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orange · warm

#f38552

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Amber

RGB
243, 133, 82
HSL
19°, 87%, 64%
CMYK
0, 45, 66, 5
Luminance
0.3644

#f38552 is a balanced electric orange, 19° on the wheel and 6/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.29:1). As text it scores 2.53:1 on white — use #CC4A0E instead. Nearest name is Coral, nearest Tailwind family is orange.

hsl(19 87% 64%)rgb(243 133 82)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #f38552 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#f38552
Hue
19°
orange
Saturation
87%
electric
Lightness
64%
balanced
Brightness
95%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3644
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
6/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
8.29:1
Closest name
Coral
ΔE2000 3.1
Chroma
59.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.729
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
orange
500 · ΔE 7.1
Web-safe
#FF9966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue19° of 360°
Saturation87%
Lightness64%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #f38552.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool6% 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
Red52%
Green46%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#f38552
HEX (8-digit)#f38552ff
RGBrgb(243, 133, 82)
RGBArgba(243, 133, 82, 1)
HSLhsl(19, 87%, 64%)
HSV / HSBhsv(19, 66%, 95%)
HWBhwb(19 32% 5%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 45%, 66%, 5%)
LABlab(66.9 37.9 45.5)
LCHlch(66.9 59.2 50.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.729 0.150 44.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(46.88, 36.44, 12.55)
Decimal15959378
Display P3color(display-p3 0.953 0.522 0.322)
Web-safe#FF9966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #f38552;
background-color: #f38552;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #f38552;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#f38552] bg-[#f38552]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #f38552;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.953, green: 0.522, blue: 0.322)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.953, green: 0.522, blue: 0.322, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#F38552</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFF38552)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFF38552)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(82, 133, 243)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(243, 133, 82)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(243, 133, 82)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 243, 133, 82)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9529f, 0.5216f, 0.3216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{243,133,82}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #f38552 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #f38552 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#772B08, #EEDBD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #f38552 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: #FDF5F2;
  --brand-100: #FAECE5;
  --brand-200: #F7D4C4;
  --brand-300: #F8B596;
  --brand-400: #f38552;
  --brand-500: #F06B2D;
  --brand-600: #E55310;
  --brand-700: #BF450D;
  --brand-800: #99380B;
  --brand-900: #6E2B0C;
  --brand-950: #451B08;
  --brand: #f38552;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F4;
  --brand-border: #EDCEC0;
  --brand-hover: #F16D31;
  --brand-pressed: #ED5610;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241914;
    --brand-ink: #EEDBD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDF5F2',
        100: '#FAECE5',
        200: '#F7D4C4',
        300: '#F8B596',
        400: '#f38552',
        500: '#F06B2D',
        600: '#E55310',
        700: '#BF450D',
        800: '#99380B',
        900: '#6E2B0C',
        950: '#451B08',
        DEFAULT: '#f38552',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDF5F2,
  '100': #FAECE5,
  '200': #F7D4C4,
  '300': #F8B596,
  '400': #f38552,
  '500': #F06B2D,
  '600': #E55310,
  '700': #BF450D,
  '800': #99380B,
  '900': #6E2B0C,
  '950': #451B08,
);
$brand-base: #f38552;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDF5F2", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FAECE5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F7D4C4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F8B596", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#f38552", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#F06B2D", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#E55310", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#BF450D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#99380B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6E2B0C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#451B08", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #f38552 · 8.29:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.53:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.29:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #f38552 as text scores 2.53:1 on white and 8.29:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #772B08 at 3.88:1.

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
#CC4A0E · 4.61:1
AA on white−21% L
#CC4A0E
The quick fox
#97370B · 7.32:1
AAA on white−32% L
#97370B
The quick fox
#f38552 · 8.29:1
AA on blackalready passes
#f38552
The quick fox
#f38552 · 8.29:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#f38552

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #F16D31 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
#f38552 on white: 2.53:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#f38552 on black: 8.29:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #f38552 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #f38552.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.53:1AaAa
Slate 502.42:1AaAa
Slate 1002.31:1AaAa
Slate 2002.06:1AaAa
Slate 3001.71:1AaAa
Slate 4001.01:1AaAa
Slate 5001.88:1AaAa
Slate 6002.99:1AaAa
Slate 7004.09:1AaAa
Slate 8005.77:1AaAa
Slate 9007.05:1AaAa
Black8.29:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A3944D
deuteranopia · #BDAC50
tritanopia · #FF7079

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. #f38552 is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FDF5F2
#FAECE5
#F7D4C4
#F8B596
#f38552
#F06B2D
#E55310
#BF450D
#99380B
#6E2B0C
#451B08
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FDF5F2Darkest = 950 · #451B08Text 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 0.037 44.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.060 44.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.090 44.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.117 44.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.138 44.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.150 44.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.150 44.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.141 44.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.126 44.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.105 44.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.082 44.5);
}

Colors that work with #f38552

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#EDCEC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B644B
Captions on the surface
Accent#09B6C3
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#772B08
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDEEE7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241914
Dark-mode background
Hover#F16D31
One step down in lightness
Pressed#ED5610
Two steps down
Disabled#E3D8D3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FD8F5D
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 #f38552

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 #772B08
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #F16D31

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
  • Weight36/100
  • 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#52C0F3
Analogous left#F3526F
Analogous right#F3D552
Split-complement 1#52F3D5
Split-complement 2#526FF3
Triadic 1#52F385
Triadic 2#8552F3
Tetradic#6FF352
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°19°

#f38552 sits at 19°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red95.3%
Green52.2%
Blue32.2%
R · 0–255
243
0xf3
G · 0–255
133
0x85
B · 0–255
82
0x52

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta45.3%
Yellow66.3%
Key (black)4.7%

Total ink coverage is 116%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#f38552 text on a black background

contrast 8.29:1

Card sample

#f38552 text on a white background

contrast 2.53:1

Card sample

#f38552 on grey

2.31:1

#f38552 on its own surface

2.36:1

#f38552 on its dark surface

6.77:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #f38552;
Background color
Panel with #f38552 background
background-color: #f38552;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #f38552;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(243, 133, 82, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(243, 133, 82, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #f38552;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #f38552, #F3F052);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f38552, #CDF352);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #f38552;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #f38552;
caret-color: #f38552;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #f38552;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FDEEE7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #f38552;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#f38552 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #f38552 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(243, 133, 82, 0.5)
rgb(243 133 82 / 50%)
#f3855280
hsl(19 87% 64% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #f38552 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#f385521a#FEF3EE
20%#f3855233#FDE7DC
40%#f3855266#FACEBA
60%#f3855299#F8B697
80%#f38552cc#F59D75

Gradients from #f38552

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, #F7AD8B, #f38552 45%, #772B08);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #f38552, #E4F135);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f38552, #52C0F3);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F9C1A8 0%, #f38552 45%, #772B08 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%, #F682A1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F5E86F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #772B08 0%, transparent 65%), #f38552;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #f38552

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.

#f38552 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 8.29:1.

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.

#f38552, answered

What color is #f38552?

#f38552 is a balanced electric orange, closest to Coral (ΔE2000 3.1). It sits at 19° on the hue wheel with 87% saturation and 64% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #f38552?

rgb(243, 133, 82) — 243 red, 133 green and 82 blue out of 255, or 95.3% / 52.2% / 32.2% by channel.

What is #f38552 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(19, 87%, 64%) and hsv(19, 66%, 95%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #f38552 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3644 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 8.29:1.

Should I use black or white text on #f38552?

Black. It scores 8.29:1 against #f38552, versus 2.53:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #f38552 accessible on a white background?

#f38552 on white scores 2.53:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #CC4A0E to reach 4.5:1, or #97370B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #f38552?

#52C0F3 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #52F3D5 and #526FF3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #f38552?

For interface work: #FAF6F4 as the surface, #EDCEC0 for borders, #9B644B for secondary text, #09B6C3 as an accent and #772B08 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F3526F and #F3D552 stays calm, while #52C0F3 is the loudest partner.

What is #f38552 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 45%, 66%, 5%). 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 #f38552 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 6 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F59F6A; nudged cooler, #F55058.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #f38552?

The orange family — its 500 step is #f97316, ΔE2000 7.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #f38552 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #f38552 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#f38552] or text-[#f38552], 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 #f38552 with 50% opacity?

rgba(243, 133, 82, 0.5), or #f3855280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F9C2A9; over black, #7A4329.

Is #f38552 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FF9966, ΔE2000 5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #f38552 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 #f38552?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F7AD8B, #f38552 45%, #772B08). For more colour, a short hue run to #E4F135 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #f38552 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #f38552 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.