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orange · warm

#fcba53

a light, electric orange · warm · closest name: Orange

Token name suggestion: Meadow Clay

RGB
252, 186, 83
HSL
37°, 97%, 66%
CMYK
0, 26, 67, 1
Luminance
0.5644

#fcba53 is a light electric orange, 37° on the wheel and 6/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.29:1). As text it scores 1.71:1 on white — use #A96803 instead. Nearest name is Orange, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(37 97% 66%)rgb(252 186 83)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #fcba53 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#fcba53
Hue
37°
orange
Saturation
97%
electric
Lightness
66%
light
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
79%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5644
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
6/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
12.29:1
Closest name
Orange
ΔE2000 6.7
Chroma
61.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.832
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 7.4
Web-safe
#FFCC66
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue37° of 360°
Saturation97%
Lightness66%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #fcba53.

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
Red37%
Green62%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#fcba53
HEX (8-digit)#fcba53ff
RGBrgb(252, 186, 83)
RGBArgba(252, 186, 83, 1)
HSLhsl(37, 97%, 66%)
HSV / HSBhsv(37, 67%, 99%)
HWBhwb(37 33% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 26%, 67%, 1%)
LABlab(79.9 14.0 59.8)
LCHlch(79.9 61.5 76.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.832 0.140 75.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(59.27, 56.44, 15.95)
Decimal16562771
Display P3color(display-p3 0.988 0.729 0.325)
Web-safe#FFCC66

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fcba53;
background-color: #fcba53;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fcba53;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fcba53] bg-[#fcba53]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fcba53;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.988, green: 0.729, blue: 0.325)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.988, green: 0.729, blue: 0.325, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FCBA53</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFCBA53)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFCBA53)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(83, 186, 252)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(252, 186, 83)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(252, 186, 83)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 252, 186, 83)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9882f, 0.7294f, 0.3255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{252,186,83}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fcba53 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fcba53 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7D4D02, #EEE3D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fcba53 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: #FDF9F1;
  --brand-100: #FCF2E4;
  --brand-200: #FBE4C1;
  --brand-300: #FDD391;
  --brand-400: #fcba53;
  --brand-500: #FBA722;
  --brand-600: #F19404;
  --brand-700: #C97C03;
  --brand-800: #A06303;
  --brand-900: #744907;
  --brand-950: #482E04;
  --brand: #fcba53;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EDDBC0;
  --brand-hover: #FBAC30;
  --brand-pressed: #FB9E0D;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241E14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE3D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDF9F1',
        100: '#FCF2E4',
        200: '#FBE4C1',
        300: '#FDD391',
        400: '#fcba53',
        500: '#FBA722',
        600: '#F19404',
        700: '#C97C03',
        800: '#A06303',
        900: '#744907',
        950: '#482E04',
        DEFAULT: '#fcba53',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDF9F1,
  '100': #FCF2E4,
  '200': #FBE4C1,
  '300': #FDD391,
  '400': #fcba53,
  '500': #FBA722,
  '600': #F19404,
  '700': #C97C03,
  '800': #A06303,
  '900': #744907,
  '950': #482E04,
);
$brand-base: #fcba53;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDF9F1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCF2E4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FBE4C1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#FDD391", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#fcba53", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FBA722", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F19404", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#C97C03", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A06303", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#744907", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#482E04", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fcba53 · 12.29:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.71:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.29:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fcba53 as text scores 1.71:1 on white and 12.29:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7D4D02 at 4.19:1.

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
#A96803 · 4.50:1
AA on white−32% L
#A96803
The quick fox
#7C4C02 · 7.26:1
AAA on white−41% L
#7C4C02
The quick fox
#fcba53 · 12.29:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fcba53
The quick fox
#fcba53 · 12.29:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fcba53

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #D18104 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
#fcba53 on white: 1.71:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fcba53 on black: 12.29:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #fcba53 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #fcba53.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.71:1AaAa
Slate 501.63:1AaAa
Slate 1001.56:1AaAa
Slate 2001.39:1AaAa
Slate 3001.15:1AaAa
Slate 4001.50:1AaAa
Slate 5002.78:1AaAa
Slate 6004.43:1AaAa
Slate 7006.06:1AaAa
Slate 8008.56:1AaAa
Slate 90010.45:1AaAa
Black12.29:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D2BD47
deuteranopia · #E2CC56
tritanopia · #FFA8A4

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. #fcba53 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.

#FDF9F1
#FCF2E4
#FBE4C1
#FDD391
#fcba53
#FBA722
#F19404
#C97C03
#A06303
#744907
#482E04
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FDF9F1Darkest = 950 · #482E04Text 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 0.035 75.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.056 75.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.084 75.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.109 75.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.129 75.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.140 75.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.140 75.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.132 75.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.118 75.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.098 75.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.077 75.6);
}

Colors that work with #fcba53

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#0083CC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7D4D02
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFF5E6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241E14
Dark-mode background
Hover#FBAC30
One step down in lightness
Pressed#FB9E0D
Two steps down
Disabled#E7E1D9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFC364
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 #fcba53

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 #7D4D02
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #D18104

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
  • Weight34/100
  • 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#5395FC
Analogous left#FC6653
Analogous right#E9FC53
Split-complement 1#53E9FC
Split-complement 2#6653FC
Triadic 1#53FCBA
Triadic 2#BA53FC
Tetradic#53FC66
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°37°

#fcba53 sits at 37°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red98.8%
Green72.9%
Blue32.5%
R · 0–255
252
0xfc
G · 0–255
186
0xba
B · 0–255
83
0x53

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta26.2%
Yellow67.1%
Key (black)1.2%

Total ink coverage is 95%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fcba53 text on a black background

contrast 12.29:1

Card sample

#fcba53 text on a white background

contrast 1.71:1

Card sample

#fcba53 on grey

1.56:1

#fcba53 on its own surface

1.61:1

#fcba53 on its dark surface

9.67:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #fcba53;
Background color
Panel with #fcba53 background
background-color: #fcba53;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #fcba53;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(252, 186, 83, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(252, 186, 83, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fcba53;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fcba53, #CDFC53);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fcba53, #A3FC53);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fcba53;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fcba53;
caret-color: #fcba53;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fcba53;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFF5E6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fcba53;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fcba53 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fcba53 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, 186, 83, 0.5)
rgb(252 186 83 / 50%)
#fcba5380
hsl(37 97% 66% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fcba53 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fcba531a#FFF8EE
20%#fcba5333#FEF1DD
40%#fcba5366#FEE3BA
60%#fcba5399#FDD698
80%#fcba53cc#FDC875

Gradients from #fcba53

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, #FDD28F, #fcba53 45%, #7D4D02);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fcba53, #B4FC35);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fcba53, #5395FC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FEDEAD 0%, #fcba53 45%, #7D4D02 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%, #FD8885 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E2FD71 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7D4D02 0%, transparent 65%), #fcba53;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fcba53

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.

#fcba53 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 12.29:1.

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.

#fcba53, answered

What color is #fcba53?

#fcba53 is a light electric orange, closest to Orange (ΔE2000 6.7). It sits at 37° on the hue wheel with 97% saturation and 66% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fcba53?

rgb(252, 186, 83) — 252 red, 186 green and 83 blue out of 255, or 98.8% / 72.9% / 32.5% by channel.

What is #fcba53 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(37, 97%, 66%) and hsv(37, 67%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fcba53 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5644 and perceived brightness is 79%, so black text on it reaches 12.29:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fcba53?

Black. It scores 12.29:1 against #fcba53, versus 1.71:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fcba53 accessible on a white background?

#fcba53 on white scores 1.71:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A96803 to reach 4.5:1, or #7C4C02 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fcba53?

#5395FC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #53E9FC and #6653FC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fcba53?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EDDBC0 for borders, #9B7C4B for secondary text, #0083CC as an accent and #7D4D02 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FC6653 and #E9FC53 stays calm, while #5395FC is the loudest partner.

What is #fcba53 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 26%, 67%, 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 #fcba53 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 #FCA853; nudged cooler, #FEFA51.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fcba53?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 7.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #fcba53 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #fcba53 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#fcba53] or text-[#fcba53], 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 #fcba53 with 50% opacity?

rgba(252, 186, 83, 0.5), or #fcba5380 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FEDDA9; over black, #7E5D2A.

Is #fcba53 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFCC66, ΔE2000 5.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #fcba53 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 #fcba53?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FDD28F, #fcba53 45%, #7D4D02). For more colour, a short hue run to #B4FC35 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fcba53 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #fcba53 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.