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orange · warm

#e78621

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Clay

RGB
231, 134, 33
HSL
31°, 81%, 52%
CMYK
0, 42, 86, 9
Luminance
0.3415

#e78621 is a balanced electric orange, 31° on the wheel and 1/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.83:1). As text it scores 2.68:1 on white — use #AE6213 instead. Nearest name is Dark Orange, nearest Tailwind family is orange.

hsl(31 81% 52%)rgb(231 134 33)Base step 600AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #e78621 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#e78621
Hue
31°
orange
Saturation
81%
electric
Lightness
52%
balanced
Brightness
91%
HSV value
Perceived
64%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3415
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
1/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
7.83:1
Closest name
Dark Orange
ΔE2000 4.5
Chroma
71.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.710
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
orange
500 · ΔE 7.9
Web-safe
#FF9933
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue31° of 360°
Saturation81%
Lightness52%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #e78621.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool1% 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
Red50%
Green50%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#e78621
HEX (8-digit)#e78621ff
RGBrgb(231, 134, 33)
RGBArgba(231, 134, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(31, 81%, 52%)
HSV / HSBhsv(31, 86%, 91%)
HWBhwb(31 13% 9%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 42%, 86%, 9%)
LABlab(65.1 30.6 64.4)
LCHlch(65.1 71.3 64.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.710 0.157 59.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(41.76, 34.15, 5.83)
Decimal15173153
Display P3color(display-p3 0.906 0.525 0.129)
Web-safe#FF9933

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #e78621;
background-color: #e78621;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #e78621;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#e78621] bg-[#e78621]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #e78621;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.906, green: 0.525, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.906, green: 0.525, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#E78621</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFE78621)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFE78621)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 134, 231)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(231, 134, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(231, 134, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 231, 134, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9059f, 0.5255f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{231,134,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #e78621 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #e78621 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#73410C, #EEE1D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #e78621 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: #FCF7F3;
  --brand-100: #F9F0E6;
  --brand-200: #F5DEC6;
  --brand-300: #F4C89A;
  --brand-400: #EFAC67;
  --brand-500: #E99134;
  --brand-600: #e78621;
  --brand-700: #B86814;
  --brand-800: #935310;
  --brand-900: #6B3E10;
  --brand-950: #43270A;
  --brand: #e78621;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF7F4;
  --brand-border: #EDD7C0;
  --brand-hover: #CE7416;
  --brand-pressed: #AE6213;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241C14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE1D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF7F3',
        100: '#F9F0E6',
        200: '#F5DEC6',
        300: '#F4C89A',
        400: '#EFAC67',
        500: '#E99134',
        600: '#e78621',
        700: '#B86814',
        800: '#935310',
        900: '#6B3E10',
        950: '#43270A',
        DEFAULT: '#e78621',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF7F3,
  '100': #F9F0E6,
  '200': #F5DEC6,
  '300': #F4C89A,
  '400': #EFAC67,
  '500': #E99134,
  '600': #e78621,
  '700': #B86814,
  '800': #935310,
  '900': #6B3E10,
  '950': #43270A,
);
$brand-base: #e78621;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF7F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F9F0E6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F5DEC6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F4C89A", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#EFAC67", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E99134", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#e78621", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B86814", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#935310", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6B3E10", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#43270A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #e78621 · 7.83:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.68:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.83:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #e78621 as text scores 2.68:1 on white and 7.83:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #73410C at 3.14:1.

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
#AE6213 · 4.61:1
AA on white−14% L
#AE6213
The quick fox
#80480E · 7.37:1
AAA on white−24% L
#80480E
The quick fox
#e78621 · 7.83:1
AA on blackalready passes
#e78621
The quick fox
#e78621 · 7.83:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#e78621

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #DC7C18 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
#e78621 on white: 2.68:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#e78621 on black: 7.83:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #e78621 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #e78621.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.68:1AaAa
Slate 502.56:1AaAa
Slate 1002.45:1AaAa
Slate 2002.18:1AaAa
Slate 3001.81:1AaAa
Slate 4001.05:1AaAa
Slate 5001.77:1AaAa
Slate 6002.83:1AaAa
Slate 7003.86:1AaAa
Slate 8005.45:1AaAa
Slate 9006.66:1AaAa
Black7.83:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A49005
deuteranopia · #BBA721
tritanopia · #FD7074

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. #e78621 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.

#FCF7F3
#F9F0E6
#F5DEC6
#F4C89A
#EFAC67
#E99134
#e78621
#B86814
#935310
#6B3E10
#43270A
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FCF7F3Darkest = 950 · #43270AText 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 0.039 59.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.063 59.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.094 59.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.122 59.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.144 59.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.157 59.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.157 59.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.147 59.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.132 59.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.110 59.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.086 59.8);
}

Colors that work with #e78621

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#FAF7F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDD7C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B744B
Captions on the surface
Accent#108FBC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#73410C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDF2E8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241C14
Dark-mode background
Hover#CE7416
One step down in lightness
Pressed#AE6213
Two steps down
Disabled#CBBCAD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F49028
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 #e78621

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 #73410C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #DC7C18

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
  • Weight48/100
  • 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#2182E7
Analogous left#E72321
Analogous right#E5E721
Split-complement 1#21E5E7
Split-complement 2#2321E7
Triadic 1#21E786
Triadic 2#8621E7
Tetradic#21E723
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°31°

#e78621 sits at 31°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red90.6%
Green52.5%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
231
0xe7
G · 0–255
134
0x86
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta42.0%
Yellow85.7%
Key (black)9.4%

Total ink coverage is 137%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#e78621 text on a black background

contrast 7.83:1

Card sample

#e78621 text on a white background

contrast 2.68:1

Card sample

#e78621 on grey

2.45:1

#e78621 on its own surface

2.51:1

#e78621 on its dark surface

6.26:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #e78621;
Background color
Panel with #e78621 background
background-color: #e78621;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #e78621;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(231, 134, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(231, 134, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #e78621;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #e78621, #C4E721);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e78621, #93E721);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #e78621;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #e78621;
caret-color: #e78621;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #e78621;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FDF2E8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #e78621;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#e78621 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #e78621 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(231, 134, 33, 0.5)
rgb(231 134 33 / 50%)
#e7862180
hsl(31 81% 52% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #e78621 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#e786211a#FDF3E9
20%#e7862133#FAE7D3
40%#e7862166#F5CFA6
60%#e7862199#F1B67A
80%#e78621cc#EC9E4D

Gradients from #e78621

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, #EDA458, #e78621 45%, #73410C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #e78621, #A2D317);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e78621, #2182E7);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F0B374 0%, #e78621 45%, #73410C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF7F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #EC4F5B 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DAEA3D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #73410C 0%, transparent 65%), #e78621;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #e78621

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.

#e78621 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 7.83:1.

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.

#e78621, answered

What color is #e78621?

#e78621 is a balanced electric orange, closest to Dark Orange (ΔE2000 4.5). It sits at 31° on the hue wheel with 81% saturation and 52% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #e78621?

rgb(231, 134, 33) — 231 red, 134 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 90.6% / 52.5% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #e78621 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(31, 81%, 52%) and hsv(31, 86%, 91%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #e78621 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3415 and perceived brightness is 64%, so black text on it reaches 7.83:1.

Should I use black or white text on #e78621?

Black. It scores 7.83:1 against #e78621, versus 2.68:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #e78621 accessible on a white background?

#e78621 on white scores 2.68:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #AE6213 to reach 4.5:1, or #80480E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #e78621?

#2182E7 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #21E5E7 and #2321E7, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #e78621?

For interface work: #FAF7F4 as the surface, #EDD7C0 for borders, #9B744B for secondary text, #108FBC as an accent and #73410C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #E72321 and #E5E721 stays calm, while #2182E7 is the loudest partner.

What is #e78621 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 42%, 86%, 9%). 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 #e78621 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 1 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #EA8A38; nudged cooler, #E93C1F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #e78621?

The orange family — its 500 step is #f97316, ΔE2000 7.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #e78621 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #e78621 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#e78621] or text-[#e78621], 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 #e78621 with 50% opacity?

rgba(231, 134, 33, 0.5), or #e7862180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F3C390; over black, #744311.

Is #e78621 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FF9933, ΔE2000 5.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #e78621 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 #e78621?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EDA458, #e78621 45%, #73410C). For more colour, a short hue run to #A2D317 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #e78621 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #e78621 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.