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orange · warm

#f9eee7

a pale, vivid orange · warm · closest name: Sea Shell

Token name suggestion: Mist Clay

RGB
249, 238, 231
HSL
23°, 60%, 94%
CMYK
0, 4, 7, 2
Luminance
0.8706

#f9eee7 is a pale vivid orange, 23° on the wheel and 4/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (18.41:1). As text it scores 1.14:1 on white — use #B05F2C instead. Nearest name is Sea Shell, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(23 60% 94%)rgb(249 238 231)Base step 100AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #f9eee7 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#f9eee7
Hue
23°
orange
Saturation
60%
vivid
Lightness
94%
pale
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
94%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8706
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
4/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
18.41:1
Closest name
Sea Shell
ΔE2000 1.5
Chroma
5.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.956
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 28.7
Web-safe
#FFFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue23° of 360°
Saturation60%
Lightness94%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #f9eee7.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool4% 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
Red23%
Green70%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#f9eee7
HEX (8-digit)#f9eee7ff
RGBrgb(249, 238, 231)
RGBArgba(249, 238, 231, 1)
HSLhsl(23, 60%, 94%)
HSV / HSBhsv(23, 7%, 98%)
HWBhwb(23 91% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 4%, 7%, 2%)
LABlab(94.8 2.5 4.7)
LCHlch(94.8 5.3 61.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.956 0.015 54.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(84.06, 87.06, 87.96)
Decimal16379623
Display P3color(display-p3 0.976 0.933 0.906)
Web-safe#FFFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #f9eee7;
background-color: #f9eee7;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #f9eee7;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#f9eee7] bg-[#f9eee7]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #f9eee7;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.976, green: 0.933, blue: 0.906)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.976, green: 0.933, blue: 0.906, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#F9EEE7</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFF9EEE7)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFF9EEE7)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(231, 238, 249)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(249, 238, 231)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(249, 238, 231)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 249, 238, 231)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9765f, 0.9333f, 0.9059f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{249,238,231}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #f9eee7 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #f9eee7 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#66371A, #EEDDD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #f9eee7 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: #FBF7F4;
  --brand-100: #f9eee7;
  --brand-200: #EFDACC;
  --brand-300: #E9BFA5;
  --brand-400: #DDA078;
  --brand-500: #D2804B;
  --brand-600: #C46A31;
  --brand-700: #A35829;
  --brand-800: #834721;
  --brand-900: #5F361B;
  --brand-950: #3B2211;
  --brand: #f9eee7;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF7F4;
  --brand-border: #EDD1C0;
  --brand-hover: #F2DACA;
  --brand-pressed: #EBC5AE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241A14;
    --brand-ink: #EEDDD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF7F4',
        100: '#f9eee7',
        200: '#EFDACC',
        300: '#E9BFA5',
        400: '#DDA078',
        500: '#D2804B',
        600: '#C46A31',
        700: '#A35829',
        800: '#834721',
        900: '#5F361B',
        950: '#3B2211',
        DEFAULT: '#f9eee7',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF7F4,
  '100': #f9eee7,
  '200': #EFDACC,
  '300': #E9BFA5,
  '400': #DDA078,
  '500': #D2804B,
  '600': #C46A31,
  '700': #A35829,
  '800': #834721,
  '900': #5F361B,
  '950': #3B2211,
);
$brand-base: #f9eee7;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF7F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#f9eee7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EFDACC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E9BFA5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#DDA078", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#D2804B", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#C46A31", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#A35829", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#834721", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5F361B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3B2211", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #f9eee7 · 18.41:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.14:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 18.41:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #f9eee7 as text scores 1.14:1 on white and 18.41:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #66371A at 8.66:1.

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
#B05F2C · 4.65:1
AA on white−51% L
#B05F2C
The quick fox
#834721 · 7.27:1
AAA on white−62% L
#834721
The quick fox
#f9eee7 · 18.41:1
AA on blackalready passes
#f9eee7
The quick fox
#f9eee7 · 18.41:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#f9eee7

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #D2804C 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
#f9eee7 on white: 1.14:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#f9eee7 on black: 18.41:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #f9eee7 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #f9eee7.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.14:1AaAa
Slate 501.09:1AaAa
Slate 1001.04:1AaAa
Slate 2001.08:1AaAa
Slate 3001.30:1AaAa
Slate 4002.25:1AaAa
Slate 5004.17:1AaAa
Slate 6006.64:1AaAa
Slate 7009.08:1AaAa
Slate 80012.83:1AaAa
Slate 90015.65:1AaAa
Black18.41:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #F1EFE7
deuteranopia · #F4F1E7
tritanopia · #FDECEC

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. #f9eee7 is pinned to step 100; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FBF7F4
#f9eee7
#EFDACC
#E9BFA5
#DDA078
#D2804B
#C46A31
#A35829
#834721
#5F361B
#3B2211
Base = 100Lightest = 50 · #FBF7F4Darkest = 950 · #3B2211Text 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 0.004 54.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.006 54.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.009 54.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.012 54.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.014 54.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.015 54.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.015 54.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.014 54.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.013 54.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.011 54.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.008 54.9);
}

Colors that work with #f9eee7

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#EDD1C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B6A4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#2296AA
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#66371A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FAF1EB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241A14
Dark-mode background
Hover#F2DACA
One step down in lightness
Pressed#EBC5AE
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F4F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F9E7DC
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 #f9eee7

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 #66371A
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #D2804C

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 high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

Hard to make feel premium, and it collides with the "caution" band in status systems.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight6/100
  • 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#E7F2F9
Analogous left#F9E7E9
Analogous right#F9F7E7
Split-complement 1#E7F9F7
Split-complement 2#E7E9F9
Triadic 1#E7F9EE
Triadic 2#EEE7F9
Tetradic#E9F9E7
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°23°

#f9eee7 sits at 23°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red97.6%
Green93.3%
Blue90.6%
R · 0–255
249
0xf9
G · 0–255
238
0xee
B · 0–255
231
0xe7

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta4.4%
Yellow7.2%
Key (black)2.4%

Total ink coverage is 14%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#f9eee7 text on a black background

contrast 18.41:1

Card sample

#f9eee7 text on a white background

contrast 1.14:1

Card sample

#f9eee7 on grey

1.04:1

#f9eee7 on its own surface

1.07:1

#f9eee7 on its dark surface

14.93:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #f9eee7;
Background color
Panel with #f9eee7 background
background-color: #f9eee7;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #f9eee7;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(249, 238, 231, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(249, 238, 231, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #f9eee7;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #f9eee7, #F8F9E7);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f9eee7, #F3F9E7);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #f9eee7;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #f9eee7;
caret-color: #f9eee7;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #f9eee7;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FAF1EB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #f9eee7;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#f9eee7 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #f9eee7 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(249, 238, 231, 0.5)
rgb(249 238 231 / 50%)
#f9eee780
hsl(23 60% 94% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #f9eee7 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#f9eee71a#FEFDFD
20%#f9eee733#FEFCFA
40%#f9eee766#FDF8F5
60%#f9eee799#FBF5F1
80%#f9eee7cc#FAF1EC

Gradients from #f9eee7

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, #FBF3EF, #f9eee7 45%, #66371A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #f9eee7, #EEF3CE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f9eee7, #E7F2F9);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FCF6F3 0%, #f9eee7 45%, #66371A 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%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #66371A 0%, transparent 65%), #f9eee7;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #f9eee7

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.

#f9eee7 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

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

On screens

Very light values are indistinguishable from white on a dim phone screen outdoors. Give it a border if the boundary matters.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 18.41:1.

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.

#f9eee7, answered

What color is #f9eee7?

#f9eee7 is a pale vivid orange, closest to Sea Shell (ΔE2000 1.5). It sits at 23° on the hue wheel with 60% saturation and 94% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #f9eee7?

rgb(249, 238, 231) — 249 red, 238 green and 231 blue out of 255, or 97.6% / 93.3% / 90.6% by channel.

What is #f9eee7 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(23, 60%, 94%) and hsv(23, 7%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #f9eee7 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8706 and perceived brightness is 94%, so black text on it reaches 18.41:1.

Should I use black or white text on #f9eee7?

Black. It scores 18.41:1 against #f9eee7, versus 1.14:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #f9eee7 accessible on a white background?

#f9eee7 on white scores 1.14:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #B05F2C to reach 4.5:1, or #834721 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #f9eee7?

#E7F2F9 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E7F9F7 and #E7E9F9, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #f9eee7?

For interface work: #FAF7F4 as the surface, #EDD1C0 for borders, #9B6A4B for secondary text, #2296AA as an accent and #66371A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F9E7E9 and #F9F7E7 stays calm, while #E7F2F9 is the loudest partner.

What is #f9eee7 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 4%, 7%, 2%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #f9eee7 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 4 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #FCF7F3; nudged cooler, #F9E7E7.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #f9eee7?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 28.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #f9eee7 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #f9eee7 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#f9eee7] or text-[#f9eee7], 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 #f9eee7 with 50% opacity?

rgba(249, 238, 231, 0.5), or #f9eee780 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FCF7F3; over black, #7D7774.

Is #f9eee7 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFFFF, ΔE2000 6.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #f9eee7 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 #f9eee7?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FBF3EF, #f9eee7 45%, #66371A). For more colour, a short hue run to #EEF3CE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #f9eee7 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #f9eee7 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.