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orange · warm

#fdae2c

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

Token name suggestion: True Clay

RGB
253, 174, 44
HSL
37°, 98%, 58%
CMYK
0, 31, 83, 1
Luminance
0.5134

#fdae2c is a balanced electric orange, 37° on the wheel and 6/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.27:1). As text it scores 1.86:1 on white — use #A36602 instead. Nearest name is Orange, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(37 98% 58%)rgb(253 174 44)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #fdae2c is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#fdae2c
Hue
37°
orange
Saturation
98%
electric
Lightness
58%
balanced
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5134
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
6/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.27:1
Closest name
Orange
ΔE2000 2.8
Chroma
74.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.808
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 4.1
Web-safe
#FF9933
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue37° of 360°
Saturation98%
Lightness58%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #fdae2c.

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
Red41%
Green59%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#fdae2c
HEX (8-digit)#fdae2cff
RGBrgb(253, 174, 44)
RGBArgba(253, 174, 44, 1)
HSLhsl(37, 98%, 58%)
HSV / HSBhsv(37, 83%, 99%)
HWBhwb(37 17% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 31%, 83%, 1%)
LABlab(76.9 19.1 72.0)
LCHlch(76.9 74.4 75.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.808 0.160 73.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(56.10, 51.34, 9.34)
Decimal16625196
Display P3color(display-p3 0.992 0.682 0.173)
Web-safe#FF9933

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fdae2c;
background-color: #fdae2c;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fdae2c;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fdae2c] bg-[#fdae2c]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fdae2c;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.992, green: 0.682, blue: 0.173)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.992, green: 0.682, blue: 0.173, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FDAE2C</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFDAE2C)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFDAE2C)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(44, 174, 253)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(253, 174, 44)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(253, 174, 44)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 253, 174, 44)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9922f, 0.6824f, 0.1725f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{253,174,44}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fdae2c 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fdae2c 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7E4F01, #EEE4D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fdae2c 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: #FCF3E3;
  --brand-200: #FBE5C1;
  --brand-300: #FED490;
  --brand-400: #FDBF58;
  --brand-500: #fdae2c;
  --brand-600: #F29802;
  --brand-700: #CA7E02;
  --brand-800: #A26502;
  --brand-900: #744B06;
  --brand-950: #492F04;
  --brand: #fdae2c;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EDDCC0;
  --brand-hover: #FDA008;
  --brand-pressed: #DF8C02;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241E14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE4D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDF9F1',
        100: '#FCF3E3',
        200: '#FBE5C1',
        300: '#FED490',
        400: '#FDBF58',
        500: '#fdae2c',
        600: '#F29802',
        700: '#CA7E02',
        800: '#A26502',
        900: '#744B06',
        950: '#492F04',
        DEFAULT: '#fdae2c',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDF9F1,
  '100': #FCF3E3,
  '200': #FBE5C1,
  '300': #FED490,
  '400': #FDBF58,
  '500': #fdae2c,
  '600': #F29802,
  '700': #CA7E02,
  '800': #A26502,
  '900': #744B06,
  '950': #492F04,
);
$brand-base: #fdae2c;
$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": "#FCF3E3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FBE5C1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#FED490", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FDBF58", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#fdae2c", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F29802", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#CA7E02", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A26502", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#744B06", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#492F04", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fdae2c · 11.27:1
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 · 11.27:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fdae2c as text scores 1.86:1 on white and 11.27:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7E4F01 at 3.75:1.

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
#A36602 · 4.71:1
AA on white−26% L
#A36602
The quick fox
#7A4C01 · 7.34:1
AAA on white−34% L
#7A4C01
The quick fox
#fdae2c · 11.27:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fdae2c
The quick fox
#fdae2c · 11.27:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fdae2c

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #D08202 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
#fdae2c on white: 1.86:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fdae2c on black: 11.27:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #fdae2c as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #fdae2c.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.86:1AaAa
Slate 501.78:1AaAa
Slate 1001.70:1AaAa
Slate 2001.51:1AaAa
Slate 3001.26:1AaAa
Slate 4001.38:1AaAa
Slate 5002.55:1AaAa
Slate 6004.07:1AaAa
Slate 7005.56:1AaAa
Slate 8007.85:1AaAa
Slate 9009.58:1AaAa
Black11.27:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CAB208
deuteranopia · #DCC531
tritanopia · #FF9996

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. #fdae2c is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FDF9F1
#FCF3E3
#FBE5C1
#FED490
#FDBF58
#fdae2c
#F29802
#CA7E02
#A26502
#744B06
#492F04
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FDF9F1Darkest = 950 · #492F04Text 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 0.040 73.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.064 73.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.096 73.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.125 73.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.147 73.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.160 73.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.160 73.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.150 73.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.134 73.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.112 73.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.088 73.6);
}

Colors that work with #fdae2c

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#EDDCC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B7D4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0080CC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7E4F01
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFF5E6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241E14
Dark-mode background
Hover#FDA008
One step down in lightness
Pressed#DF8C02
Two steps down
Disabled#D8CFC1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFB63E
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 #fdae2c

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 #7E4F01
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #D08202

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
  • Weight42/100
  • 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#2C7BFD
Analogous left#FD452C
Analogous right#E4FD2C
Split-complement 1#2CE4FD
Split-complement 2#452CFD
Triadic 1#2CFDAE
Triadic 2#AE2CFD
Tetradic#2CFD45
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°37°

#fdae2c sits at 37°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red99.2%
Green68.2%
Blue17.3%
R · 0–255
253
0xfd
G · 0–255
174
0xae
B · 0–255
44
0x2c

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta31.2%
Yellow82.6%
Key (black)0.8%

Total ink coverage is 115%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fdae2c text on a black background

contrast 11.27:1

Card sample

#fdae2c text on a white background

contrast 1.86:1

Card sample

#fdae2c on grey

1.70:1

#fdae2c on its own surface

1.76:1

#fdae2c on its dark surface

8.87:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #fdae2c;
Background color
Panel with #fdae2c background
background-color: #fdae2c;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #fdae2c;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(253, 174, 44, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(253, 174, 44, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fdae2c;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fdae2c, #C1FD2C);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fdae2c, #8CFD2C);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fdae2c;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fdae2c;
caret-color: #fdae2c;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fdae2c;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFF5E6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fdae2c;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fdae2c 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fdae2c 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(253, 174, 44, 0.5)
rgb(253 174 44 / 50%)
#fdae2c80
hsl(37 98% 58% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fdae2c 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fdae2c1a#FFF7EA
20%#fdae2c33#FFEFD5
40%#fdae2c66#FEDFAB
60%#fdae2c99#FECE80
80%#fdae2ccc#FDBE56

Gradients from #fdae2c

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, #FEC568, #fdae2c 45%, #7E4F01);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fdae2c, #A4FD0E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fdae2c, #2C7BFD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FED187 0%, #fdae2c 45%, #7E4F01 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%, #FD645E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D9FD4A 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7E4F01 0%, transparent 65%), #fdae2c;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fdae2c

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.

#fdae2c 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 11.27:1.

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.

#fdae2c, answered

What color is #fdae2c?

#fdae2c is a balanced electric orange, closest to Orange (ΔE2000 2.8). It sits at 37° on the hue wheel with 98% saturation and 58% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fdae2c?

rgb(253, 174, 44) — 253 red, 174 green and 44 blue out of 255, or 99.2% / 68.2% / 17.3% by channel.

What is #fdae2c in HSL and HSV?

hsl(37, 98%, 58%) and hsv(37, 83%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fdae2c a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5134 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 11.27:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fdae2c?

Black. It scores 11.27:1 against #fdae2c, versus 1.86:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fdae2c accessible on a white background?

#fdae2c on white scores 1.86:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A36602 to reach 4.5:1, or #7A4C01 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fdae2c?

#2C7BFD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #2CE4FD and #452CFD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fdae2c?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EDDCC0 for borders, #9B7D4B for secondary text, #0080CC as an accent and #7E4F01 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FD452C and #E4FD2C stays calm, while #2C7BFD is the loudest partner.

What is #fdae2c in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 31%, 83%, 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 #fdae2c 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 #FD982C; nudged cooler, #FFFD2A.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fdae2c?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 4.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #fdae2c as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #fdae2c in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#fdae2c] or text-[#fdae2c], 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 #fdae2c with 50% opacity?

rgba(253, 174, 44, 0.5), or #fdae2c80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FED796; over black, #7F5716.

Is #fdae2c a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FF9933, ΔE2000 8.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #fdae2c 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 #fdae2c?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FEC568, #fdae2c 45%, #7E4F01). For more colour, a short hue run to #A4FD0E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fdae2c in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #fdae2c at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.