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orange · warm

#fc9502

a balanced, electric orange · warm · closest name: Dark Orange

Token name suggestion: Signal Amber

RGB
252, 149, 2
HSL
35°, 98%, 50%
CMYK
0, 41, 99, 1
Luminance
0.4219

#fc9502 is a balanced electric orange, 35° on the wheel and 4/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.44:1). As text it scores 2.22:1 on white — use #AB6501 instead. Nearest name is Dark Orange, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(35 98% 50%)rgb(252 149 2)Base step 600AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #fc9502 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#fc9502
Hue
35°
orange
Saturation
98%
electric
Lightness
50%
balanced
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4219
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
4/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
9.44:1
Closest name
Dark Orange
ΔE2000 3.4
Chroma
82.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.761
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 4.2
Web-safe
#FF9900
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue35° of 360°
Saturation98%
Lightness50%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #fc9502.

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
Red49%
Green51%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#fc9502
HEX (8-digit)#fc9502ff
RGBrgb(252, 149, 2)
RGBArgba(252, 149, 2, 1)
HSLhsl(35, 98%, 50%)
HSV / HSBhsv(35, 99%, 99%)
HWBhwb(35 1% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 41%, 99%, 1%)
LABlab(71.0 31.0 76.0)
LCHlch(71.0 82.1 67.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.761 0.173 63.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(50.91, 42.20, 5.52)
Decimal16553218
Display P3color(display-p3 0.988 0.584 0.008)
Web-safe#FF9900

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fc9502;
background-color: #fc9502;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fc9502;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fc9502] bg-[#fc9502]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fc9502;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.988, green: 0.584, blue: 0.008)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.988, green: 0.584, blue: 0.008, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FC9502</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFC9502)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFC9502)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(2, 149, 252)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(252, 149, 2)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(252, 149, 2)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 252, 149, 2)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9882f, 0.5843f, 0.0078f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{252,149,2}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fc9502 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fc9502 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7E4B01, #EEE3D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fc9502 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: #FEF8F1;
  --brand-100: #FCF2E3;
  --brand-200: #FBE3C1;
  --brand-300: #FED190;
  --brand-400: #FEB958;
  --brand-500: #FDA220;
  --brand-600: #fc9502;
  --brand-700: #CA7802;
  --brand-800: #A26001;
  --brand-900: #754706;
  --brand-950: #492C04;
  --brand: #fc9502;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EDDAC0;
  --brand-hover: #D98002;
  --brand-pressed: #B56B01;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241E14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE3D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FEF8F1',
        100: '#FCF2E3',
        200: '#FBE3C1',
        300: '#FED190',
        400: '#FEB958',
        500: '#FDA220',
        600: '#fc9502',
        700: '#CA7802',
        800: '#A26001',
        900: '#754706',
        950: '#492C04',
        DEFAULT: '#fc9502',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FEF8F1,
  '100': #FCF2E3,
  '200': #FBE3C1,
  '300': #FED190,
  '400': #FEB958,
  '500': #FDA220,
  '600': #fc9502,
  '700': #CA7802,
  '800': #A26001,
  '900': #754706,
  '950': #492C04,
);
$brand-base: #fc9502;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FEF8F1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCF2E3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FBE3C1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#FED190", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FEB958", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FDA220", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#fc9502", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#CA7802", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A26001", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#754706", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#492C04", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fc9502 · 9.44:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.22:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.44:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fc9502 as text scores 2.22:1 on white and 9.44:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7E4B01 at 3.26:1.

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
#AB6501 · 4.57:1
AA on white−16% L
#AB6501
The quick fox
#7D4A01 · 7.36:1
AAA on white−25% L
#7D4A01
The quick fox
#fc9502 · 9.44:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fc9502
The quick fox
#fc9502 · 9.44:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fc9502

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #D37D02 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
#fc9502 on white: 2.22:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fc9502 on black: 9.44:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #fc9502 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #fc9502.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.22:1AaAa
Slate 502.13:1AaAa
Slate 1002.03:1AaAa
Slate 2001.80:1AaAa
Slate 3001.50:1AaAa
Slate 4001.15:1AaAa
Slate 5002.14:1AaAa
Slate 6003.41:1AaAa
Slate 7004.65:1AaAa
Slate 8006.58:1AaAa
Slate 9008.02:1AaAa
Black9.44:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B59F00
deuteranopia · #CEB707
tritanopia · #FF7D7F

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. #fc9502 is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FEF8F1
#FCF2E3
#FBE3C1
#FED190
#FEB958
#FDA220
#fc9502
#CA7802
#A26001
#754706
#492C04
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FEF8F1Darkest = 950 · #492C04Text 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 0.043 63.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.069 63.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.104 63.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.135 63.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.159 63.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.173 63.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.173 63.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.162 63.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.145 63.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.121 63.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.095 63.4);
}

Colors that work with #fc9502

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#9B7A4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0087CC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7E4B01
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFF4E6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241E14
Dark-mode background
Hover#D98002
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B56B01
Two steps down
Disabled#C7BAA7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FF9E13
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 #fc9502

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 #7E4B01
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #D37D02

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
  • Weight50/100
  • 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#0269FC
Analogous left#FC1802
Analogous right#E6FC02
Split-complement 1#02E6FC
Split-complement 2#1802FC
Triadic 1#02FC95
Triadic 2#9502FC
Tetradic#02FC18
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°35°

#fc9502 sits at 35°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red98.8%
Green58.4%
Blue0.8%
R · 0–255
252
0xfc
G · 0–255
149
0x95
B · 0–255
2
0x02

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta40.9%
Yellow99.2%
Key (black)1.2%

Total ink coverage is 141%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fc9502 text on a black background

contrast 9.44:1

Card sample

#fc9502 text on a white background

contrast 2.22:1

Card sample

#fc9502 on grey

2.03:1

#fc9502 on its own surface

2.10:1

#fc9502 on its dark surface

7.43:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #fc9502;
Background color
Panel with #fc9502 background
background-color: #fc9502;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #fc9502;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(252, 149, 2, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(252, 149, 2, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fc9502;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fc9502, #BCFC02);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fc9502, #7EFC02);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fc9502;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fc9502;
caret-color: #fc9502;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fc9502;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFF4E6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fc9502;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fc9502 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fc9502 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(252, 149, 2, 0.5)
rgb(252 149 2 / 50%)
#fc950280
hsl(35 98% 50% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fc9502 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fc95021a#FFF4E6
20%#fc950233#FEEACC
40%#fc950266#FED59A
60%#fc950299#FDBF67
80%#fc9502cc#FDAA35

Gradients from #fc9502

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, #FDAF3E, #fc9502 45%, #7E4B01);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fc9502, #93DE02);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fc9502, #0269FC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FEBB5C 0%, #fc9502 45%, #7E4B01 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%, #FD3534 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D7FD1F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7E4B01 0%, transparent 65%), #fc9502;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fc9502

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.

#fc9502 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 9.44:1.

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.

#fc9502, answered

What color is #fc9502?

#fc9502 is a balanced electric orange, closest to Dark Orange (ΔE2000 3.4). It sits at 35° on the hue wheel with 98% saturation and 50% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fc9502?

rgb(252, 149, 2) — 252 red, 149 green and 2 blue out of 255, or 98.8% / 58.4% / 0.8% by channel.

What is #fc9502 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(35, 98%, 50%) and hsv(35, 99%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fc9502 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4219 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 9.44:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fc9502?

Black. It scores 9.44:1 against #fc9502, versus 2.22:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fc9502 accessible on a white background?

#fc9502 on white scores 2.22:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #AB6501 to reach 4.5:1, or #7D4A01 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fc9502?

#0269FC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #02E6FC and #1802FC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fc9502?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EDDAC0 for borders, #9B7A4B for secondary text, #0087CC as an accent and #7E4B01 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FC1802 and #E6FC02 stays calm, while #0269FC is the loudest partner.

What is #fc9502 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 41%, 99%, 1%). 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 #fc9502 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 #FD8E1A; nudged cooler, #FEC900.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fc9502?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 4.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #fc9502 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #fc9502 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#fc9502] or text-[#fc9502], 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 #fc9502 with 50% opacity?

rgba(252, 149, 2, 0.5), or #fc950280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FECA81; over black, #7E4B01.

Is #fc9502 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FF9900, ΔE2000 1.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #fc9502 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 #fc9502?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FDAF3E, #fc9502 45%, #7E4B01). For more colour, a short hue run to #93DE02 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fc9502 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #fc9502 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.