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orange · warm

#fca721

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Marmalade

RGB
252, 167, 33
HSL
37°, 97%, 56%
CMYK
0, 34, 87, 1
Luminance
0.4844

#fca721 is a balanced electric orange, 37° on the wheel and 6/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.69:1). As text it scores 1.96:1 on white — use #A66602 instead. Nearest name is Orange, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(37 97% 56%)rgb(252 167 33)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #fca721 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#fca721
Hue
37°
orange
Saturation
97%
electric
Lightness
56%
balanced
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4844
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
6/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
10.69:1
Closest name
Orange
ΔE2000 1.3
Chroma
76.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.793
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 2.3
Web-safe
#FF9933
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue37° of 360°
Saturation97%
Lightness56%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #fca721.

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
Red43%
Green57%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#fca721
HEX (8-digit)#fca721ff
RGBrgb(252, 167, 33)
RGBArgba(252, 167, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(37, 97%, 56%)
HSV / HSBhsv(37, 87%, 99%)
HWBhwb(37 13% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 34%, 87%, 1%)
LABlab(75.1 22.0 73.5)
LCHlch(75.1 76.8 73.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.793 0.163 71.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(54.24, 48.45, 7.93)
Decimal16557857
Display P3color(display-p3 0.988 0.655 0.129)
Web-safe#FF9933

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fca721;
background-color: #fca721;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fca721;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fca721] bg-[#fca721]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fca721;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.988, green: 0.655, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.988, green: 0.655, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FCA721</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFCA721)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFCA721)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 167, 252)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(252, 167, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(252, 167, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 252, 167, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9882f, 0.6549f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{252,167,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fca721 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fca721 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7E4E02, #EEE3D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fca721 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: #FDF9F1;
  --brand-100: #FCF2E4;
  --brand-200: #FBE4C1;
  --brand-300: #FDD390;
  --brand-400: #FDBD59;
  --brand-500: #fca721;
  --brand-600: #F19503;
  --brand-700: #C97C03;
  --brand-800: #A16302;
  --brand-900: #744906;
  --brand-950: #482E04;
  --brand: #fca721;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EDDBC0;
  --brand-hover: #F69803;
  --brand-pressed: #D38203;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241E14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE3D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDF9F1',
        100: '#FCF2E4',
        200: '#FBE4C1',
        300: '#FDD390',
        400: '#FDBD59',
        500: '#fca721',
        600: '#F19503',
        700: '#C97C03',
        800: '#A16302',
        900: '#744906',
        950: '#482E04',
        DEFAULT: '#fca721',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDF9F1,
  '100': #FCF2E4,
  '200': #FBE4C1,
  '300': #FDD390,
  '400': #FDBD59,
  '500': #fca721,
  '600': #F19503,
  '700': #C97C03,
  '800': #A16302,
  '900': #744906,
  '950': #482E04,
);
$brand-base: #fca721;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDF9F1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCF2E4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FBE4C1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#FDD390", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FDBD59", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#fca721", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F19503", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#C97C03", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A16302", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#744906", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#482E04", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fca721 · 10.69:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.96:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.69:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fca721 as text scores 1.96:1 on white and 10.69:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7E4E02 at 3.59:1.

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
#A66602 · 4.64:1
AA on white−23% L
#A66602
The quick fox
#7D4D02 · 7.16:1
AAA on white−31% L
#7D4D02
The quick fox
#fca721 · 10.69:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fca721
The quick fox
#fca721 · 10.69:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fca721

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #D38203 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
#fca721 on white: 1.96:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fca721 on black: 10.69:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #fca721 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #fca721.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.96:1AaAa
Slate 501.88:1AaAa
Slate 1001.79:1AaAa
Slate 2001.59:1AaAa
Slate 3001.32:1AaAa
Slate 4001.31:1AaAa
Slate 5002.42:1AaAa
Slate 6003.86:1AaAa
Slate 7005.27:1AaAa
Slate 8007.45:1AaAa
Slate 9009.09:1AaAa
Black10.69:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C4AD00
deuteranopia · #D8C126
tritanopia · #FF928F

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. #fca721 is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FDF9F1
#FCF2E4
#FBE4C1
#FDD390
#FDBD59
#fca721
#F19503
#C97C03
#A16302
#744906
#482E04
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FDF9F1Darkest = 950 · #482E04Text 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 0.041 71.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.065 71.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.098 71.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.127 71.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.150 71.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.163 71.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.163 71.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.154 71.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.137 71.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.114 71.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.090 71.1);
}

Colors that work with #fca721

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#0083CC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7E4E02
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFF5E6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241E14
Dark-mode background
Hover#F69803
One step down in lightness
Pressed#D38203
Two steps down
Disabled#D3C9BA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFB032
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 #fca721

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 #7E4E02
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #D38203

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
  • Weight44/100
  • 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#2176FC
Analogous left#FC3A21
Analogous right#E4FC21
Split-complement 1#21E4FC
Split-complement 2#3A21FC
Triadic 1#21FCA7
Triadic 2#A721FC
Tetradic#21FC3A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°37°

#fca721 sits at 37°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red98.8%
Green65.5%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
252
0xfc
G · 0–255
167
0xa7
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta33.7%
Yellow86.9%
Key (black)1.2%

Total ink coverage is 122%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fca721 text on a black background

contrast 10.69:1

Card sample

#fca721 text on a white background

contrast 1.96:1

Card sample

#fca721 on grey

1.79:1

#fca721 on its own surface

1.85:1

#fca721 on its dark surface

8.41:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #fca721;
Background color
Panel with #fca721 background
background-color: #fca721;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #fca721;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(252, 167, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(252, 167, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fca721;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fca721, #BFFC21);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fca721, #88FC21);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fca721;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fca721;
caret-color: #fca721;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fca721;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFF5E6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fca721;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fca721 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fca721 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(252, 167, 33, 0.5)
rgb(252 167 33 / 50%)
#fca72180
hsl(37 97% 56% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fca721 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fca7211a#FFF6E9
20%#fca72133#FEEDD3
40%#fca72166#FEDCA6
60%#fca72199#FDCA7A
80%#fca721cc#FDB94D

Gradients from #fca721

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, #FDBF5E, #fca721 45%, #7E4E02);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fca721, #A1FB03);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fca721, #2176FC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FDCB7C 0%, #fca721 45%, #7E4E02 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%, #FD5853 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D8FC3F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7E4E02 0%, transparent 65%), #fca721;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fca721

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.

#fca721 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 10.69:1.

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.

#fca721, answered

What color is #fca721?

#fca721 is a balanced electric orange, closest to Orange (ΔE2000 1.3). It sits at 37° on the hue wheel with 97% saturation and 56% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fca721?

rgb(252, 167, 33) — 252 red, 167 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 98.8% / 65.5% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #fca721 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(37, 97%, 56%) and hsv(37, 87%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fca721 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4844 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 10.69:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fca721?

Black. It scores 10.69:1 against #fca721, versus 1.96:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fca721 accessible on a white background?

#fca721 on white scores 1.96:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A66602 to reach 4.5:1, or #7D4D02 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fca721?

#2176FC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #21E4FC and #3A21FC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fca721?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EDDBC0 for borders, #9B7C4B for secondary text, #0083CC as an accent and #7E4E02 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FC3A21 and #E4FC21 stays calm, while #2176FC is the loudest partner.

What is #fca721 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 34%, 87%, 1%). 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 #fca721 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 #FC9E3A; nudged cooler, #FEF91F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fca721?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 2.3 away. That is close enough to swap in without anyone noticing.

How do I use #fca721 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#fca721] or text-[#fca721], 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 #fca721 with 50% opacity?

rgba(252, 167, 33, 0.5), or #fca72180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FED390; over black, #7E5411.

Is #fca721 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FF9933, ΔE2000 7.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #fca721 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 #fca721?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FDBF5E, #fca721 45%, #7E4E02). For more colour, a short hue run to #A1FB03 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fca721 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #fca721 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.