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orange · warm

#d85021

a balanced, vivid orange · warm · closest name: Orange Red

Token name suggestion: Studio Apricot

RGB
216, 80, 33
HSL
15°, 74%, 49%
CMYK
0, 63, 85, 15
Luminance
0.2045

#d85021 is a balanced vivid orange, 15° on the wheel and 8/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (5.09:1). As text it scores 4.13:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Orange Red, nearest Tailwind family is red.

hsl(15 74% 49%)rgb(216 80 33)Base step 600AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #d85021 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#d85021
Hue
15°
orange
Saturation
74%
vivid
Lightness
49%
balanced
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
52%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2045
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
8/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
5.09:1
Closest name
Orange Red
ΔE2000 6.9
Chroma
73.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.609
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
red
500 · ΔE 10.9
Web-safe
#CC6633
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue15° of 360°
Saturation74%
Lightness49%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #d85021.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool8% 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
Red71%
Green28%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#d85021
HEX (8-digit)#d85021ff
RGBrgb(216, 80, 33)
RGBArgba(216, 80, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(15, 74%, 49%)
HSV / HSBhsv(15, 85%, 85%)
HWBhwb(15 13% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 63%, 85%, 15%)
LABlab(52.3 51.3 52.9)
LCHlch(52.3 73.7 45.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.609 0.180 37.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.47, 20.45, 3.73)
Decimal14176289
Display P3color(display-p3 0.847 0.314 0.129)
Web-safe#CC6633

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #d85021;
background-color: #d85021;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #d85021;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#d85021] bg-[#d85021]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #d85021;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.847, green: 0.314, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.847, green: 0.314, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#D85021</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFD85021)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFD85021)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 80, 216)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(216, 80, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(216, 80, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 216, 80, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8471f, 0.3137f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{216,80,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #d85021 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #d85021 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#6F2911, #EEDAD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #d85021 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: #FCF5F3;
  --brand-100: #F8EBE7;
  --brand-200: #F3D3C8;
  --brand-300: #F0B39E;
  --brand-400: #E98D6D;
  --brand-500: #E1673C;
  --brand-600: #d85021;
  --brand-700: #B1421B;
  --brand-800: #8E3416;
  --brand-900: #672914;
  --brand-950: #401A0C;
  --brand: #d85021;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F4;
  --brand-border: #EDCBC0;
  --brand-hover: #B9441C;
  --brand-pressed: #9A3918;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241814;
    --brand-ink: #EEDAD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF5F3',
        100: '#F8EBE7',
        200: '#F3D3C8',
        300: '#F0B39E',
        400: '#E98D6D',
        500: '#E1673C',
        600: '#d85021',
        700: '#B1421B',
        800: '#8E3416',
        900: '#672914',
        950: '#401A0C',
        DEFAULT: '#d85021',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF5F3,
  '100': #F8EBE7,
  '200': #F3D3C8,
  '300': #F0B39E,
  '400': #E98D6D,
  '500': #E1673C,
  '600': #d85021,
  '700': #B1421B,
  '800': #8E3416,
  '900': #672914,
  '950': #401A0C,
);
$brand-base: #d85021;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF5F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F8EBE7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F3D3C8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F0B39E", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E98D6D", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E1673C", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#d85021", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B1421B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#8E3416", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#672914", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#401A0C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #d85021 · 5.09:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.13:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 5.09:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #d85021 as text scores 4.13:1 on white and 5.09:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #6F2911 at 2.54:1.

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
#CB4B1F · 4.60:1
AA on white−3% L
#CB4B1F
The quick fox
#9A3918 · 7.06:1
AAA on white−14% L
#9A3918
The quick fox
#d85021 · 5.09:1
AA on blackalready passes
#d85021
The quick fox
#E57752 · 7.09:1
AAA on black+12% L
#E57752

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #D85021 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
#d85021 on white: 4.13:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#d85021 on black: 5.09:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #d85021 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #d85021.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.13:1AaAa
Slate 503.94:1AaAa
Slate 1003.77:1AaAa
Slate 2003.35:1AaAa
Slate 3002.78:1AaAa
Slate 4001.61:1AaAa
Slate 5001.15:1AaAa
Slate 6001.84:1AaAa
Slate 7002.51:1AaAa
Slate 8003.55:1AaAa
Slate 9004.33:1AaAa
Black5.09:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #776A19
deuteranopia · #99881A
tritanopia · #EE2A47

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. #d85021 is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FCF5F3
#F8EBE7
#F3D3C8
#F0B39E
#E98D6D
#E1673C
#d85021
#B1421B
#8E3416
#672914
#401A0C
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FCF5F3Darkest = 950 · #401A0CText step on white = 700
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 0.045 37.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.072 37.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.108 37.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.141 37.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.166 37.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.180 37.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.180 37.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.169 37.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.151 37.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.126 37.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.099 37.9);
}

Colors that work with #d85021

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#FAF6F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDCBC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B5F4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#17B4B5
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#6F2911
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FCEEE9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241814
Dark-mode background
Hover#B9441C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9A3918
Two steps down
Disabled#C5ADA4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#EB5622
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 #d85021

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • 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
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #6F2911
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight51/100
  • 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#21A9D8
Analogous left#D8214D
Analogous right#D8AB21
Split-complement 1#21D8AB
Split-complement 2#214DD8
Triadic 1#21D850
Triadic 2#5021D8
Tetradic#4DD821
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°15°

#d85021 sits at 15°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red84.7%
Green31.4%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
216
0xd8
G · 0–255
80
0x50
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta63.0%
Yellow84.7%
Key (black)15.3%

Total ink coverage is 163%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#d85021 text on a black background

contrast 5.09:1

Card sample

#d85021 text on a white background

contrast 4.13:1

Card sample

#d85021 on grey

3.77:1

#d85021 on its own surface

3.84:1

#d85021 on its dark surface

4.19:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #d85021;
Background color
Panel with #d85021 background
background-color: #d85021;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #d85021;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(216, 80, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(216, 80, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #d85021;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #d85021, #D8CA21);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d85021, #B8D821);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #d85021;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #d85021;
caret-color: #d85021;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #d85021;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FCEEE9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #d85021;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#d85021 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #d85021 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(216, 80, 33, 0.5)
rgb(216 80 33 / 50%)
#d8502180
hsl(15 74% 49% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #d85021 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#d850211a#FBEEE9
20%#d8502133#F7DCD3
40%#d8502166#EFB9A6
60%#d8502199#E8967A
80%#d85021cc#E0734D

Gradients from #d85021

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, #E57752, #d85021 45%, #6F2911);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #d85021, #BCBD1D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #d85021, #21A9D8);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E98C6C 0%, #d85021 45%, #6F2911 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF6F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E3497B 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E0C537 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #6F2911 0%, transparent 65%), #d85021;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #d85021

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.

#d85021 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

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

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 5.09:1.

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.

#d85021, answered

What color is #d85021?

#d85021 is a balanced vivid orange, closest to Orange Red (ΔE2000 6.9). It sits at 15° on the hue wheel with 74% saturation and 49% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #d85021?

rgb(216, 80, 33) — 216 red, 80 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 84.7% / 31.4% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #d85021 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(15, 74%, 49%) and hsv(15, 85%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #d85021 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2045 and perceived brightness is 52%, so black text on it reaches 5.09:1.

Should I use black or white text on #d85021?

Black. It scores 5.09:1 against #d85021, versus 4.13:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #d85021 accessible on a white background?

#d85021 on white scores 4.13:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #CB4B1F to reach 4.5:1, or #9A3918 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #d85021?

#21A9D8 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #21D8AB and #214DD8, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #d85021?

For interface work: #FAF6F4 as the surface, #EDCBC0 for borders, #9B5F4B for secondary text, #17B4B5 as an accent and #6F2911 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #D8214D and #D8AB21 stays calm, while #21A9D8 is the loudest partner.

What is #d85021 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 63%, 85%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #d85021 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 8 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E06F33; nudged cooler, #DA1E33.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #d85021?

The red family — its 500 step is #ef4444, ΔE2000 10.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #d85021 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #d85021 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#d85021] or text-[#d85021], 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 #d85021 with 50% opacity?

rgba(216, 80, 33, 0.5), or #d8502180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #ECA890; over black, #6C2811.

Is #d85021 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC6633, ΔE2000 5.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #d85021 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 #d85021?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E57752, #d85021 45%, #6F2911). For more colour, a short hue run to #BCBD1D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #d85021 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #d85021 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.