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orange · warm

#fea921

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Amber

RGB
254, 169, 33
HSL
37°, 99%, 56%
CMYK
0, 34, 87, 0
Luminance
0.4956

#fea921 is a balanced electric orange, 37° on the wheel and 6/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.91:1). As text it scores 1.92:1 on white — use #A96801 instead. Nearest name is Orange, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(37 99% 56%)rgb(254 169 33)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #fea921 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#fea921
Hue
37°
orange
Saturation
99%
electric
Lightness
56%
balanced
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4956
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
6/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
10.91:1
Closest name
Orange
ΔE2000 1.3
Chroma
77.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.799
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 2.8
Web-safe
#FF9933
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue37° of 360°
Saturation99%
Lightness56%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #fea921.

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
Red43%
Green57%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#fea921
HEX (8-digit)#fea921ff
RGBrgb(254, 169, 33)
RGBArgba(254, 169, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(37, 99%, 56%)
HSV / HSBhsv(37, 87%, 100%)
HWBhwb(37 13% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 34%, 87%, 0%)
LABlab(75.8 21.8 74.2)
LCHlch(75.8 77.3 73.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.799 0.164 71.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(55.34, 49.56, 8.09)
Decimal16689441
Display P3color(display-p3 0.996 0.663 0.129)
Web-safe#FF9933

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fea921;
background-color: #fea921;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fea921;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fea921] bg-[#fea921]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fea921;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.996, green: 0.663, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.996, green: 0.663, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FEA921</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFEA921)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFEA921)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 169, 254)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(254, 169, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(254, 169, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 254, 169, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9961f, 0.6627f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{254,169,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fea921 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fea921 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7F4E01, #EEE4D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fea921 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: #FEF9F1;
  --brand-100: #FCF3E3;
  --brand-200: #FBE5C0;
  --brand-300: #FED48F;
  --brand-400: #FEBE57;
  --brand-500: #fea921;
  --brand-600: #F49601;
  --brand-700: #CB7D01;
  --brand-800: #A26401;
  --brand-900: #754A05;
  --brand-950: #492E03;
  --brand: #fea921;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EDDBC0;
  --brand-hover: #FA9A01;
  --brand-pressed: #D78401;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241E14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE4D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FEF9F1',
        100: '#FCF3E3',
        200: '#FBE5C0',
        300: '#FED48F',
        400: '#FEBE57',
        500: '#fea921',
        600: '#F49601',
        700: '#CB7D01',
        800: '#A26401',
        900: '#754A05',
        950: '#492E03',
        DEFAULT: '#fea921',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FEF9F1,
  '100': #FCF3E3,
  '200': #FBE5C0,
  '300': #FED48F,
  '400': #FEBE57,
  '500': #fea921,
  '600': #F49601,
  '700': #CB7D01,
  '800': #A26401,
  '900': #754A05,
  '950': #492E03,
);
$brand-base: #fea921;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FEF9F1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCF3E3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FBE5C0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#FED48F", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FEBE57", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#fea921", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F49601", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#CB7D01", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A26401", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#754A05", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#492E03", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fea921 · 10.91:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.92:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.91:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fea921 as text scores 1.92:1 on white and 10.91:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7F4E01 at 3.65:1.

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
#A96801 · 4.50:1
AA on white−23% L
#A96801
The quick fox
#7B4C01 · 7.30:1
AAA on white−32% L
#7B4C01
The quick fox
#fea921 · 10.91:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fea921
The quick fox
#fea921 · 10.91:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fea921

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #D28101 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
#fea921 on white: 1.92:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fea921 on black: 10.91:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #fea921 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #fea921.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.92:1AaAa
Slate 501.84:1AaAa
Slate 1001.76:1AaAa
Slate 2001.56:1AaAa
Slate 3001.30:1AaAa
Slate 4001.33:1AaAa
Slate 5002.47:1AaAa
Slate 6003.94:1AaAa
Slate 7005.38:1AaAa
Slate 8007.60:1AaAa
Slate 9009.28:1AaAa
Black10.91:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C6AF00
deuteranopia · #DAC327
tritanopia · #FF9391

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. #fea921 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.

#FEF9F1
#FCF3E3
#FBE5C0
#FED48F
#FEBE57
#fea921
#F49601
#CB7D01
#A26401
#754A05
#492E03
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FEF9F1Darkest = 950 · #492E03Text 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 0.041 71.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.066 71.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.099 71.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.128 71.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.151 71.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.164 71.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.164 71.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.155 71.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.138 71.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.115 71.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.090 71.5);
}

Colors that work with #fea921

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#0082CC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7F4E01
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFF5E6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241E14
Dark-mode background
Hover#FA9A01
One step down in lightness
Pressed#D78401
Two steps down
Disabled#D4CABB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFB135
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 #fea921

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 #7F4E01
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #D28101

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
  • Weight44/100
  • 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#2176FE
Analogous left#FE3B21
Analogous right#E5FE21
Split-complement 1#21E5FE
Split-complement 2#3B21FE
Triadic 1#21FEA9
Triadic 2#A921FE
Tetradic#21FE3B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°37°

#fea921 sits at 37°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red99.6%
Green66.3%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
254
0xfe
G · 0–255
169
0xa9
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta33.5%
Yellow87.0%
Key (black)0.4%

Total ink coverage is 121%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fea921 text on a black background

contrast 10.91:1

Card sample

#fea921 text on a white background

contrast 1.92:1

Card sample

#fea921 on grey

1.76:1

#fea921 on its own surface

1.81:1

#fea921 on its dark surface

8.59:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #fea921;
Background color
Panel with #fea921 background
background-color: #fea921;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #fea921;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(254, 169, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(254, 169, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fea921;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fea921, #C0FE21);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fea921, #89FE21);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fea921;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fea921;
caret-color: #fea921;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fea921;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFF5E6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fea921;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fea921 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fea921 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(254, 169, 33, 0.5)
rgb(254 169 33 / 50%)
#fea92180
hsl(37 99% 56% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fea921 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fea9211a#FFF6E9
20%#fea92133#FFEED3
40%#fea92166#FFDDA6
60%#fea92199#FECB7A
80%#fea921cc#FEBA4D

Gradients from #fea921

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, #FEC15E, #fea921 45%, #7F4E01);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fea921, #A2FE03);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fea921, #2176FE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FECC7D 0%, #fea921 45%, #7F4E01 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%, #FE5954 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D8FE40 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7F4E01 0%, transparent 65%), #fea921;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fea921

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.

#fea921 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 10.91:1.

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.

#fea921, answered

What color is #fea921?

#fea921 is a balanced electric orange, closest to Orange (ΔE2000 1.3). It sits at 37° on the hue wheel with 99% saturation and 56% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fea921?

rgb(254, 169, 33) — 254 red, 169 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 99.6% / 66.3% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #fea921 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(37, 99%, 56%) and hsv(37, 87%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fea921 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4956 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 10.91:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fea921?

Black. It scores 10.91:1 against #fea921, versus 1.92:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fea921 accessible on a white background?

#fea921 on white scores 1.92:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A96801 to reach 4.5:1, or #7B4C01 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fea921?

#2176FE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #21E5FE and #3B21FE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fea921?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EDDBC0 for borders, #9B7C4B for secondary text, #0082CC as an accent and #7F4E01 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FE3B21 and #E5FE21 stays calm, while #2176FE is the loudest partner.

What is #fea921 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 34%, 87%, 0%). 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 #fea921 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 #FEA03B; nudged cooler, #FFFB20.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fea921?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 2.8 away. That is close enough to swap in without anyone noticing.

How do I use #fea921 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#fea921] or text-[#fea921], 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 #fea921 with 50% opacity?

rgba(254, 169, 33, 0.5), or #fea92180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FFD490; over black, #7F5511.

Is #fea921 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FF9933, ΔE2000 7.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #fea921 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 #fea921?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FEC15E, #fea921 45%, #7F4E01). For more colour, a short hue run to #A2FE03 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fea921 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #fea921 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.