Skip to content
orange · warm

#fcad66

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Amber

RGB
252, 173, 102
HSL
28°, 96%, 69%
CMYK
0, 31, 60, 1
Luminance
0.5154

#fcad66 is a light electric orange, 28° on the wheel and 1/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.31:1). As text it scores 1.86:1 on white — use #BB5A04 instead. Nearest name is Sandy Brown, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(28 96% 69%)rgb(252 173 102)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #fcad66 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#fcad66
Hue
28°
orange
Saturation
96%
electric
Lightness
69%
light
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5154
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
1/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.31:1
Closest name
Sandy Brown
ΔE2000 2.4
Chroma
52.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.810
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 9.2
Web-safe
#FF9966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue28° of 360°
Saturation96%
Lightness69%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #fcad66.

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
Red40%
Green58%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#fcad66
HEX (8-digit)#fcad66ff
RGBrgb(252, 173, 102)
RGBArgba(252, 173, 102, 1)
HSLhsl(28, 96%, 69%)
HSV / HSBhsv(28, 60%, 99%)
HWBhwb(28 40% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 31%, 60%, 1%)
LABlab(77.0 21.9 47.6)
LCHlch(77.0 52.5 65.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.810 0.128 61.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(57.49, 51.55, 19.49)
Decimal16559462
Display P3color(display-p3 0.988 0.678 0.400)
Web-safe#FF9966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fcad66;
background-color: #fcad66;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fcad66;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fcad66] bg-[#fcad66]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fcad66;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.988, green: 0.678, blue: 0.400)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.988, green: 0.678, blue: 0.400, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FCAD66</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFCAD66)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFCAD66)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(102, 173, 252)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(252, 173, 102)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(252, 173, 102)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 252, 173, 102)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9882f, 0.6784f, 0.4000f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{252,173,102}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fcad66 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fcad66 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7D3C02, #EEE0D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fcad66 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: #FADCC1;
  --brand-300: #FDC491;
  --brand-400: #fcad66;
  --brand-500: #FB8923;
  --brand-600: #F07405;
  --brand-700: #C86104;
  --brand-800: #A04D03;
  --brand-900: #733A07;
  --brand-950: #482404;
  --brand: #fcad66;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF7F4;
  --brand-border: #EDD5C0;
  --brand-hover: #FB9A43;
  --brand-pressed: #FB8720;
}
@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: '#FADCC1',
        300: '#FDC491',
        400: '#fcad66',
        500: '#FB8923',
        600: '#F07405',
        700: '#C86104',
        800: '#A04D03',
        900: '#733A07',
        950: '#482404',
        DEFAULT: '#fcad66',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDF7F1,
  '100': #FCEFE4,
  '200': #FADCC1,
  '300': #FDC491,
  '400': #fcad66,
  '500': #FB8923,
  '600': #F07405,
  '700': #C86104,
  '800': #A04D03,
  '900': #733A07,
  '950': #482404,
);
$brand-base: #fcad66;
$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": "#FADCC1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#FDC491", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#fcad66", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FB8923", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F07405", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#C86104", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A04D03", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#733A07", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#482404", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fcad66 · 11.31:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.86:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.31:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fcad66 as text scores 1.86:1 on white and 11.31:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7D3C02 at 4.49:1.

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
#BB5A04 · 4.59:1
AA on white−32% L
#BB5A04
The quick fox
#894203 · 7.38:1
AAA on white−42% L
#894203
The quick fox
#fcad66 · 11.31:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fcad66
The quick fox
#fcad66 · 11.31:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fcad66

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #E87004 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
#fcad66 on white: 1.86:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fcad66 on black: 11.31:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #fcad66 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #fcad66.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.86:1AaAa
Slate 501.77:1AaAa
Slate 1001.70:1AaAa
Slate 2001.51:1AaAa
Slate 3001.25:1AaAa
Slate 4001.38:1AaAa
Slate 5002.56:1AaAa
Slate 6004.08:1AaAa
Slate 7005.58:1AaAa
Slate 8007.88:1AaAa
Slate 9009.61:1AaAa
Black11.31:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C5B360
deuteranopia · #D8C567
tritanopia · #FF9C9C

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. #fcad66 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
#FADCC1
#FDC491
#fcad66
#FB8923
#F07405
#C86104
#A04D03
#733A07
#482404
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FDF7F1Darkest = 950 · #482404Text 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 0.032 61.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.051 61.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.076 61.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.099 61.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.117 61.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.128 61.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.128 61.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.120 61.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.107 61.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.089 61.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.070 61.4);
}

Colors that work with #fcad66

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#009ECC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7D3C02
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFF2E6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241C14
Dark-mode background
Hover#FB9A43
One step down in lightness
Pressed#FB8720
Two steps down
Disabled#EEE9E4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFB877
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 #fcad66

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 #7D3C02
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #E87004

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
  • Weight31/100
  • 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#66B5FC
Analogous left#FC666A
Analogous right#FCF866
Split-complement 1#66FCF8
Split-complement 2#666AFC
Triadic 1#66FCAD
Triadic 2#AD66FC
Tetradic#6AFC66
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°28°

#fcad66 sits at 28°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red98.8%
Green67.8%
Blue40.0%
R · 0–255
252
0xfc
G · 0–255
173
0xad
B · 0–255
102
0x66

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta31.3%
Yellow59.5%
Key (black)1.2%

Total ink coverage is 92%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fcad66 text on a black background

contrast 11.31:1

Card sample

#fcad66 text on a white background

contrast 1.86:1

Card sample

#fcad66 on grey

1.70:1

#fcad66 on its own surface

1.74:1

#fcad66 on its dark surface

9.04:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #fcad66;
Background color
Panel with #fcad66 background
background-color: #fcad66;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #fcad66;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(252, 173, 102, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(252, 173, 102, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fcad66;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fcad66, #E7FC66);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fcad66, #C1FC66);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fcad66;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fcad66;
caret-color: #fcad66;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fcad66;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFF2E6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fcad66;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fcad66 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fcad66 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, 173, 102, 0.5)
rgb(252 173 102 / 50%)
#fcad6680
hsl(28 96% 69% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fcad66 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fcad661a#FFF7F0
20%#fcad6633#FEEFE0
40%#fcad6666#FEDEC2
60%#fcad6699#FDCEA3
80%#fcad66cc#FDBD85

Gradients from #fcad66

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, #FDCDA2, #fcad66 45%, #7D3C02);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fcad66, #D3FB48);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fcad66, #66B5FC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FEDDC0 0%, #fcad66 45%, #7D3C02 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%, #FD98A3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F6FD84 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7D3C02 0%, transparent 65%), #fcad66;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fcad66

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.

#fcad66 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 11.31:1.

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.

#fcad66, answered

What color is #fcad66?

#fcad66 is a light electric orange, closest to Sandy Brown (ΔE2000 2.4). It sits at 28° on the hue wheel with 96% saturation and 69% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fcad66?

rgb(252, 173, 102) — 252 red, 173 green and 102 blue out of 255, or 98.8% / 67.8% / 40% by channel.

What is #fcad66 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(28, 96%, 69%) and hsv(28, 60%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fcad66 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5154 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 11.31:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fcad66?

Black. It scores 11.31:1 against #fcad66, versus 1.86:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fcad66 accessible on a white background?

#fcad66 on white scores 1.86:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #BB5A04 to reach 4.5:1, or #894203 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fcad66?

#66B5FC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #66FCF8 and #666AFC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fcad66?

For interface work: #FAF7F4 as the surface, #EDD5C0 for borders, #9B714B for secondary text, #009ECC as an accent and #7D3C02 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FC666A and #FCF866 stays calm, while #66B5FC is the loudest partner.

What is #fcad66 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 31%, 60%, 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 #fcad66 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 #FDB77F; nudged cooler, #FE7564.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fcad66?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 9.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #fcad66 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #fcad66 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#fcad66] or text-[#fcad66], 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 #fcad66 with 50% opacity?

rgba(252, 173, 102, 0.5), or #fcad6680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FED6B3; over black, #7E5733.

Is #fcad66 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 #fcad66 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 #fcad66?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FDCDA2, #fcad66 45%, #7D3C02). For more colour, a short hue run to #D3FB48 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fcad66 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #fcad66 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.