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orange · warm

#ec950d

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Amber

RGB
236, 149, 13
HSL
37°, 90%, 49%
CMYK
0, 37, 95, 8
Luminance
0.3936

#ec950d is a balanced electric orange, 37° on the wheel and 6/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.87:1). As text it scores 2.37:1 on white — use #A36709 instead. Nearest name is Orange, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(37 90% 49%)rgb(236 149 13)Base step 600AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ec950d is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ec950d
Hue
37°
orange
Saturation
90%
electric
Lightness
49%
balanced
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3936
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
6/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
8.87:1
Closest name
Orange
ΔE2000 4.9
Chroma
76.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.742
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 2.7
Web-safe
#FF9900
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue37° of 360°
Saturation90%
Lightness49%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ec950d.

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
Red45%
Green55%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#ec950d
HEX (8-digit)#ec950dff
RGBrgb(236, 149, 13)
RGBArgba(236, 149, 13, 1)
HSLhsl(37, 90%, 49%)
HSV / HSBhsv(37, 94%, 93%)
HWBhwb(37 5% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 37%, 95%, 8%)
LABlab(69.0 24.5 72.3)
LCHlch(69.0 76.3 71.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.742 0.160 68.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(45.42, 39.36, 5.59)
Decimal15504653
Display P3color(display-p3 0.925 0.584 0.051)
Web-safe#FF9900

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ec950d;
background-color: #ec950d;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ec950d;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ec950d] bg-[#ec950d]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ec950d;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.925, green: 0.584, blue: 0.051)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.925, green: 0.584, blue: 0.051, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#EC950D</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFEC950D)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFEC950D)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(13, 149, 236)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(236, 149, 13)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(236, 149, 13)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 236, 149, 13)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9255f, 0.5843f, 0.0510f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{236,149,13}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ec950d 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ec950d 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#794C07, #EEE3D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ec950d 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: #FDF9F2;
  --brand-100: #FBF2E5;
  --brand-200: #F8E4C3;
  --brand-300: #F9D295;
  --brand-400: #F6BB5F;
  --brand-500: #F3A52A;
  --brand-600: #ec950d;
  --brand-700: #C17A0B;
  --brand-800: #9B6208;
  --brand-900: #70480B;
  --brand-950: #462D07;
  --brand: #ec950d;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EDDBC0;
  --brand-hover: #CA800B;
  --brand-pressed: #A86A09;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241E14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE3D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDF9F2',
        100: '#FBF2E5',
        200: '#F8E4C3',
        300: '#F9D295',
        400: '#F6BB5F',
        500: '#F3A52A',
        600: '#ec950d',
        700: '#C17A0B',
        800: '#9B6208',
        900: '#70480B',
        950: '#462D07',
        DEFAULT: '#ec950d',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDF9F2,
  '100': #FBF2E5,
  '200': #F8E4C3,
  '300': #F9D295,
  '400': #F6BB5F,
  '500': #F3A52A,
  '600': #ec950d,
  '700': #C17A0B,
  '800': #9B6208,
  '900': #70480B,
  '950': #462D07,
);
$brand-base: #ec950d;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDF9F2", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FBF2E5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F8E4C3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F9D295", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F6BB5F", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#F3A52A", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#ec950d", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#C17A0B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#9B6208", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#70480B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#462D07", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ec950d · 8.87:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.37:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.87:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ec950d as text scores 2.37:1 on white and 8.87:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #794C07 at 3.11:1.

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
#A36709 · 4.67:1
AA on white−15% L
#A36709
The quick fox
#7D4F07 · 7.02:1
AAA on white−23% L
#7D4F07
The quick fox
#ec950d · 8.87:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ec950d
The quick fox
#ec950d · 8.87:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ec950d

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #CF830B 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
#ec950d on white: 2.37:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ec950d on black: 8.87:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ec950d as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ec950d.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.37:1AaAa
Slate 502.26:1AaAa
Slate 1002.16:1AaAa
Slate 2001.92:1AaAa
Slate 3001.59:1AaAa
Slate 4001.08:1AaAa
Slate 5002.01:1AaAa
Slate 6003.20:1AaAa
Slate 7004.37:1AaAa
Slate 8006.18:1AaAa
Slate 9007.54:1AaAa
Black8.87:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B29C00
deuteranopia · #C6B114
tritanopia · #FF807F

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. #ec950d 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.

#FDF9F2
#FBF2E5
#F8E4C3
#F9D295
#F6BB5F
#F3A52A
#ec950d
#C17A0B
#9B6208
#70480B
#462D07
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FDF9F2Darkest = 950 · #462D07Text 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 68.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.064 68.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.096 68.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.125 68.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.147 68.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.160 68.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.160 68.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.151 68.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.135 68.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.112 68.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.088 68.3);
}

Colors that work with #ec950d

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#0781C5
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#794C07
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FEF5E7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241E14
Dark-mode background
Hover#CA800B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A86A09
Two steps down
Disabled#C5B8A4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFA10F
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 #ec950d

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 #794C07
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #CF830B

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
  • 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#0D64EC
Analogous left#EC250D
Analogous right#D3EC0D
Split-complement 1#0DD3EC
Split-complement 2#250DEC
Triadic 1#0DEC95
Triadic 2#950DEC
Tetradic#0DEC25
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°37°

#ec950d sits at 37°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red92.5%
Green58.4%
Blue5.1%
R · 0–255
236
0xec
G · 0–255
149
0x95
B · 0–255
13
0x0d

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta36.9%
Yellow94.5%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 139%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ec950d text on a black background

contrast 8.87:1

Card sample

#ec950d text on a white background

contrast 2.37:1

Card sample

#ec950d on grey

2.16:1

#ec950d on its own surface

2.23:1

#ec950d on its dark surface

6.98:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ec950d;
Background color
Panel with #ec950d background
background-color: #ec950d;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ec950d;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(236, 149, 13, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(236, 149, 13, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ec950d;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ec950d, #AEEC0D);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ec950d, #76EC0D);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ec950d;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ec950d;
caret-color: #ec950d;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ec950d;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FEF5E7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ec950d;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ec950d 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ec950d 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(236, 149, 13, 0.5)
rgb(236 149 13 / 50%)
#ec950d80
hsl(37 90% 49% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ec950d 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ec950d1a#FDF4E7
20%#ec950d33#FBEACF
40%#ec950d66#F7D59E
60%#ec950d99#F4BF6E
80%#ec950dcc#F0AA3D

Gradients from #ec950d

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, #F5AF41, #ec950d 45%, #794C07);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ec950d, #89CF0B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ec950d, #0D64EC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F6BB5E 0%, #ec950d 45%, #794C07 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%, #F43D38 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CBF324 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #794C07 0%, transparent 65%), #ec950d;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ec950d

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.

#ec950d 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 8.87:1.

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.

#ec950d, answered

What color is #ec950d?

#ec950d is a balanced electric orange, closest to Orange (ΔE2000 4.9). It sits at 37° on the hue wheel with 90% saturation and 49% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ec950d?

rgb(236, 149, 13) — 236 red, 149 green and 13 blue out of 255, or 92.5% / 58.4% / 5.1% by channel.

What is #ec950d in HSL and HSV?

hsl(37, 90%, 49%) and hsv(37, 94%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ec950d a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3936 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 8.87:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ec950d?

Black. It scores 8.87:1 against #ec950d, versus 2.37:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ec950d accessible on a white background?

#ec950d on white scores 2.37:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A36709 to reach 4.5:1, or #7D4F07 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ec950d?

#0D64EC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #0DD3EC and #250DEC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ec950d?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EDDBC0 for borders, #9B7C4B for secondary text, #0781C5 as an accent and #794C07 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #EC250D and #D3EC0D stays calm, while #0D64EC is the loudest partner.

What is #ec950d in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 37%, 95%, 8%). 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 #ec950d 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 #F38C20; nudged cooler, #EEE90A.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ec950d?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 2.7 away. That is close enough to swap in without anyone noticing.

How do I use #ec950d in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ec950d] or text-[#ec950d], 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 #ec950d with 50% opacity?

rgba(236, 149, 13, 0.5), or #ec950d80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F6CA86; over black, #764B07.

Is #ec950d a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FF9900, ΔE2000 3.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ec950d 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 #ec950d?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F5AF41, #ec950d 45%, #794C07). For more colour, a short hue run to #89CF0B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ec950d in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ec950d at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.