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orange · warm

#f9dbab

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Marmalade

RGB
249, 219, 171
HSL
37°, 87%, 82%
CMYK
0, 12, 31, 2
Luminance
0.7374

#f9dbab is a light electric orange, 37° on the wheel and 6/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.75:1). As text it scores 1.33:1 on white — use #A4690C instead. Nearest name is Navajo White, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(37 87% 82%)rgb(249 219 171)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #f9dbab is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#f9dbab
Hue
37°
orange
Saturation
87%
electric
Lightness
82%
light
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
88%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7374
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
6/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
15.75:1
Closest name
Navajo White
ΔE2000 1.2
Chroma
27.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.905
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 17.3
Web-safe
#FFCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue37° of 360°
Saturation87%
Lightness82%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #f9dbab.

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
Red27%
Green69%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#f9dbab
HEX (8-digit)#f9dbabff
RGBrgb(249, 219, 171)
RGBArgba(249, 219, 171, 1)
HSLhsl(37, 87%, 82%)
HSV / HSBhsv(37, 31%, 98%)
HWBhwb(37 67% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 12%, 31%, 2%)
LABlab(88.8 3.5 27.4)
LCHlch(88.8 27.7 82.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.905 0.070 79.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(71.75, 73.75, 48.97)
Decimal16374699
Display P3color(display-p3 0.976 0.859 0.671)
Web-safe#FFCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #f9dbab;
background-color: #f9dbab;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #f9dbab;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#f9dbab] bg-[#f9dbab]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #f9dbab;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.976, green: 0.859, blue: 0.671)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.976, green: 0.859, blue: 0.671, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#F9DBAB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFF9DBAB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFF9DBAB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(171, 219, 249)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(249, 219, 171)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(249, 219, 171)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 249, 219, 171)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9765f, 0.8588f, 0.6706f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{249,219,171}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #f9dbab 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #f9dbab 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#774C08, #EEE4D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #f9dbab 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: #FDF9F2;
  --brand-100: #FAF2E5;
  --brand-200: #F7E4C4;
  --brand-300: #f9dbab;
  --brand-400: #F4BC62;
  --brand-500: #F0A52E;
  --brand-600: #E59310;
  --brand-700: #BE7A0E;
  --brand-800: #98620B;
  --brand-900: #6E480C;
  --brand-950: #452D08;
  --brand: #f9dbab;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EDDBC0;
  --brand-hover: #F7CD8A;
  --brand-pressed: #F4BE69;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241E14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE4D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDF9F2',
        100: '#FAF2E5',
        200: '#F7E4C4',
        300: '#f9dbab',
        400: '#F4BC62',
        500: '#F0A52E',
        600: '#E59310',
        700: '#BE7A0E',
        800: '#98620B',
        900: '#6E480C',
        950: '#452D08',
        DEFAULT: '#f9dbab',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDF9F2,
  '100': #FAF2E5,
  '200': #F7E4C4,
  '300': #f9dbab,
  '400': #F4BC62,
  '500': #F0A52E,
  '600': #E59310,
  '700': #BE7A0E,
  '800': #98620B,
  '900': #6E480C,
  '950': #452D08,
);
$brand-base: #f9dbab;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDF9F2", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FAF2E5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F7E4C4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#f9dbab", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F4BC62", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#F0A52E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#E59310", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#BE7A0E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#98620B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6E480C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#452D08", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #f9dbab · 15.75:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.33:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.75:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #f9dbab as text scores 1.33:1 on white and 15.75:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #774C08 at 5.58:1.

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
#A4690C · 4.56:1
AA on white−48% L
#A4690C
The quick fox
#794E09 · 7.22:1
AAA on white−57% L
#794E09
The quick fox
#f9dbab · 15.75:1
AA on blackalready passes
#f9dbab
The quick fox
#f9dbab · 15.75:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#f9dbab

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #CA820E 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
#f9dbab on white: 1.33:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#f9dbab on black: 15.75:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #f9dbab as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #f9dbab.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.33:1AaAa
Slate 501.27:1AaAa
Slate 1001.22:1AaAa
Slate 2001.08:1AaAa
Slate 3001.11:1AaAa
Slate 4001.92:1AaAa
Slate 5003.57:1AaAa
Slate 6005.68:1AaAa
Slate 7007.77:1AaAa
Slate 80010.97:1AaAa
Slate 90013.39:1AaAa
Black15.75:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E8DBA8
deuteranopia · #EFE2AC
tritanopia · #FFD2CE

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. #f9dbab 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.

#FDF9F2
#FAF2E5
#F7E4C4
#f9dbab
#F4BC62
#F0A52E
#E59310
#BE7A0E
#98620B
#6E480C
#452D08
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FDF9F2Darkest = 950 · #452D08Text 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 0.018 79.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.028 79.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.042 79.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.055 79.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.065 79.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.070 79.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.070 79.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.066 79.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.059 79.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.049 79.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.039 79.3);
}

Colors that work with #f9dbab

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#EDDBC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B7C4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#097FC3
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#774C08
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDF5E7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241E14
Dark-mode background
Hover#F7CD8A
One step down in lightness
Pressed#F4BE69
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F5F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FEE4BB
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 #f9dbab

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 #774C08
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #CA820E

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
  • Weight18/100
  • 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#ABC9F9
Analogous left#F9B4AB
Analogous right#F0F9AB
Split-complement 1#ABF0F9
Split-complement 2#B4ABF9
Triadic 1#ABF9DB
Triadic 2#DBABF9
Tetradic#ABF9B4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°37°

#f9dbab sits at 37°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red97.6%
Green85.9%
Blue67.1%
R · 0–255
249
0xf9
G · 0–255
219
0xdb
B · 0–255
171
0xab

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta12.0%
Yellow31.3%
Key (black)2.4%

Total ink coverage is 46%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#f9dbab text on a black background

contrast 15.75:1

Card sample

#f9dbab text on a white background

contrast 1.33:1

Card sample

#f9dbab on grey

1.22:1

#f9dbab on its own surface

1.26:1

#f9dbab on its dark surface

12.39:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #f9dbab;
Background color
Panel with #f9dbab background
background-color: #f9dbab;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #f9dbab;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(249, 219, 171, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(249, 219, 171, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #f9dbab;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #f9dbab, #E3F9AB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f9dbab, #D0F9AB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #f9dbab;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #f9dbab;
caret-color: #f9dbab;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #f9dbab;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FDF5E7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #f9dbab;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#f9dbab 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #f9dbab 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(249, 219, 171, 0.5)
rgb(249 219 171 / 50%)
#f9dbab80
hsl(37 87% 82% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #f9dbab 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#f9dbab1a#FEFBF7
20%#f9dbab33#FEF8EE
40%#f9dbab66#FDF1DD
60%#f9dbab99#FBE9CD
80%#f9dbabcc#FAE2BC

Gradients from #f9dbab

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, #FDF4E4, #f9dbab 45%, #774C08);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #f9dbab, #D1F78F);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f9dbab, #ABC9F9);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FEF9F1 0%, #f9dbab 45%, #774C08 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%, #FCDCDB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F1FBC8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #774C08 0%, transparent 65%), #f9dbab;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #f9dbab

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.

#f9dbab 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 15.75:1.

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.

#f9dbab, answered

What color is #f9dbab?

#f9dbab is a light electric orange, closest to Navajo White (ΔE2000 1.2). It sits at 37° on the hue wheel with 87% saturation and 82% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #f9dbab?

rgb(249, 219, 171) — 249 red, 219 green and 171 blue out of 255, or 97.6% / 85.9% / 67.1% by channel.

What is #f9dbab in HSL and HSV?

hsl(37, 87%, 82%) and hsv(37, 31%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #f9dbab a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7374 and perceived brightness is 88%, so black text on it reaches 15.75:1.

Should I use black or white text on #f9dbab?

Black. It scores 15.75:1 against #f9dbab, versus 1.33:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #f9dbab accessible on a white background?

#f9dbab on white scores 1.33:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A4690C to reach 4.5:1, or #794E09 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #f9dbab?

#ABC9F9 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ABF0F9 and #B4ABF9, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #f9dbab?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EDDBC0 for borders, #9B7C4B for secondary text, #097FC3 as an accent and #774C08 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F9B4AB and #F0F9AB stays calm, while #ABC9F9 is the loudest partner.

What is #f9dbab in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 12%, 31%, 2%). 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 #f9dbab 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 #F9D0AB; nudged cooler, #FAF8AA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #f9dbab?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 17.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #f9dbab as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #f9dbab in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#f9dbab] or text-[#f9dbab], 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 #f9dbab with 50% opacity?

rgba(249, 219, 171, 0.5), or #f9dbab80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FCEDD5; over black, #7D6E56.

Is #f9dbab a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFCC99, ΔE2000 6.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #f9dbab 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 #f9dbab?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FDF4E4, #f9dbab 45%, #774C08). For more colour, a short hue run to #D1F78F keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #f9dbab in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #f9dbab at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.