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Apricot Tone Soft
Color detail

Apricot Tone Soft

Orange · Hue 40
Metrics
S 34% · L 60%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white2.4:1Failon black8.8:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Apricot Tone Soft (#BCA576) belongs to the orange family — hue 40°, 34% saturation, 60% 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-tone-soft: #BCA576;
  --colorarchive-apricot-tone-soft-hsl: hsl(40, 34%, 60%);
  --colorarchive-apricot-tone-soft-rgb: rgb(188, 165, 118);
}

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 #BCA576.

  • Anthropicneutral
    Mid Gray · #B0AEA5
    →
  • Slackaccent
    Slack Yellow · #ECB22E
    →
  • Instagramprimary
    Sunset Yellow · #F58529
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #BCA576.

  • EgyptPapyrus Tan
    #C1A36F · Cyperus papyrus reed paper
    →
  • IcelandLichen Green
    #9CA577 · Cetraria islandica
    →
  • ScandinaviaFaded Rose
    #D3A6A0 · Vintage Swedish wallpaper
    →

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 PalettesAccessibilityWCAG Color Accessibility Guide: Contrast Ratios, Color-Blind Design, and What You Actually Need to Know

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 Silk Soft
#C9B792 · hsl(40, 34%, 68%)
Darker companion
Apricot Radiant Soft
#B29762 · hsl(40, 34%, 54%)
Complementary counterpoint
Cobalt Tone Soft
#768DBC · hsl(220, 34%, 60%)
Analogous lead
Citrine Tone Soft
#BCBC76 · hsl(60, 34%, 60%)
Analogous echo
Vermillion Tone Soft
#BC8876 · hsl(15, 34%, 60%)
Triadic +120°
Teal Tone Soft
#76BCA5 · hsl(160, 34%, 60%)
Triadic +240°
Mulberry Tone Soft
#A576BC · hsl(280, 34%, 60%)
Split-comp +150°
Cerulean Tone Soft
#76B0BC · hsl(190, 34%, 60%)
Split-comp +210°
Violet Tone Soft
#8276BC · hsl(250, 34%, 60%)
Export preview
Base: Apricot Tone Soft #BCA576
Lighter companion: Apricot Silk Soft #C9B792
Darker companion: Apricot Radiant Soft #B29762
Complementary counterpoint: Cobalt Tone Soft #768DBC
Analogous lead: Citrine Tone Soft #BCBC76
Analogous echo: Vermillion Tone Soft #BC8876
Triadic +120°: Teal Tone Soft #76BCA5
Triadic +240°: Mulberry Tone Soft #A576BC
Split-comp +150°: Cerulean Tone Soft #76B0BC
Split-comp +210°: Violet Tone Soft #8276BC

Compare

See how Apricot Tone Soft compares side by side with related colors.

vsApricot Silk SoftvsApricot Radiant SoftvsCobalt Tone SoftvsCitrine Tone SoftvsVermillion Tone SoftvsTeal Tone Soft

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Apricot Tone Dust
#B4A27E · hsl(40, 26%, 60%)
Nearby match
Apricot Radiant Soft
#B29762 · hsl(40, 34%, 54%)
Nearby match
Saffron Tone Soft
#BCAA76 · hsl(45, 34%, 60%)
Nearby match
Apricot Silk Soft
#C9B792 · hsl(40, 34%, 68%)
Nearby match
Apricot Tone Muted
#AB9F87 · hsl(40, 18%, 60%)
Nearby match
Apricot Radiant Dust
#A8946B · hsl(40, 26%, 54%)

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
AAA7:1
Cobalt Ink Clear
#101D37
AAA7.1:1
Cobalt Ink Vivid
#091B3E
AAA7.1:1
Cobalt Ink Bright
#061A42
AAA7.1:1
Cobalt Ink Pure
#031945
AAA7:1
Indigo Ink Soft
#181C30
AAA7.3:1
Indigo Ink Clear
#101737

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#B4B586
Protanopia
#B3B283
Tritanopia
#BB8D8F
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Taupe Gray Tone#9E9B94 · hsl(40, 5%, 60%)Apricot Tone Faint#A39C8F · hsl(40, 10%, 60%)Apricot Tone Muted#AB9F87 · hsl(40, 18%, 60%)Apricot Tone Dust#B4A27E · hsl(40, 26%, 60%)Apricot Tone Soft#BCA576 · hsl(40, 34%, 60%)Apricot Tone Clear#D0AB62 · hsl(40, 54%, 60%)Apricot Tone Vivid#E4B24E · hsl(40, 74%, 60%)Apricot Tone Bright#EFB643 · hsl(40, 84%, 60%)Apricot Tone Pure#F7B83B · hsl(40, 92%, 60%)
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