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orange · warm

#f4ce9a

a light, electric orange · warm · closest name: Navajo White

Token name suggestion: Drift Clay

RGB
244, 206, 154
HSL
35°, 80%, 78%
CMYK
0, 16, 37, 4
Luminance
0.6571

#f4ce9a is a light electric orange, 35° on the wheel and 4/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.14:1). As text it scores 1.48:1 on white — use #A66712 instead. Nearest name is Navajo White, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(35 80% 78%)rgb(244 206 154)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #f4ce9a is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#f4ce9a
Hue
35°
orange
Saturation
80%
electric
Lightness
78%
light
Brightness
96%
HSV value
Perceived
84%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6571
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
4/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
14.14:1
Closest name
Navajo White
ΔE2000 3.7
Chroma
31.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.872
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 15.2
Web-safe
#FFCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue35° of 360°
Saturation80%
Lightness78%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #f4ce9a.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool4% 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
Red29%
Green67%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#f4ce9a
HEX (8-digit)#f4ce9aff
RGBrgb(244, 206, 154)
RGBArgba(244, 206, 154, 1)
HSLhsl(35, 80%, 78%)
HSV / HSBhsv(35, 37%, 96%)
HWBhwb(35 60% 4%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 16%, 37%, 4%)
LABlab(84.8 6.3 30.9)
LCHlch(84.8 31.5 78.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.872 0.080 75.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(65.21, 65.71, 39.81)
Decimal16043674
Display P3color(display-p3 0.957 0.808 0.604)
Web-safe#FFCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #f4ce9a;
background-color: #f4ce9a;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #f4ce9a;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#f4ce9a] bg-[#f4ce9a]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #f4ce9a;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.957, green: 0.808, blue: 0.604)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.957, green: 0.808, blue: 0.604, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#F4CE9A</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFF4CE9A)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFF4CE9A)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(154, 206, 244)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(244, 206, 154)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(244, 206, 154)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 244, 206, 154)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9569f, 0.8078f, 0.6039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{244,206,154}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #f4ce9a 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #f4ce9a 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#73480C, #EEE3D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #f4ce9a 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: #FCF8F3;
  --brand-100: #F9F1E6;
  --brand-200: #F5E2C6;
  --brand-300: #f4ce9a;
  --brand-400: #EFB567;
  --brand-500: #E99D35;
  --brand-600: #DD8A18;
  --brand-700: #B87314;
  --brand-800: #935C10;
  --brand-900: #6A4410;
  --brand-950: #432B0A;
  --brand: #f4ce9a;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EDDAC0;
  --brand-hover: #F1BE7A;
  --brand-pressed: #EDAF59;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241D14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE3D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF8F3',
        100: '#F9F1E6',
        200: '#F5E2C6',
        300: '#f4ce9a',
        400: '#EFB567',
        500: '#E99D35',
        600: '#DD8A18',
        700: '#B87314',
        800: '#935C10',
        900: '#6A4410',
        950: '#432B0A',
        DEFAULT: '#f4ce9a',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF8F3,
  '100': #F9F1E6,
  '200': #F5E2C6,
  '300': #f4ce9a,
  '400': #EFB567,
  '500': #E99D35,
  '600': #DD8A18,
  '700': #B87314,
  '800': #935C10,
  '900': #6A4410,
  '950': #432B0A,
);
$brand-base: #f4ce9a;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF8F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F9F1E6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F5E2C6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#f4ce9a", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#EFB567", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E99D35", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#DD8A18", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B87314", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#935C10", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6A4410", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#432B0A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #f4ce9a · 14.14:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.48:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.14:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #f4ce9a as text scores 1.48:1 on white and 14.14:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #73480C at 5.31:1.

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
#A66712 · 4.59:1
AA on white−42% L
#A66712
The quick fox
#7C4E0D · 7.11:1
AAA on white−51% L
#7C4E0D
The quick fox
#f4ce9a · 14.14:1
AA on blackalready passes
#f4ce9a
The quick fox
#f4ce9a · 14.14:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#f4ce9a

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #CF8116 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
#f4ce9a on white: 1.48:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#f4ce9a on black: 14.14:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #f4ce9a as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #f4ce9a.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.48:1AaAa
Slate 501.42:1AaAa
Slate 1001.36:1AaAa
Slate 2001.20:1AaAa
Slate 3001.00:1AaAa
Slate 4001.73:1AaAa
Slate 5003.20:1AaAa
Slate 6005.10:1AaAa
Slate 7006.97:1AaAa
Slate 8009.85:1AaAa
Slate 90012.02:1AaAa
Black14.14:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #DDCF96
deuteranopia · #E6D89B
tritanopia · #FFC4C0

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. #f4ce9a 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.

#FCF8F3
#F9F1E6
#F5E2C6
#f4ce9a
#EFB567
#E99D35
#DD8A18
#B87314
#935C10
#6A4410
#432B0A
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FCF8F3Darkest = 950 · #432B0AText 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 0.020 75.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.032 75.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.048 75.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.062 75.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.073 75.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.080 75.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.080 75.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.075 75.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.067 75.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.056 75.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.044 75.1);
}

Colors that work with #f4ce9a

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#EDDAC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B794B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1083BC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#73480C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDF4E8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241D14
Dark-mode background
Hover#F1BE7A
One step down in lightness
Pressed#EDAF59
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F5F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FBD8A8
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 #f4ce9a

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 #73480C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #CF8116

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 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight22/100
  • 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#9AC0F4
Analogous left#F4A19A
Analogous right#EDF49A
Split-complement 1#9AEDF4
Split-complement 2#A19AF4
Triadic 1#9AF4CE
Triadic 2#CE9AF4
Tetradic#9AF4A1
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°35°

#f4ce9a sits at 35°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red95.7%
Green80.8%
Blue60.4%
R · 0–255
244
0xf4
G · 0–255
206
0xce
B · 0–255
154
0x9a

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta15.6%
Yellow36.9%
Key (black)4.3%

Total ink coverage is 57%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#f4ce9a text on a black background

contrast 14.14:1

Card sample

#f4ce9a text on a white background

contrast 1.48:1

Card sample

#f4ce9a on grey

1.36:1

#f4ce9a on its own surface

1.40:1

#f4ce9a on its dark surface

11.22:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #f4ce9a;
Background color
Panel with #f4ce9a background
background-color: #f4ce9a;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #f4ce9a;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(244, 206, 154, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(244, 206, 154, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #f4ce9a;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #f4ce9a, #DEF49A);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f4ce9a, #C7F49A);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #f4ce9a;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #f4ce9a;
caret-color: #f4ce9a;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #f4ce9a;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FDF4E8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #f4ce9a;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#f4ce9a 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #f4ce9a 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(244, 206, 154, 0.5)
rgb(244 206 154 / 50%)
#f4ce9a80
hsl(35 80% 78% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #f4ce9a 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#f4ce9a1a#FEFAF5
20%#f4ce9a33#FDF5EB
40%#f4ce9a66#FBEBD7
60%#f4ce9a99#F8E2C2
80%#f4ce9acc#F6D8AE

Gradients from #f4ce9a

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, #FAE9D1, #f4ce9a 45%, #73480C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #f4ce9a, #CBF17E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f4ce9a, #9AC0F4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FDF6ED 0%, #f4ce9a 45%, #73480C 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%, #F9C8C8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #ECF7B5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #73480C 0%, transparent 65%), #f4ce9a;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #f4ce9a

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.

#f4ce9a 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

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 14.14:1.

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.

#f4ce9a, answered

What color is #f4ce9a?

#f4ce9a is a light electric orange, closest to Navajo White (ΔE2000 3.7). It sits at 35° on the hue wheel with 80% saturation and 78% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #f4ce9a?

rgb(244, 206, 154) — 244 red, 206 green and 154 blue out of 255, or 95.7% / 80.8% / 60.4% by channel.

What is #f4ce9a in HSL and HSV?

hsl(35, 80%, 78%) and hsv(35, 37%, 96%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #f4ce9a a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6571 and perceived brightness is 84%, so black text on it reaches 14.14:1.

Should I use black or white text on #f4ce9a?

Black. It scores 14.14:1 against #f4ce9a, versus 1.48:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #f4ce9a accessible on a white background?

#f4ce9a on white scores 1.48:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A66712 to reach 4.5:1, or #7C4E0D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #f4ce9a?

#9AC0F4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #9AEDF4 and #A19AF4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #f4ce9a?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EDDAC0 for borders, #9B794B for secondary text, #1083BC as an accent and #73480C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F4A19A and #EDF49A stays calm, while #9AC0F4 is the loudest partner.

What is #f4ce9a in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 16%, 37%, 4%). 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 #f4ce9a warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 4 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F4C49A; nudged cooler, #F5F099.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #f4ce9a?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 15.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #f4ce9a as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #f4ce9a in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#f4ce9a] or text-[#f4ce9a], 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 #f4ce9a with 50% opacity?

rgba(244, 206, 154, 0.5), or #f4ce9a80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FAE7CD; over black, #7A674D.

Is #f4ce9a a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFCC99, ΔE2000 3.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #f4ce9a 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 #f4ce9a?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FAE9D1, #f4ce9a 45%, #73480C). For more colour, a short hue run to #CBF17E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #f4ce9a in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #f4ce9a at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.