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orange · warm

#fdb686

a light, electric orange · warm · closest name: Sandy Brown

Token name suggestion: Drift Clay

RGB
253, 182, 134
HSL
24°, 97%, 76%
CMYK
0, 28, 47, 1
Luminance
0.5606

#fdb686 is a light electric orange, 24° on the wheel and 3/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.21:1). As text it scores 1.72:1 on white — use #C35103 instead. Nearest name is Sandy Brown, nearest Tailwind family is amber.

hsl(24 97% 76%)rgb(253 182 134)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #fdb686 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#fdb686
Hue
24°
orange
Saturation
97%
electric
Lightness
76%
light
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
79%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5606
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
3/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
12.21:1
Closest name
Sandy Brown
ΔE2000 6.1
Chroma
40.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.832
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
amber
500 · ΔE 14.5
Web-safe
#FFCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue24° of 360°
Saturation97%
Lightness76%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #fdb686.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool3% 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
Red37%
Green60%
Blue3%

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

Every format

HEX#fdb686
HEX (8-digit)#fdb686ff
RGBrgb(253, 182, 134)
RGBArgba(253, 182, 134, 1)
HSLhsl(24, 97%, 76%)
HSV / HSBhsv(24, 47%, 99%)
HWBhwb(24 53% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 28%, 47%, 1%)
LABlab(79.7 20.3 34.6)
LCHlch(79.7 40.1 59.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.832 0.104 54.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(61.54, 56.06, 30.13)
Decimal16627334
Display P3color(display-p3 0.992 0.714 0.525)
Web-safe#FFCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fdb686;
background-color: #fdb686;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fdb686;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fdb686] bg-[#fdb686]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fdb686;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.992, green: 0.714, blue: 0.525)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.992, green: 0.714, blue: 0.525, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FDB686</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFDB686)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFDB686)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(134, 182, 253)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(253, 182, 134)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(253, 182, 134)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 253, 182, 134)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9922f, 0.7137f, 0.5255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{253,182,134}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fdb686 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fdb686 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7D3402, #EEDED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fdb686 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: #FDF6F1;
  --brand-100: #FCEDE4;
  --brand-200: #FBD8C1;
  --brand-300: #fdb686;
  --brand-400: #FC9B59;
  --brand-500: #FB7A22;
  --brand-600: #F16404;
  --brand-700: #C95303;
  --brand-800: #A14203;
  --brand-900: #743307;
  --brand-950: #482004;
  --brand: #fdb686;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF7F4;
  --brand-border: #EDD2C0;
  --brand-hover: #FCA163;
  --brand-pressed: #FC8C40;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241A14;
    --brand-ink: #EEDED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDF6F1',
        100: '#FCEDE4',
        200: '#FBD8C1',
        300: '#fdb686',
        400: '#FC9B59',
        500: '#FB7A22',
        600: '#F16404',
        700: '#C95303',
        800: '#A14203',
        900: '#743307',
        950: '#482004',
        DEFAULT: '#fdb686',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDF6F1,
  '100': #FCEDE4,
  '200': #FBD8C1,
  '300': #fdb686,
  '400': #FC9B59,
  '500': #FB7A22,
  '600': #F16404,
  '700': #C95303,
  '800': #A14203,
  '900': #743307,
  '950': #482004,
);
$brand-base: #fdb686;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDF6F1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCEDE4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FBD8C1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#fdb686", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FC9B59", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FB7A22", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F16404", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#C95303", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A14203", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#743307", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#482004", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fdb686 · 12.21:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.72:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.21:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fdb686 as text scores 1.72:1 on white and 12.21:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7D3402 at 5.17:1.

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
#C35103 · 4.67:1
AA on white−37% L
#C35103
The quick fox
#963E03 · 7.03:1
AAA on white−46% L
#963E03
The quick fox
#fdb686 · 12.21:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fdb686
The quick fox
#fdb686 · 12.21:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fdb686

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #FA6704 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
#fdb686 on white: 1.72:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fdb686 on black: 12.21:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #fdb686 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #fdb686.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.72:1AaAa
Slate 501.64:1AaAa
Slate 1001.57:1AaAa
Slate 2001.39:1AaAa
Slate 3001.16:1AaAa
Slate 4001.49:1AaAa
Slate 5002.77:1AaAa
Slate 6004.41:1AaAa
Slate 7006.02:1AaAa
Slate 8008.51:1AaAa
Slate 90010.38:1AaAa
Black12.21:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CABC82
deuteranopia · #DBCC86
tritanopia · #FFA8AA

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. #fdb686 is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FDF6F1
#FCEDE4
#FBD8C1
#fdb686
#FC9B59
#FB7A22
#F16404
#C95303
#A14203
#743307
#482004
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FDF6F1Darkest = 950 · #482004Text 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 0.026 54.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.042 54.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.062 54.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.081 54.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.096 54.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.104 54.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.104 54.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.098 54.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.087 54.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.073 54.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.057 54.8);
}

Colors that work with #fdb686

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#EDD2C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B6B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#00ACCC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7D3402
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFF0E6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241A14
Dark-mode background
Hover#FCA163
One step down in lightness
Pressed#FC8C40
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F4F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFC298
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 #fdb686

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 #7D3402
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #FA6704

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 lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight24/100
  • 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#86CDFD
Analogous left#FD8692
Analogous right#FDF186
Split-complement 1#86FDF1
Split-complement 2#8692FD
Triadic 1#86FDB6
Triadic 2#B686FD
Tetradic#92FD86
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°24°

#fdb686 sits at 24°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red99.2%
Green71.4%
Blue52.5%
R · 0–255
253
0xfd
G · 0–255
182
0xb6
B · 0–255
134
0x86

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta28.1%
Yellow47.0%
Key (black)0.8%

Total ink coverage is 76%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fdb686 text on a black background

contrast 12.21:1

Card sample

#fdb686 text on a white background

contrast 1.72:1

Card sample

#fdb686 on grey

1.57:1

#fdb686 on its own surface

1.61:1

#fdb686 on its dark surface

9.91:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #fdb686;
Background color
Panel with #fdb686 background
background-color: #fdb686;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #fdb686;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(253, 182, 134, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(253, 182, 134, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fdb686;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fdb686, #F5FD86);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fdb686, #D7FD86);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fdb686;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fdb686;
caret-color: #fdb686;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fdb686;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFF0E6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fdb686;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fdb686 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fdb686 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(253, 182, 134, 0.5)
rgb(253 182 134 / 50%)
#fdb68680
hsl(24 97% 76% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fdb686 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fdb6861a#FFF8F3
20%#fdb68633#FFF0E7
40%#fdb68666#FEE2CF
60%#fdb68699#FED3B6
80%#fdb686cc#FDC59E

Gradients from #fdb686

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, #FEDAC2, #fdb686 45%, #7D3402);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fdb686, #E6FC68);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fdb686, #86CDFD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FEEDE0 0%, #fdb686 45%, #7D3402 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%, #FEB8C5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FDFCA4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7D3402 0%, transparent 65%), #fdb686;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fdb686

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.

#fdb686 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

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 12.21:1.

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.

#fdb686, answered

What color is #fdb686?

#fdb686 is a light electric orange, closest to Sandy Brown (ΔE2000 6.1). It sits at 24° on the hue wheel with 97% saturation and 76% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fdb686?

rgb(253, 182, 134) — 253 red, 182 green and 134 blue out of 255, or 99.2% / 71.4% / 52.5% by channel.

What is #fdb686 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(24, 97%, 76%) and hsv(24, 47%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fdb686 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5606 and perceived brightness is 79%, so black text on it reaches 12.21:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fdb686?

Black. It scores 12.21:1 against #fdb686, versus 1.72:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fdb686 accessible on a white background?

#fdb686 on white scores 1.72:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #C35103 to reach 4.5:1, or #963E03 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fdb686?

#86CDFD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #86FDF1 and #8692FD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fdb686?

For interface work: #FAF7F4 as the surface, #EDD2C0 for borders, #9B6B4B for secondary text, #00ACCC as an accent and #7D3402 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FD8692 and #FDF186 stays calm, while #86CDFD is the loudest partner.

What is #fdb686 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 28%, 47%, 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 #fdb686 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 3 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #FDC69F; nudged cooler, #FE8985.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fdb686?

The amber family — its 500 step is #f59e0b, ΔE2000 14.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #fdb686 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #fdb686 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#fdb686] or text-[#fdb686], 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 #fdb686 with 50% opacity?

rgba(253, 182, 134, 0.5), or #fdb68680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FEDBC3; over black, #7F5B43.

Is #fdb686 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFCC99, ΔE2000 6.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #fdb686 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 #fdb686?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FEDAC2, #fdb686 45%, #7D3402). For more colour, a short hue run to #E6FC68 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fdb686 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #fdb686 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.