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orange · warm

#ecb596

a light, vivid orange · warm · closest name: Light Salmon

Token name suggestion: Drift Amber

RGB
236, 181, 150
HSL
22°, 69%, 76%
CMYK
0, 23, 36, 8
Luminance
0.5308

#ecb596 is a light vivid orange, 22° on the wheel and 5/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.62:1). As text it scores 1.81:1 on white — use #BD5A22 instead. Nearest name is Light Salmon, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(22 69% 76%)rgb(236 181 150)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ecb596 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ecb596
Hue
22°
orange
Saturation
69%
vivid
Lightness
76%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
77%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5308
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
5/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.62:1
Closest name
Light Salmon
ΔE2000 8.2
Chroma
28.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.816
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 17.9
Web-safe
#FFCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue22° of 360°
Saturation69%
Lightness76%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ecb596.

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
Red34%
Green62%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#ecb596
HEX (8-digit)#ecb596ff
RGBrgb(236, 181, 150)
RGBArgba(236, 181, 150, 1)
HSLhsl(22, 69%, 76%)
HSV / HSBhsv(22, 36%, 93%)
HWBhwb(22 59% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 23%, 36%, 8%)
LABlab(77.9 15.9 23.5)
LCHlch(77.9 28.4 56.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.816 0.077 50.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(56.62, 53.09, 36.11)
Decimal15512982
Display P3color(display-p3 0.925 0.710 0.588)
Web-safe#FFCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ecb596;
background-color: #ecb596;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ecb596;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ecb596] bg-[#ecb596]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ecb596;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.925, green: 0.710, blue: 0.588)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.925, green: 0.710, blue: 0.588, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ECB596</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFECB596)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFECB596)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(150, 181, 236)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(236, 181, 150)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(236, 181, 150)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 236, 181, 150)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9255f, 0.7098f, 0.5882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{236,181,150}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ecb596 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ecb596 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#6C3314, #EEDDD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ecb596 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: #FBF6F3;
  --brand-100: #F8EDE7;
  --brand-200: #F2D8CA;
  --brand-300: #ecb596;
  --brand-400: #E59A70;
  --brand-500: #DD7941;
  --brand-600: #CF6325;
  --brand-700: #AD521F;
  --brand-800: #8A4219;
  --brand-900: #643216;
  --brand-950: #3F1F0E;
  --brand: #ecb596;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F4;
  --brand-border: #EDD0C0;
  --brand-hover: #E7A078;
  --brand-pressed: #E18A5A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241A14;
    --brand-ink: #EEDDD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF6F3',
        100: '#F8EDE7',
        200: '#F2D8CA',
        300: '#ecb596',
        400: '#E59A70',
        500: '#DD7941',
        600: '#CF6325',
        700: '#AD521F',
        800: '#8A4219',
        900: '#643216',
        950: '#3F1F0E',
        DEFAULT: '#ecb596',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF6F3,
  '100': #F8EDE7,
  '200': #F2D8CA,
  '300': #ecb596,
  '400': #E59A70,
  '500': #DD7941,
  '600': #CF6325,
  '700': #AD521F,
  '800': #8A4219,
  '900': #643216,
  '950': #3F1F0E,
);
$brand-base: #ecb596;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF6F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F8EDE7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F2D8CA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ecb596", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E59A70", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#DD7941", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#CF6325", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#AD521F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#8A4219", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#643216", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3F1F0E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ecb596 · 11.62:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.81:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.62:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ecb596 as text scores 1.81:1 on white and 11.62:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #6C3314 at 5.48:1.

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
#BD5A22 · 4.52:1
AA on white−32% L
#BD5A22
The quick fox
#8D431A · 7.12:1
AAA on white−43% L
#8D431A
The quick fox
#ecb596 · 11.62:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ecb596
The quick fox
#ecb596 · 11.62:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ecb596

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #DD7B44 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
#ecb596 on white: 1.81:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ecb596 on black: 11.62:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ecb596 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ecb596.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.81:1AaAa
Slate 501.73:1AaAa
Slate 1001.65:1AaAa
Slate 2001.47:1AaAa
Slate 3001.22:1AaAa
Slate 4001.42:1AaAa
Slate 5002.63:1AaAa
Slate 6004.19:1AaAa
Slate 7005.73:1AaAa
Slate 8008.09:1AaAa
Slate 9009.88:1AaAa
Black11.62:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C4BA94
deuteranopia · #D1C596
tritanopia · #FBABAD

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. #ecb596 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.

#FBF6F3
#F8EDE7
#F2D8CA
#ecb596
#E59A70
#DD7941
#CF6325
#AD521F
#8A4219
#643216
#3F1F0E
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FBF6F3Darkest = 950 · #3F1F0EText 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 0.019 50.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.031 50.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.046 50.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.060 50.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.071 50.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.077 50.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.077 50.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.072 50.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.065 50.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.054 50.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.042 50.7);
}

Colors that work with #ecb596

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#EDD0C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B684B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1BA1B1
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#6C3314
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FBF0E9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241A14
Dark-mode background
Hover#E7A078
One step down in lightness
Pressed#E18A5A
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F4F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F4C0A2
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 #ecb596

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 #6C3314
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #DD7B44

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
  • Weight24/100
  • 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#96CDEC
Analogous left#EC96A2
Analogous right#ECE096
Split-complement 1#96ECE0
Split-complement 2#96A2EC
Triadic 1#96ECB5
Triadic 2#B596EC
Tetradic#A2EC96
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°22°

#ecb596 sits at 22°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red92.5%
Green71.0%
Blue58.8%
R · 0–255
236
0xec
G · 0–255
181
0xb5
B · 0–255
150
0x96

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta23.3%
Yellow36.4%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 67%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ecb596 text on a black background

contrast 11.62:1

Card sample

#ecb596 text on a white background

contrast 1.81:1

Card sample

#ecb596 on grey

1.65:1

#ecb596 on its own surface

1.68:1

#ecb596 on its dark surface

9.42:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ecb596;
Background color
Panel with #ecb596 background
background-color: #ecb596;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ecb596;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(236, 181, 150, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(236, 181, 150, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ecb596;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ecb596, #EAEC96);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ecb596, #D4EC96);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ecb596;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ecb596;
caret-color: #ecb596;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ecb596;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FBF0E9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ecb596;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ecb596 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ecb596 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(236, 181, 150, 0.5)
rgb(236 181 150 / 50%)
#ecb59680
hsl(22 69% 76% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ecb596 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ecb5961a#FDF8F5
20%#ecb59633#FBF0EA
40%#ecb59666#F7E1D5
60%#ecb59699#F4D3C0
80%#ecb596cc#F0C4AB

Gradients from #ecb596

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, #F5DACA, #ecb596 45%, #6C3314);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ecb596, #DCE77C);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ecb596, #96CDEC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FAECE4 0%, #ecb596 45%, #6C3314 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%, #F4C1CD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F1EDB0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #6C3314 0%, transparent 65%), #ecb596;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ecb596

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.

#ecb596 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 11.62:1.

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.

#ecb596, answered

What color is #ecb596?

#ecb596 is a light vivid orange, closest to Light Salmon (ΔE2000 8.2). It sits at 22° on the hue wheel with 69% saturation and 76% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ecb596?

rgb(236, 181, 150) — 236 red, 181 green and 150 blue out of 255, or 92.5% / 71% / 58.8% by channel.

What is #ecb596 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(22, 69%, 76%) and hsv(22, 36%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ecb596 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5308 and perceived brightness is 77%, so black text on it reaches 11.62:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ecb596?

Black. It scores 11.62:1 against #ecb596, versus 1.81:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ecb596 accessible on a white background?

#ecb596 on white scores 1.81:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #BD5A22 to reach 4.5:1, or #8D431A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ecb596?

#96CDEC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #96ECE0 and #96A2EC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ecb596?

For interface work: #FAF6F4 as the surface, #EDD0C0 for borders, #9B684B for secondary text, #1BA1B1 as an accent and #6C3314 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #EC96A2 and #ECE096 stays calm, while #96CDEC is the loudest partner.

What is #ecb596 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 23%, 36%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ecb596 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 #F0C7AC; nudged cooler, #ED9595.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ecb596?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 17.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ecb596 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ecb596 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ecb596] or text-[#ecb596], 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 #ecb596 with 50% opacity?

rgba(236, 181, 150, 0.5), or #ecb59680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F6DACB; over black, #765B4B.

Is #ecb596 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFCC99, ΔE2000 8.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ecb596 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 #ecb596?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F5DACA, #ecb596 45%, #6C3314). For more colour, a short hue run to #DCE77C keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ecb596 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ecb596 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.