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orange · warm

#fba85b

a light, electric orange · warm · closest name: Sandy Brown

Token name suggestion: Meadow Apricot

RGB
251, 168, 91
HSL
29°, 95%, 67%
CMYK
0, 33, 64, 2
Luminance
0.4927

#fba85b is a light electric orange, 29° on the wheel and 1/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.85:1). As text it scores 1.93:1 on white — use #B95B05 instead. Nearest name is Sandy Brown, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(29 95% 67%)rgb(251 168 91)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #fba85b is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#fba85b
Hue
29°
orange
Saturation
95%
electric
Lightness
67%
light
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4927
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
1/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
10.85:1
Closest name
Sandy Brown
ΔE2000 2.1
Chroma
56.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.798
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 8
Web-safe
#FF9966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue29° of 360°
Saturation95%
Lightness67%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #fba85b.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool1% 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
Red42%
Green57%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#fba85b
HEX (8-digit)#fba85bff
RGBrgb(251, 168, 91)
RGBArgba(251, 168, 91, 1)
HSLhsl(29, 95%, 67%)
HSV / HSBhsv(29, 64%, 98%)
HWBhwb(29 36% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 33%, 64%, 2%)
LABlab(75.6 23.4 51.4)
LCHlch(75.6 56.5 65.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.798 0.135 61.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(55.68, 49.27, 16.47)
Decimal16492635
Display P3color(display-p3 0.984 0.659 0.357)
Web-safe#FF9966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fba85b;
background-color: #fba85b;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fba85b;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fba85b] bg-[#fba85b]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fba85b;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.984, green: 0.659, blue: 0.357)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.984, green: 0.659, blue: 0.357, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FBA85B</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFBA85B)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFBA85B)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(91, 168, 251)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(251, 168, 91)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(251, 168, 91)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 251, 168, 91)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9843f, 0.6588f, 0.3569f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{251,168,91}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fba85b 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fba85b 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7C3E03, #EEE0D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fba85b 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: #FDF7F1;
  --brand-100: #FCEFE4;
  --brand-200: #FADDC2;
  --brand-300: #FCC591;
  --brand-400: #fba85b;
  --brand-500: #FA8B24;
  --brand-600: #EF7606;
  --brand-700: #C76205;
  --brand-800: #9F4F04;
  --brand-900: #733B08;
  --brand-950: #482505;
  --brand: #fba85b;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF7F4;
  --brand-border: #EDD5C0;
  --brand-hover: #FA9638;
  --brand-pressed: #F98316;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241C14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE0D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDF7F1',
        100: '#FCEFE4',
        200: '#FADDC2',
        300: '#FCC591',
        400: '#fba85b',
        500: '#FA8B24',
        600: '#EF7606',
        700: '#C76205',
        800: '#9F4F04',
        900: '#733B08',
        950: '#482505',
        DEFAULT: '#fba85b',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDF7F1,
  '100': #FCEFE4,
  '200': #FADDC2,
  '300': #FCC591,
  '400': #fba85b,
  '500': #FA8B24,
  '600': #EF7606,
  '700': #C76205,
  '800': #9F4F04,
  '900': #733B08,
  '950': #482505,
);
$brand-base: #fba85b;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDF7F1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCEFE4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FADDC2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#FCC591", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#fba85b", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FA8B24", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#EF7606", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#C76205", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#9F4F04", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#733B08", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#482505", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fba85b · 10.85:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.93:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.85:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fba85b as text scores 1.93:1 on white and 10.85:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7C3E03 at 4.26:1.

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
#B95B05 · 4.60:1
AA on white−30% L
#B95B05
The quick fox
#8C4503 · 7.08:1
AAA on white−39% L
#8C4503
The quick fox
#fba85b · 10.85:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fba85b
The quick fox
#fba85b · 10.85:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fba85b

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #EA7406 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
#fba85b on white: 1.93:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fba85b on black: 10.85:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #fba85b as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #fba85b.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.93:1AaAa
Slate 501.85:1AaAa
Slate 1001.77:1AaAa
Slate 2001.57:1AaAa
Slate 3001.30:1AaAa
Slate 4001.33:1AaAa
Slate 5002.46:1AaAa
Slate 6003.92:1AaAa
Slate 7005.35:1AaAa
Slate 8007.56:1AaAa
Slate 9009.23:1AaAa
Black10.85:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C2AF53
deuteranopia · #D5C25C
tritanopia · #FF9696

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. #fba85b 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.

#FDF7F1
#FCEFE4
#FADDC2
#FCC591
#fba85b
#FA8B24
#EF7606
#C76205
#9F4F04
#733B08
#482505
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FDF7F1Darkest = 950 · #482505Text 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 0.034 61.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.054 61.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.081 61.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.105 61.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.124 61.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.135 61.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.135 61.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.127 61.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.113 61.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.094 61.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.074 61.7);
}

Colors that work with #fba85b

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#FAF7F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDD5C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B714B
Captions on the surface
Accent#019DCB
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7C3E03
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FEF2E6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241C14
Dark-mode background
Hover#FA9638
One step down in lightness
Pressed#F98316
Two steps down
Disabled#E9E3DD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFB36C
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 #fba85b

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 #7C3E03
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #EA7406

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
  • Weight33/100
  • 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#5BAEFB
Analogous left#FB5B5E
Analogous right#FBF85B
Split-complement 1#5BFBF8
Split-complement 2#5B5EFB
Triadic 1#5BFBA8
Triadic 2#A85BFB
Tetradic#5EFB5B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°29°

#fba85b sits at 29°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red98.4%
Green65.9%
Blue35.7%
R · 0–255
251
0xfb
G · 0–255
168
0xa8
B · 0–255
91
0x5b

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta33.1%
Yellow63.7%
Key (black)1.6%

Total ink coverage is 98%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fba85b text on a black background

contrast 10.85:1

Card sample

#fba85b text on a white background

contrast 1.93:1

Card sample

#fba85b on grey

1.77:1

#fba85b on its own surface

1.81:1

#fba85b on its dark surface

8.67:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #fba85b;
Background color
Panel with #fba85b background
background-color: #fba85b;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #fba85b;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(251, 168, 91, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(251, 168, 91, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fba85b;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fba85b, #E3FB5B);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fba85b, #BBFB5B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fba85b;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fba85b;
caret-color: #fba85b;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fba85b;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FEF2E6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fba85b;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fba85b 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fba85b 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(251, 168, 91, 0.5)
rgb(251 168 91 / 50%)
#fba85b80
hsl(29 95% 67% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fba85b 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fba85b1a#FFF6EF
20%#fba85b33#FEEEDE
40%#fba85b66#FDDCBD
60%#fba85b99#FDCB9D
80%#fba85bcc#FCB97C

Gradients from #fba85b

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, #FCC897, #fba85b 45%, #7C3E03);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fba85b, #CEFA3D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fba85b, #5BAEFB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FDD8B5 0%, #fba85b 45%, #7C3E03 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF7F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #FC8D98 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F3FC79 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7C3E03 0%, transparent 65%), #fba85b;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fba85b

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.

#fba85b 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 10.85:1.

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.

#fba85b, answered

What color is #fba85b?

#fba85b is a light electric orange, closest to Sandy Brown (ΔE2000 2.1). It sits at 29° on the hue wheel with 95% saturation and 67% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fba85b?

rgb(251, 168, 91) — 251 red, 168 green and 91 blue out of 255, or 98.4% / 65.9% / 35.7% by channel.

What is #fba85b in HSL and HSV?

hsl(29, 95%, 67%) and hsv(29, 64%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fba85b a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4927 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 10.85:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fba85b?

Black. It scores 10.85:1 against #fba85b, versus 1.93:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fba85b accessible on a white background?

#fba85b on white scores 1.93:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #B95B05 to reach 4.5:1, or #8C4503 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fba85b?

#5BAEFB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #5BFBF8 and #5B5EFB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fba85b?

For interface work: #FAF7F4 as the surface, #EDD5C0 for borders, #9B714B for secondary text, #019DCB as an accent and #7C3E03 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FB5B5E and #FBF85B stays calm, while #5BAEFB is the loudest partner.

What is #fba85b in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 33%, 64%, 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 #fba85b warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 1 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #FCB174; nudged cooler, #FD6C5A.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fba85b?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #fba85b as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #fba85b in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#fba85b] or text-[#fba85b], 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 #fba85b with 50% opacity?

rgba(251, 168, 91, 0.5), or #fba85b80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FDD4AD; over black, #7E542E.

Is #fba85b a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FF9966, ΔE2000 8.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #fba85b 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 #fba85b?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FCC897, #fba85b 45%, #7C3E03). For more colour, a short hue run to #CEFA3D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fba85b in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #fba85b at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.