#e3ceafff
RGBrgb(227, 206, 175)
RGBArgba(227, 206, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(36, 48%, 79%)
HSV / HSBhsv(36, 23%, 89%)
HWBhwb(36 69% 11%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 9%, 23%, 11%)
LABlab(83.7 2.5 18.1)
LCHlch(83.7 18.3 82.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.861 0.048 77.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(61.49, 63.57, 49.58)
Decimal14929583
Display P3color(display-p3 0.890 0.808 0.686)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #e3ceaf;
background-color: #e3ceaf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #e3ceaf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#e3ceaf] bg-[#e3ceaf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #e3ceaf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.890, green: 0.808, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.890, green: 0.808, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#E3CEAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFE3CEAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFE3CEAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 206, 227)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(227, 206, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(227, 206, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 227, 206, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8902f, 0.8078f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{227,206,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #e3ceaf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #e3ceaf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5E4621, #EEE3D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #e3ceaf 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: #F5F1EA;
  --brand-200: #ECE1D0;
  --brand-300: #e3ceaf;
  --brand-400: #D3B382;
  --brand-500: #C59959;
  --brand-600: #B58640;
  --brand-700: #976F35;
  --brand-800: #79592A;
  --brand-900: #584222;
  --brand-950: #372A15;
  --brand: #e3ceaf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EADAC3;
  --brand-hover: #DABE95;
  --brand-pressed: #D0AE7A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241E14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE3D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF8F4',
        100: '#F5F1EA',
        200: '#ECE1D0',
        300: '#e3ceaf',
        400: '#D3B382',
        500: '#C59959',
        600: '#B58640',
        700: '#976F35',
        800: '#79592A',
        900: '#584222',
        950: '#372A15',
        DEFAULT: '#e3ceaf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF8F4,
  '100': #F5F1EA,
  '200': #ECE1D0,
  '300': #e3ceaf,
  '400': #D3B382,
  '500': #C59959,
  '600': #B58640,
  '700': #976F35,
  '800': #79592A,
  '900': #584222,
  '950': #372A15,
);
$brand-base: #e3ceaf;
$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": "#F5F1EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#ECE1D0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#e3ceaf", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D3B382", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#C59959", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B58640", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#976F35", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#79592A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#584222", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#372A15", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #e3ceaf · 13.71:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.53:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.71:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #e3ceaf as text scores 1.53:1 on white and 13.71:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5E4621 at 5.78:1.

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
#966F35 · 4.54:1
AA on white−39% L
#966F35
The quick fox
#715327 · 7.07:1
AAA on white−49% L
#715327
The quick fox
#e3ceaf · 13.71:1
AA on blackalready passes
#e3ceaf
The quick fox
#e3ceaf · 13.71:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#e3ceaf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #BC8B42 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
#e3ceaf on white: 1.53:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#e3ceaf on black: 13.71:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #e3ceaf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #e3ceaf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.53:1AaAa
Slate 501.46:1AaAa
Slate 1001.40:1AaAa
Slate 2001.24:1AaAa
Slate 3001.03:1AaAa
Slate 4001.67:1AaAa
Slate 5003.11:1AaAa
Slate 6004.95:1AaAa
Slate 7006.76:1AaAa
Slate 8009.55:1AaAa
Slate 90011.66:1AaAa
Black13.71:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D7CEAD
deuteranopia · #DCD3B0
tritanopia · #ECC8C5

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. #e3ceaf 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
#F5F1EA
#ECE1D0
#e3ceaf
#D3B382
#C59959
#B58640
#976F35
#79592A
#584222
#372A15
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FAF8F4Darkest = 950 · #372A15Text 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 0.012 77.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.019 77.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.029 77.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.037 77.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.044 77.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.048 77.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.048 77.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.045 77.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.040 77.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.033 77.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.026 77.6);
}

Colors that work with #e3ceaf

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#EADAC3
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B7B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#31779B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5E4621
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F8F3EC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241E14
Dark-mode background
Hover#DABE95
One step down in lightness
Pressed#D0AE7A
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F5F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#EDD8BA
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 #e3ceaf

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 #5E4621
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #BC8B42

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
  • Weight21/100
  • 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#AFC4E3
Analogous left#E3B4AF
Analogous right#DEE3AF
Split-complement 1#AFDEE3
Split-complement 2#B4AFE3
Triadic 1#AFE3CE
Triadic 2#CEAFE3
Tetradic#AFE3B4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°36°

#e3ceaf sits at 36°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red89.0%
Green80.8%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
227
0xe3
G · 0–255
206
0xce
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta9.3%
Yellow22.9%
Key (black)11.0%

Total ink coverage is 43%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#e3ceaf text on a black background

contrast 13.71:1

Card sample

#e3ceaf text on a white background

contrast 1.53:1

Card sample

#e3ceaf on grey

1.40:1

#e3ceaf on its own surface

1.44:1

#e3ceaf on its dark surface

10.79:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #e3ceaf;
Background color
Panel with #e3ceaf background
background-color: #e3ceaf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #e3ceaf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(227, 206, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(227, 206, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #e3ceaf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #e3ceaf, #D5E3AF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e3ceaf, #C8E3AF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #e3ceaf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #e3ceaf;
caret-color: #e3ceaf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #e3ceaf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F8F3EC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #e3ceaf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#e3ceaf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #e3ceaf 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(227, 206, 175, 0.5)
rgb(227 206 175 / 50%)
#e3ceaf80
hsl(36 48% 79% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #e3ceaf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#e3ceaf1a#FCFAF7
20%#e3ceaf33#F9F5EF
40%#e3ceaf66#F4EBDF
60%#e3ceaf99#EEE2CF
80%#e3ceafcc#E9D8BF

Gradients from #e3ceaf

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, #F3EADC, #e3ceaf 45%, #5E4621);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #e3ceaf, #C4DB98);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e3ceaf, #AFC4E3);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FBF8F3 0%, #e3ceaf 45%, #5E4621 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%, #F0D5D5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E4EBC6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5E4621 0%, transparent 65%), #e3ceaf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #e3ceaf

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.

#e3ceaf 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 13.71:1.

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.

#e3ceaf, answered

What color is #e3ceaf?

#e3ceaf is a light vivid orange, closest to Wheat (ΔE2000 4.9). It sits at 36° on the hue wheel with 48% saturation and 79% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #e3ceaf?

rgb(227, 206, 175) — 227 red, 206 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 89% / 80.8% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #e3ceaf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(36, 48%, 79%) and hsv(36, 23%, 89%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #e3ceaf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6357 and perceived brightness is 82%, so black text on it reaches 13.71:1.

Should I use black or white text on #e3ceaf?

Black. It scores 13.71:1 against #e3ceaf, versus 1.53:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #e3ceaf accessible on a white background?

#e3ceaf on white scores 1.53:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #966F35 to reach 4.5:1, or #715327 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #e3ceaf?

#AFC4E3 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AFDEE3 and #B4AFE3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #e3ceaf?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EADAC3 for borders, #9B7B4B for secondary text, #31779B as an accent and #5E4621 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #E3B4AF and #DEE3AF stays calm, while #AFC4E3 is the loudest partner.

What is #e3ceaf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 9%, 23%, 11%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #e3ceaf 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 #E3C7AF; nudged cooler, #E4E2AE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #e3ceaf?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 19.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #e3ceaf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #e3ceaf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#e3ceaf] or text-[#e3ceaf], 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 #e3ceaf with 50% opacity?

rgba(227, 206, 175, 0.5), or #e3ceaf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F1E7D7; over black, #726758.

Is #e3ceaf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 10.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #e3ceaf 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 #e3ceaf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F3EADC, #e3ceaf 45%, #5E4621). For more colour, a short hue run to #C4DB98 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #e3ceaf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #e3ceaf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.