Orange

Tawny

#CD5700
HEX
#CD5700
RGB
rgb(205, 87, 0)
HSL
hsl(25, 100%, 40%)

Orange family

About Tawny

Tawny (#CD5700) is a dark, vivid orange. Orange mixes red's energy with yellow's cheer, producing a warm, friendly hue that feels vibrant without being as intense as pure red.

Psychology

Orange radiates enthusiasm, creativity and warmth. It is an optimistic, sociable color that stimulates activity and appetite, yet reads as more approachable and playful than red.

Applications

Orange is a favorite for food and beverage brands, sports, adventure and creative industries. It also makes an excellent accent for CTAs, highlights and anything that should feel energetic but friendly.

History

The color takes its name from the fruit, which arrived in Europe via trade routes in the Middle Ages; before that, the hue was simply described as a yellow-red. Synthetic chrome orange in the 19th century made vivid oranges widely available.

Meaning

Orange is linked to warmth, harvest, vitality and affordability. In Western cultures it signals energy and value, while in others it carries sacred or spiritual significance, such as saffron robes in South Asia.

Why use this color

Choose orange when you want a design to feel warm, optimistic and energetic but not aggressive. It works well for friendly CTAs, food brands and creative or outdoor products.

Accessibility

Against white, #CD5700 has a 4.2:1 contrast ratio; against black it is 5.0:1. Black text on #CD5700 meets WCAG AA for normal text.

Fun facts

  • The fruit gave the color its name; in English the fruit word predates the color word.
  • Orange is highly visible, which is why safety vests, life rafts and traffic cones use it.
  • Orange is a common team color in sports because it stands out in a crowd and on camera.

Shades, tints & tones

Variations

Ten lightness steps plus Tawny's tints, shades and tones — every swatch copies its hex on click.

Lightness scale

Tints (toward white)

Shades (toward black)

Tones (toward gray)

Color theory

Color harmonies

Proven schemes built around Tawny. Each swatch is one click from your clipboard.

Complementary

#cc5500#0077cc

Analogous

#cc0011#cc5500#ccbb00

Triadic

#cc5500#00cc55#5500cc

Split-complementary

#cc5500#00ccbb#0011cc

Tetradic

#cc5500#11cc00#0077cc#bb00cc

Monochromatic

#4d2000#a34400#ff6a00#ffa05c#ffd2b3

Accessibility

Blindness simulator

See how Tawny is perceived with common types of color vision deficiency.

#CD5700

Normal vision

Standard trichromatic vision, shown for reference.

#7a6a00

Protanopia

Red-blind. Reds look darker and can be confused with greens and browns.

#968500

Deuteranopia

Green-blind. Greens look muted and can be confused with reds and browns.

#e2394a

Tritanopia

Blue-blind. Blues look greenish and yellows fade toward pink.

#7b7b7b

Achromatopsia

Complete color blindness. Everything is seen in shades of gray.

WCAG

Contrast checker

How Tawny performs against black and white text, with WCAG AA and AAA ratings.

AaWhite on Tawny
4.23:1
AAAAAAA LargeAAA Large
AaBlack on Tawny
4.96:1
AAAAAAA LargeAAA Large

The ratio is identical whether Tawny is used as the text or the background.

Open the full checker

Ready to use

Color palettes

Curated palettes that put Tawny to work, with copy-all support for each.

Complementary

Roughly 180° across the wheel from #CD5700 (hue 25°) sits #0077cc, held together by the #f69855 tint and the neutrals #f4f4f5 and #18181b.

Analogous

#CD5700 with its two closest neighbours, #cc0011 and #ccbb00, for a 100%-saturation run that stays inside one family; #f69855 and #4d2000 add depth without breaking it.

Triadic

#CD5700 plus #00cc55 and #5500cc, a triangle that sits 120° apart at every corner, with #f4f4f5 and #18181b doing the quiet work underneath.

Monochromatic

One hue at 5 lightness steps: #fff3eb through #1f0d00, starting from #CD5700 at 40% lightness.

Tawny (#CD5700) is a orange-family color. Use its values, variations, harmonies and palettes above to put it to work in your next design.

Frequently asked questions

Tawny is #CD5700 — rgb(205, 87, 0) / hsl(25, 100%, 40%). Tawny (#CD5700) is a dark, vivid orange. Orange mixes red's energy with yellow's cheer, producing a warm, friendly hue that feels vibrant without being as intense as pure red.

Good to know

  • Tawny is one of 609 named colors in the library.
  • Its complementary hue sits 180° away on the color wheel: #0077cc.

More color tools

Next steps for Tawny: each of these picks the value up where this page leaves off, so nothing gets retyped or re-uploaded.