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orange · warm

#ffaa8b

a light, electric orange · warm · closest name: Light Salmon

Token name suggestion: Meadow Clay

RGB
255, 170, 139
HSL
16°, 100%, 77%
CMYK
0, 33, 46, 0
Luminance
0.5187

#ffaa8b is a light electric orange, 16° on the wheel and 8/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.37:1). As text it scores 1.85:1 on white — use #D83A00 instead. Nearest name is Light Salmon, nearest Tailwind family is orange.

hsl(16 100% 77%)rgb(255 170 139)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ffaa8b is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ffaa8b
Hue
16°
orange
Saturation
100%
electric
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
77%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5187
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
8/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.37:1
Closest name
Light Salmon
ΔE2000 3
Chroma
40.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.814
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
orange
500 · ΔE 16.4
Web-safe
#FF9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue16° of 360°
Saturation100%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ffaa8b.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool8% 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
Red41%
Green55%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#ffaa8b
HEX (8-digit)#ffaa8bff
RGBrgb(255, 170, 139)
RGBArgba(255, 170, 139, 1)
HSLhsl(16, 100%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(16, 45%, 100%)
HWBhwb(16 55% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 33%, 46%, 0%)
LABlab(77.2 27.8 28.8)
LCHlch(77.2 40.0 46.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.814 0.110 40.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(60.28, 51.88, 31.26)
Decimal16755339
Display P3color(display-p3 1.000 0.667 0.545)
Web-safe#FF9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ffaa8b;
background-color: #ffaa8b;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ffaa8b;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ffaa8b] bg-[#ffaa8b]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ffaa8b;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 1.000, green: 0.667, blue: 0.545)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 1.000, green: 0.667, blue: 0.545, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FFAA8B</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFFAA8B)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFFAA8B)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(139, 170, 255)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(255, 170, 139)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(255, 170, 139)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 255, 170, 139)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(1.0000f, 0.6667f, 0.5451f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{255,170,139}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ffaa8b 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ffaa8b 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#802200, #EEDAD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ffaa8b 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: #FEF4F1;
  --brand-100: #FCEAE3;
  --brand-200: #FCD0C0;
  --brand-300: #ffaa8b;
  --brand-400: #FF8457;
  --brand-500: #FF5A1F;
  --brand-600: #F54100;
  --brand-700: #CC3600;
  --brand-800: #A32C00;
  --brand-900: #762305;
  --brand-950: #491603;
  --brand: #ffaa8b;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F4;
  --brand-border: #EDCCC0;
  --brand-hover: #FF9068;
  --brand-pressed: #FF7644;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241814;
    --brand-ink: #EEDAD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FEF4F1',
        100: '#FCEAE3',
        200: '#FCD0C0',
        300: '#ffaa8b',
        400: '#FF8457',
        500: '#FF5A1F',
        600: '#F54100',
        700: '#CC3600',
        800: '#A32C00',
        900: '#762305',
        950: '#491603',
        DEFAULT: '#ffaa8b',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FEF4F1,
  '100': #FCEAE3,
  '200': #FCD0C0,
  '300': #ffaa8b,
  '400': #FF8457,
  '500': #FF5A1F,
  '600': #F54100,
  '700': #CC3600,
  '800': #A32C00,
  '900': #762305,
  '950': #491603,
);
$brand-base: #ffaa8b;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FEF4F1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCEAE3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FCD0C0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ffaa8b", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FF8457", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FF5A1F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F54100", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#CC3600", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A32C00", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#762305", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#491603", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ffaa8b · 11.37:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.85:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.37:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ffaa8b as text scores 1.85:1 on white and 11.37:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #802200 at 5.30:1.

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
#D83A00 · 4.64:1
AA on white−35% L
#D83A00
The quick fox
#A52C00 · 7.09:1
AAA on white−45% L
#A52C00
The quick fox
#ffaa8b · 11.37:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ffaa8b
The quick fox
#ffaa8b · 11.37:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ffaa8b

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #FF5F25 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
#ffaa8b on white: 1.85:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ffaa8b on black: 11.37:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ffaa8b as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ffaa8b.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.85:1AaAa
Slate 501.76:1AaAa
Slate 1001.69:1AaAa
Slate 2001.50:1AaAa
Slate 3001.24:1AaAa
Slate 4001.39:1AaAa
Slate 5002.58:1AaAa
Slate 6004.10:1AaAa
Slate 7005.61:1AaAa
Slate 8007.92:1AaAa
Slate 9009.67:1AaAa
Black11.37:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BFB489
deuteranopia · #D3C68A
tritanopia · #FF9CA2

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. #ffaa8b 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.

#FEF4F1
#FCEAE3
#FCD0C0
#ffaa8b
#FF8457
#FF5A1F
#F54100
#CC3600
#A32C00
#762305
#491603
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FEF4F1Darkest = 950 · #491603Text 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 0.027 40.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.044 40.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.066 40.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.085 40.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.101 40.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.110 40.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.110 40.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.103 40.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.092 40.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.077 40.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.060 40.8);
}

Colors that work with #ffaa8b

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#FAF6F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDCCC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B604B
Captions on the surface
Accent#00C9CC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#802200
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFECE5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241814
Dark-mode background
Hover#FF9068
One step down in lightness
Pressed#FF7644
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F4F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFB9A0
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 #ffaa8b

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 #802200
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #FF5F25

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
  • Weight23/100
  • 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#8BE0FF
Analogous left#FF8BA6
Analogous right#FFE48B
Split-complement 1#8BFFE4
Split-complement 2#8BA6FF
Triadic 1#8BFFAA
Triadic 2#AA8BFF
Tetradic#A6FF8B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°16°

#ffaa8b sits at 16°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red100.0%
Green66.7%
Blue54.5%
R · 0–255
255
0xff
G · 0–255
170
0xaa
B · 0–255
139
0x8b

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta33.3%
Yellow45.5%
Key (black)0.0%

Total ink coverage is 79%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ffaa8b text on a black background

contrast 11.37:1

Card sample

#ffaa8b text on a white background

contrast 1.85:1

Card sample

#ffaa8b on grey

1.69:1

#ffaa8b on its own surface

1.72:1

#ffaa8b on its dark surface

9.36:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ffaa8b;
Background color
Panel with #ffaa8b background
background-color: #ffaa8b;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ffaa8b;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(255, 170, 139, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(255, 170, 139, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ffaa8b;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ffaa8b, #FFF78B);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ffaa8b, #EAFF8B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ffaa8b;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ffaa8b;
caret-color: #ffaa8b;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ffaa8b;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFECE5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ffaa8b;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ffaa8b 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ffaa8b 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, 170, 139, 0.5)
rgb(255 170 139 / 50%)
#ffaa8b80
hsl(16 100% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ffaa8b 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ffaa8b1a#FFF7F3
20%#ffaa8b33#FFEEE8
40%#ffaa8b66#FFDDD1
60%#ffaa8b99#FFCCB9
80%#ffaa8bcc#FFBBA2

Gradients from #ffaa8b

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, #FFD7C8, #ffaa8b 45%, #802200);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ffaa8b, #FDFF6D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ffaa8b, #8BE0FF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FFEDE7 0%, #ffaa8b 45%, #802200 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF6F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #FFBED3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FFF2AA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #802200 0%, transparent 65%), #ffaa8b;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ffaa8b

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.

#ffaa8b 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 11.37:1.

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.

#ffaa8b, answered

What color is #ffaa8b?

#ffaa8b is a light electric orange, closest to Light Salmon (ΔE2000 3). It sits at 16° on the hue wheel with 100% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ffaa8b?

rgb(255, 170, 139) — 255 red, 170 green and 139 blue out of 255, or 100% / 66.7% / 54.5% by channel.

What is #ffaa8b in HSL and HSV?

hsl(16, 100%, 77%) and hsv(16, 45%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ffaa8b a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5187 and perceived brightness is 77%, so black text on it reaches 11.37:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ffaa8b?

Black. It scores 11.37:1 against #ffaa8b, versus 1.85:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ffaa8b accessible on a white background?

#ffaa8b on white scores 1.85:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #D83A00 to reach 4.5:1, or #A52C00 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ffaa8b?

#8BE0FF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #8BFFE4 and #8BA6FF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ffaa8b?

For interface work: #FAF6F4 as the surface, #EDCCC0 for borders, #9B604B for secondary text, #00C9CC as an accent and #802200 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FF8BA6 and #FFE48B stays calm, while #8BE0FF is the loudest partner.

What is #ffaa8b in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 33%, 46%, 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 #ffaa8b warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 8 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #FFB68B; nudged cooler, #FF8B97.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ffaa8b?

The orange family — its 500 step is #f97316, ΔE2000 16.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ffaa8b as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ffaa8b in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ffaa8b] or text-[#ffaa8b], 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 #ffaa8b with 50% opacity?

rgba(255, 170, 139, 0.5), or #ffaa8b80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FFD5C5; over black, #805546.

Is #ffaa8b a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FF9999, ΔE2000 11.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ffaa8b 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 #ffaa8b?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FFD7C8, #ffaa8b 45%, #802200). For more colour, a short hue run to #FDFF6D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ffaa8b in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ffaa8b at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.