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Apricot Core Clear
Color detail

Apricot Core Clear

Orange · Hue 40
Metrics
S 54% · L 48%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white2.9:1Failon black7.2:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Apricot Core Clear (#BC9038) belongs to the orange family — hue 40°, 54% saturation, 48% lightness. Copy the hex, RGB, or HSL value above, or paste the CSS custom property below into your stylesheet to reference this color directly.

CSS
:root {
  --colorarchive-apricot-core-clear: #BC9038;
  --colorarchive-apricot-core-clear-hsl: hsl(40, 54%, 48%);
  --colorarchive-apricot-core-clear-rgb: rgb(188, 144, 56);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Design Context

CreativeAdventurousConfident
Common in

Technology · Sports · Travel

Pairs well with

Deep blue for trust + energy balance, dark gray for modern tech aesthetics

Design tip

Use for creative tool brands and action-oriented interfaces. Orange buttons consistently outperform other colors in A/B tests for engagement.

Cultural context ▶

Orange represents creativity and adventure. In the Netherlands, it's the national color. In Hinduism, it symbolizes purity.

Color Origins

Orange family

Citrus, fire, and a color named after a fruit.

Heritage

Orange is unusual: in English the color was named after the fruit, not the other way around — the fruit's name arrived in the 14th century, but until the 16th century this hue was simply 'yellow-red'. Earlier pigments included realgar (toxic), saffron (priceless), and orpiment. Cadmium orange, introduced in the 19th century, gave painters from the Impressionists onward a stable, brilliant orange — though cadmium is itself toxic.

Across cultures

In Hindu and Buddhist tradition saffron orange marks renunciation — the robe of Hindu sannyasis and of Theravada monks. The Dutch House of Orange-Nassau gave the Netherlands a national identity color, still worn at football matches and on King's Day. In Ireland, orange is the Protestant counterpart to green's Catholic association — the country's flag literally encodes the divide. Halloween's orange-and-black is a 20th-century American invention that has since gone global.

In the wild

Hermès orange is a brand asset traceable to a 1942 wartime cardboard shortage. Penguin Books color-coded its early paperbacks by genre — orange meant general fiction. Nickelodeon, Fanta, and easyJet all use orange, which reads playful and consumer-friendly while staying outside the more crowded red and yellow lanes. NASA's shuttle-era launch-and-entry suits were International Orange so rescue crews could spot astronauts after a bailout over the ocean.

How it reads

Orange is warm without the urgency of red. It signals appetite (used heavily in fast food), creativity, and approachability. At low saturation it becomes terracotta, rust, or apricot — earthy palettes for hospitality and craft. At high saturation it reads as a sport, energy drink, or warning hazard. Orange and teal is a familiar modern film-grade pairing; the contrast between warm skin tones and cool shadows is engineered for it.

This particular tone

A confident mid-tone — this is the workhorse register of the hue, and the band where many brand colors live.

Lightness band: At mid-lightness the hue carries its full character. This is the band where many identity colors live: bright enough to be distinctive at small sizes, deep enough to sit cleanly on a white canvas.

Saturation band: The clear, mid-saturation register is a common identity sweet spot — saturated enough to register as a 'real' color, restrained enough not to fight typography or photography placed over it.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #BC9038.

  • Anthropicaccent
    Anthropic Orange · #D97757
    →
  • Instagramprimary
    Sunset Yellow · #F58529
    →
  • Cloudflareprimary
    Cloudflare Orange · #F38020
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #BC9038.

  • Italy (Tuscany)Sienese Ochre
    #C68F58 · Iron oxide earth, Siena region
    →
  • Turkey (Istanbul)Apple Tea Amber
    #C77D4D · Çay glass tea, ubiquitous Istanbul tradition
    →
  • VietnamTurmeric
    #D89B2E · Curcuma longa root dye
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using orange and color in design.

Color TheoryWarm Color Palette Guide: Reds, Oranges, Yellows, and Their NeutralsColor History1970s Earth Tone Colors: Harvest Gold, Avocado Green & Burnt Orange PalettesUI DesignColor in Video Streaming Interfaces: Dark-First, Thumbnails, and Hierarchy

Tonal strip

All lightness levels at this hue and saturation. Click any to navigate.

Palette moves

Instead of stopping at one swatch, use nearby, opposite, and tonal neighbors to branch into a broader palette.

Lighter companion
Apricot Radiant Clear
#C99F4A · hsl(40, 54%, 54%)
Darker companion
Apricot Velvet Clear
#A57E31 · hsl(40, 54%, 42%)
Complementary counterpoint
Cobalt Core Clear
#3864BC · hsl(220, 54%, 48%)
Analogous lead
Citrine Core Clear
#BCBC38 · hsl(60, 54%, 48%)
Analogous echo
Vermillion Core Clear
#BC5938 · hsl(15, 54%, 48%)
Triadic +120°
Teal Core Clear
#38BC90 · hsl(160, 54%, 48%)
Triadic +240°
Mulberry Core Clear
#9038BC · hsl(280, 54%, 48%)
Split-comp +150°
Cerulean Core Clear
#38A6BC · hsl(190, 54%, 48%)
Split-comp +210°
Violet Core Clear
#4E38BC · hsl(250, 54%, 48%)
Export preview
Base: Apricot Core Clear #BC9038
Lighter companion: Apricot Radiant Clear #C99F4A
Darker companion: Apricot Velvet Clear #A57E31
Complementary counterpoint: Cobalt Core Clear #3864BC
Analogous lead: Citrine Core Clear #BCBC38
Analogous echo: Vermillion Core Clear #BC5938
Triadic +120°: Teal Core Clear #38BC90
Triadic +240°: Mulberry Core Clear #9038BC
Split-comp +150°: Cerulean Core Clear #38A6BC
Split-comp +210°: Violet Core Clear #4E38BC

Compare

See how Apricot Core Clear compares side by side with related colors.

vsApricot Radiant ClearvsApricot Velvet ClearvsCobalt Core ClearvsCitrine Core ClearvsVermillion Core ClearvsTeal Core Clear

Nearest neighbors

The closest archive matches by hue, saturation, and lightness.

Search by hex
Nearby match
Apricot Velvet Clear
#A57E31 · hsl(40, 54%, 42%)
Nearby match
Apricot Radiant Clear
#C99F4A · hsl(40, 54%, 54%)
Nearby match
Saffron Core Clear
#BC9B38 · hsl(45, 54%, 48%)
Nearby match
Apricot Tone Clear
#D0AB62 · hsl(40, 54%, 60%)
Nearby match
Apricot Core Soft
#A48851 · hsl(40, 34%, 48%)
Nearby match
Apricot Core Vivid
#D59920 · hsl(40, 74%, 48%)

Accessible pairings

Archive colors that meet WCAG contrast standards when paired with this color. Use as text-on-background or background-on-text.

Contrast checker
AA4.5:1
Cobalt Nocturne Faint
#2E3138
AA4.5:1
Cobalt Nocturne Muted
#2A303C
AA4.6:1
Cobalt Nocturne Dust
#262F40
AA4.7:1
Cobalt Nocturne Soft
#222D44
AA4.9:1
Cobalt Nocturne Clear
#172A4F
AA5:1
Cobalt Nocturne Vivid
#0D2659

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#ADB05E
Protanopia
#ABAA58
Tritanopia
#BA6A6D
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Taupe Gray Core#817C74 · hsl(40, 5%, 48%)Apricot Core Faint#877E6E · hsl(40, 10%, 48%)Apricot Core Muted#908264 · hsl(40, 18%, 48%)Apricot Core Dust#9A855B · hsl(40, 26%, 48%)Apricot Core Soft#A48851 · hsl(40, 34%, 48%)Apricot Core Clear#BC9038 · hsl(40, 54%, 48%)Apricot Core Vivid#D59920 · hsl(40, 74%, 48%)Apricot Core Bright#E19D14 · hsl(40, 84%, 48%)Apricot Core Pure#EBA00A · hsl(40, 92%, 48%)
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