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orange · warm

#ff9b4d

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Marmalade

RGB
255, 155, 77
HSL
26°, 100%, 65%
CMYK
0, 39, 70, 0
Luminance
0.4524

#ff9b4d is a light electric orange, 26° on the wheel and 2/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.05:1). As text it scores 2.09:1 on white — use #C25500 instead. Nearest name is Sandy Brown, nearest Tailwind family is orange.

hsl(26 100% 65%)rgb(255 155 77)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ff9b4d is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ff9b4d
Hue
26°
orange
Saturation
100%
electric
Lightness
65%
light
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
73%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4524
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
2/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
10.05:1
Closest name
Sandy Brown
ΔE2000 3.8
Chroma
63.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.779
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
orange
500 · ΔE 9.5
Web-safe
#FF9966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue26° of 360°
Saturation100%
Lightness65%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ff9b4d.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool2% 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
Red47%
Green52%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#ff9b4d
HEX (8-digit)#ff9b4dff
RGBrgb(255, 155, 77)
RGBArgba(255, 155, 77, 1)
HSLhsl(26, 100%, 65%)
HSV / HSBhsv(26, 70%, 100%)
HWBhwb(26 30% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 39%, 70%, 0%)
LABlab(73.0 31.1 55.3)
LCHlch(73.0 63.5 60.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.779 0.151 55.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(54.31, 45.24, 12.89)
Decimal16751437
Display P3color(display-p3 1.000 0.608 0.302)
Web-safe#FF9966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ff9b4d;
background-color: #ff9b4d;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ff9b4d;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ff9b4d] bg-[#ff9b4d]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ff9b4d;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 1.000, green: 0.608, blue: 0.302)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 1.000, green: 0.608, blue: 0.302, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FF9B4D</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFF9B4D)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFF9B4D)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(77, 155, 255)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(255, 155, 77)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(255, 155, 77)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 255, 155, 77)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(1.0000f, 0.6078f, 0.3020f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{255,155,77}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ff9b4d 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ff9b4d 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#803800, #EEDFD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ff9b4d 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: #FEF7F1;
  --brand-100: #FCEEE3;
  --brand-200: #FCDAC0;
  --brand-300: #FFC08F;
  --brand-400: #ff9b4d;
  --brand-500: #FF811F;
  --brand-600: #F56B00;
  --brand-700: #CC5900;
  --brand-800: #A34800;
  --brand-900: #763605;
  --brand-950: #492203;
  --brand: #ff9b4d;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF7F4;
  --brand-border: #EDD3C0;
  --brand-hover: #FF8729;
  --brand-pressed: #FF7306;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241B14;
    --brand-ink: #EEDFD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FEF7F1',
        100: '#FCEEE3',
        200: '#FCDAC0',
        300: '#FFC08F',
        400: '#ff9b4d',
        500: '#FF811F',
        600: '#F56B00',
        700: '#CC5900',
        800: '#A34800',
        900: '#763605',
        950: '#492203',
        DEFAULT: '#ff9b4d',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FEF7F1,
  '100': #FCEEE3,
  '200': #FCDAC0,
  '300': #FFC08F,
  '400': #ff9b4d,
  '500': #FF811F,
  '600': #F56B00,
  '700': #CC5900,
  '800': #A34800,
  '900': #763605,
  '950': #492203,
);
$brand-base: #ff9b4d;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FEF7F1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCEEE3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FCDAC0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#FFC08F", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ff9b4d", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FF811F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F56B00", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#CC5900", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A34800", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#763605", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#492203", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ff9b4d · 10.05:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.09:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.05:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ff9b4d as text scores 2.09:1 on white and 10.05:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #803800 at 4.05:1.

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
#C25500 · 4.57:1
AA on white−27% L
#C25500
The quick fox
#8F3F00 · 7.29:1
AAA on white−37% L
#8F3F00
The quick fox
#ff9b4d · 10.05:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ff9b4d
The quick fox
#ff9b4d · 10.05:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ff9b4d

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #F06900 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
#ff9b4d on white: 2.09:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ff9b4d on black: 10.05:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ff9b4d as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ff9b4d.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.09:1AaAa
Slate 502.00:1AaAa
Slate 1001.91:1AaAa
Slate 2001.70:1AaAa
Slate 3001.41:1AaAa
Slate 4001.23:1AaAa
Slate 5002.28:1AaAa
Slate 6003.63:1AaAa
Slate 7004.95:1AaAa
Slate 8007.00:1AaAa
Slate 9008.54:1AaAa
Black10.05:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B8A644
deuteranopia · #D0BC4D
tritanopia · #FF868A

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. #ff9b4d is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FEF7F1
#FCEEE3
#FCDAC0
#FFC08F
#ff9b4d
#FF811F
#F56B00
#CC5900
#A34800
#763605
#492203
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FEF7F1Darkest = 950 · #492203Text 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 0.038 55.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.060 55.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.090 55.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.118 55.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.139 55.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.151 55.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.151 55.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.142 55.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.127 55.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.105 55.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.083 55.9);
}

Colors that work with #ff9b4d

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#EDD3C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B6E4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#00A5CC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#803800
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFF1E5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241B14
Dark-mode background
Hover#FF8729
One step down in lightness
Pressed#FF7306
Two steps down
Disabled#E5DDD7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFA661
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 #ff9b4d

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 #803800
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #F06900

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
  • Weight35/100
  • 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#4DB1FF
Analogous left#FF4D58
Analogous right#FFF44D
Split-complement 1#4DFFF4
Split-complement 2#4D58FF
Triadic 1#4DFF9B
Triadic 2#9B4DFF
Tetradic#58FF4D
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°26°

#ff9b4d sits at 26°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red100.0%
Green60.8%
Blue30.2%
R · 0–255
255
0xff
G · 0–255
155
0x9b
B · 0–255
77
0x4d

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta39.2%
Yellow69.8%
Key (black)0.0%

Total ink coverage is 109%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ff9b4d text on a black background

contrast 10.05:1

Card sample

#ff9b4d text on a white background

contrast 2.09:1

Card sample

#ff9b4d on grey

1.91:1

#ff9b4d on its own surface

1.96:1

#ff9b4d on its dark surface

8.09:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ff9b4d;
Background color
Panel with #ff9b4d background
background-color: #ff9b4d;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ff9b4d;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(255, 155, 77, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(255, 155, 77, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ff9b4d;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ff9b4d, #ECFF4D);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ff9b4d, #C0FF4D);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ff9b4d;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ff9b4d;
caret-color: #ff9b4d;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ff9b4d;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFF1E5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ff9b4d;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ff9b4d 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ff9b4d 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(255, 155, 77, 0.5)
rgb(255 155 77 / 50%)
#ff9b4d80
hsl(26 100% 65% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ff9b4d 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ff9b4d1a#FFF5ED
20%#ff9b4d33#FFEBDB
40%#ff9b4d66#FFD7B8
60%#ff9b4d99#FFC394
80%#ff9b4dcc#FFAF71

Gradients from #ff9b4d

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, #FFBD8A, #ff9b4d 45%, #803800);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ff9b4d, #D8FF2E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ff9b4d, #4DB1FF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FFCFA9 0%, #ff9b4d 45%, #803800 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%, #FF8092 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FCFF6C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #803800 0%, transparent 65%), #ff9b4d;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ff9b4d

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.

#ff9b4d 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 10.05:1.

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.

#ff9b4d, answered

What color is #ff9b4d?

#ff9b4d is a light electric orange, closest to Sandy Brown (ΔE2000 3.8). It sits at 26° on the hue wheel with 100% saturation and 65% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ff9b4d?

rgb(255, 155, 77) — 255 red, 155 green and 77 blue out of 255, or 100% / 60.8% / 30.2% by channel.

What is #ff9b4d in HSL and HSV?

hsl(26, 100%, 65%) and hsv(26, 70%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ff9b4d a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4524 and perceived brightness is 73%, so black text on it reaches 10.05:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ff9b4d?

Black. It scores 10.05:1 against #ff9b4d, versus 2.09:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ff9b4d accessible on a white background?

#ff9b4d on white scores 2.09:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #C25500 to reach 4.5:1, or #8F3F00 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ff9b4d?

#4DB1FF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #4DFFF4 and #4D58FF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ff9b4d?

For interface work: #FAF7F4 as the surface, #EDD3C0 for borders, #9B6E4B for secondary text, #00A5CC as an accent and #803800 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FF4D58 and #FFF44D stays calm, while #4DB1FF is the loudest partner.

What is #ff9b4d in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 39%, 70%, 0%). 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 #ff9b4d warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 2 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #FFA867; nudged cooler, #FF5A4D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ff9b4d?

The orange family — its 500 step is #f97316, ΔE2000 9.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ff9b4d as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ff9b4d in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ff9b4d] or text-[#ff9b4d], 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 #ff9b4d with 50% opacity?

rgba(255, 155, 77, 0.5), or #ff9b4d80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FFCDA6; over black, #804E27.

Is #ff9b4d a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FF9966, ΔE2000 6.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ff9b4d 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 #ff9b4d?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FFBD8A, #ff9b4d 45%, #803800). For more colour, a short hue run to #D8FF2E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ff9b4d in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ff9b4d at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.