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orange · warm

#fec178

a light, electric orange · warm · closest name: Burly Wood

Token name suggestion: Morning Amber

RGB
254, 193, 120
HSL
33°, 99%, 73%
CMYK
0, 24, 53, 0
Luminance
0.6057

#fec178 is a light electric orange, 33° on the wheel and 2/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.11:1). As text it scores 1.60:1 on white — use #B36201 instead. Nearest name is Burly Wood, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(33 99% 73%)rgb(254 193 120)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #fec178 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#fec178
Hue
33°
orange
Saturation
99%
electric
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
81%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6057
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
2/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
13.11:1
Closest name
Burly Wood
ΔE2000 7.1
Chroma
47.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.851
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 10.9
Web-safe
#FFCC66
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue33° of 360°
Saturation99%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #fec178.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool2% 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
Red35%
Green63%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#fec178
HEX (8-digit)#fec178ff
RGBrgb(254, 193, 120)
RGBArgba(254, 193, 120, 1)
HSLhsl(33, 99%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(33, 53%, 100%)
HWBhwb(33 47% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 24%, 53%, 0%)
LABlab(82.2 13.7 45.0)
LCHlch(82.2 47.0 73.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.851 0.114 70.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(63.34, 60.57, 26.12)
Decimal16695672
Display P3color(display-p3 0.996 0.757 0.471)
Web-safe#FFCC66

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fec178;
background-color: #fec178;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fec178;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fec178] bg-[#fec178]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fec178;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.996, green: 0.757, blue: 0.471)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.996, green: 0.757, blue: 0.471, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FEC178</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFEC178)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFEC178)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(120, 193, 254)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(254, 193, 120)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(254, 193, 120)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 254, 193, 120)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9961f, 0.7569f, 0.4706f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{254,193,120}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fec178 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fec178 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7F4501, #EEE2D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fec178 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: #FCF1E3;
  --brand-200: #FBE0C1;
  --brand-300: #fec178;
  --brand-400: #FEB258;
  --brand-500: #FD9920;
  --brand-600: #F38502;
  --brand-700: #CA6F02;
  --brand-800: #A25901;
  --brand-900: #754206;
  --brand-950: #492904;
  --brand: #fec178;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EDD8C0;
  --brand-hover: #FEB154;
  --brand-pressed: #FDA031;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241D14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE2D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FEF8F1',
        100: '#FCF1E3',
        200: '#FBE0C1',
        300: '#fec178',
        400: '#FEB258',
        500: '#FD9920',
        600: '#F38502',
        700: '#CA6F02',
        800: '#A25901',
        900: '#754206',
        950: '#492904',
        DEFAULT: '#fec178',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FEF8F1,
  '100': #FCF1E3,
  '200': #FBE0C1,
  '300': #fec178,
  '400': #FEB258,
  '500': #FD9920,
  '600': #F38502,
  '700': #CA6F02,
  '800': #A25901,
  '900': #754206,
  '950': #492904,
);
$brand-base: #fec178;
$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": "#FCF1E3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FBE0C1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#fec178", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FEB258", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FD9920", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F38502", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#CA6F02", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A25901", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#754206", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#492904", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fec178 · 13.11:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.60:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.11:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fec178 as text scores 1.60:1 on white and 13.11:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7F4501 at 4.76:1.

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
#B36201 · 4.50:1
AA on white−38% L
#B36201
The quick fox
#854901 · 7.12:1
AAA on white−47% L
#854901
The quick fox
#fec178 · 13.11:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fec178
The quick fox
#fec178 · 13.11:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fec178

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #E07B02 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
#fec178 on white: 1.60:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fec178 on black: 13.11:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #fec178 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #fec178.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.60:1AaAa
Slate 501.53:1AaAa
Slate 1001.46:1AaAa
Slate 2001.30:1AaAa
Slate 3001.08:1AaAa
Slate 4001.60:1AaAa
Slate 5002.97:1AaAa
Slate 6004.73:1AaAa
Slate 7006.47:1AaAa
Slate 8009.13:1AaAa
Slate 90011.15:1AaAa
Black13.11:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D6C472
deuteranopia · #E5D27A
tritanopia · #FFB2AF

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. #fec178 is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FEF8F1
#FCF1E3
#FBE0C1
#fec178
#FEB258
#FD9920
#F38502
#CA6F02
#A25901
#754206
#492904
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FEF8F1Darkest = 950 · #492904Text 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 0.029 70.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.046 70.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.069 70.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.089 70.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.105 70.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.114 70.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.114 70.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.107 70.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.096 70.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.080 70.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.063 70.3);
}

Colors that work with #fec178

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#EDD8C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B764B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0090CC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7F4501
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFF3E6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241D14
Dark-mode background
Hover#FEB154
One step down in lightness
Pressed#FDA031
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F3F0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFCA8B
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 #fec178

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 #7F4501
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #E07B02

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
  • Weight27/100
  • 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#78B5FE
Analogous left#FE7E78
Analogous right#F8FE78
Split-complement 1#78F8FE
Split-complement 2#7E78FE
Triadic 1#78FEC1
Triadic 2#C178FE
Tetradic#78FE7E
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°33°

#fec178 sits at 33°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red99.6%
Green75.7%
Blue47.1%
R · 0–255
254
0xfe
G · 0–255
193
0xc1
B · 0–255
120
0x78

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta24.0%
Yellow52.8%
Key (black)0.4%

Total ink coverage is 77%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fec178 text on a black background

contrast 13.11:1

Card sample

#fec178 text on a white background

contrast 1.60:1

Card sample

#fec178 on grey

1.46:1

#fec178 on its own surface

1.51:1

#fec178 on its dark surface

10.40:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #fec178;
Background color
Panel with #fec178 background
background-color: #fec178;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #fec178;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(254, 193, 120, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(254, 193, 120, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fec178;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fec178, #E2FE78);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fec178, #C0FE78);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fec178;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fec178;
caret-color: #fec178;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fec178;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFF3E6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fec178;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fec178 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fec178 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, 193, 120, 0.5)
rgb(254 193 120 / 50%)
#fec17880
hsl(33 99% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fec178 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fec1781a#FFF9F2
20%#fec17833#FFF3E4
40%#fec17866#FFE6C9
60%#fec17899#FEDAAE
80%#fec178cc#FECD93

Gradients from #fec178

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, #FEDDB5, #fec178 45%, #7F4501);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fec178, #CDFE59);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fec178, #78B5FE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FFEBD3 0%, #fec178 45%, #7F4501 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%, #FEAAAE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F1FE96 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7F4501 0%, transparent 65%), #fec178;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fec178

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.

#fec178 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 13.11:1.

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.

#fec178, answered

What color is #fec178?

#fec178 is a light electric orange, closest to Burly Wood (ΔE2000 7.1). It sits at 33° on the hue wheel with 99% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fec178?

rgb(254, 193, 120) — 254 red, 193 green and 120 blue out of 255, or 99.6% / 75.7% / 47.1% by channel.

What is #fec178 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(33, 99%, 73%) and hsv(33, 53%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fec178 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6057 and perceived brightness is 81%, so black text on it reaches 13.11:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fec178?

Black. It scores 13.11:1 against #fec178, versus 1.60:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fec178 accessible on a white background?

#fec178 on white scores 1.60:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #B36201 to reach 4.5:1, or #854901 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fec178?

#78B5FE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #78F8FE and #7E78FE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fec178?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EDD8C0 for borders, #9B764B for secondary text, #0090CC as an accent and #7F4501 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FE7E78 and #F8FE78 stays calm, while #78B5FE is the loudest partner.

What is #fec178 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 24%, 53%, 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 #fec178 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 2 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #FEC491; nudged cooler, #FFF377.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fec178?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 10.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #fec178 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #fec178 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#fec178] or text-[#fec178], 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 #fec178 with 50% opacity?

rgba(254, 193, 120, 0.5), or #fec17880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FFE0BC; over black, #7F613C.

Is #fec178 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFCC66, ΔE2000 7.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #fec178 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 #fec178?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FEDDB5, #fec178 45%, #7F4501). For more colour, a short hue run to #CDFE59 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fec178 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #fec178 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.