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Ember Tone Soft
Color detail

Ember Tone Soft

Orange · Hue 20
Metrics
S 34% · L 60%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white2.9:1Failon black7.2:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Ember Tone Soft (#BC8D76) belongs to the orange family — hue 20°, 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-ember-tone-soft: #BC8D76;
  --colorarchive-ember-tone-soft-hsl: hsl(20, 34%, 60%);
  --colorarchive-ember-tone-soft-rgb: rgb(188, 141, 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 #BC8D76.

  • Anthropicaccent
    Anthropic Orange · #D97757
    →
  • Notionaccent
    Default Brown · #9F6B53
    →
  • Instagramprimary
    Sunset Yellow · #F58529
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #BC8D76.

  • Italy (Tuscany)Sienese Ochre
    #C68F58 · Iron oxide earth, Siena region
    →
  • EgyptPapyrus Tan
    #C1A36F · Cyperus papyrus reed paper
    →
  • Turkey (Istanbul)Apple Tea Amber
    #C77D4D · Çay glass tea, ubiquitous Istanbul tradition
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using orange and color in design.

Color History1970s Earth Tone Colors: Harvest Gold, Avocado Green & Burnt Orange PalettesColor TheoryWarm Color Palette Guide: Reds, Oranges, Yellows, and Their NeutralsColor TheoryPastel Color Palette: How to Use Soft Colors Without Losing Contrast

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
Ember Silk Soft
#C9A492 · hsl(20, 34%, 68%)
Darker companion
Ember Radiant Soft
#B27C62 · hsl(20, 34%, 54%)
Complementary counterpoint
Azure Tone Soft
#76A5BC · hsl(200, 34%, 60%)
Analogous lead
Saffron Tone Soft
#BCAA76 · hsl(45, 34%, 60%)
Analogous echo
Crimson Tone Soft
#BC7676 · hsl(0, 34%, 60%)
Triadic +120°
Seafoam Tone Soft
#76BC8D · hsl(140, 34%, 60%)
Triadic +240°
Orchid Tone Soft
#8D76BC · hsl(260, 34%, 60%)
Split-comp +150°
Lagoon Tone Soft
#76BCB0 · hsl(170, 34%, 60%)
Split-comp +210°
Indigo Tone Soft
#7682BC · hsl(230, 34%, 60%)
Export preview
Base: Ember Tone Soft #BC8D76
Lighter companion: Ember Silk Soft #C9A492
Darker companion: Ember Radiant Soft #B27C62
Complementary counterpoint: Azure Tone Soft #76A5BC
Analogous lead: Saffron Tone Soft #BCAA76
Analogous echo: Crimson Tone Soft #BC7676
Triadic +120°: Seafoam Tone Soft #76BC8D
Triadic +240°: Orchid Tone Soft #8D76BC
Split-comp +150°: Lagoon Tone Soft #76BCB0
Split-comp +210°: Indigo Tone Soft #7682BC

Compare

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

vsEmber Silk SoftvsEmber Radiant SoftvsAzure Tone SoftvsSaffron Tone SoftvsCrimson Tone SoftvsSeafoam Tone Soft

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Ember Tone Dust
#B4907E · hsl(20, 26%, 60%)
Nearby match
Ember Radiant Soft
#B27C62 · hsl(20, 34%, 54%)
Nearby match
Vermillion Tone Soft
#BC8876 · hsl(15, 34%, 60%)
Nearby match
Tangerine Tone Soft
#BC9376 · hsl(25, 34%, 60%)
Nearby match
Ember Silk Soft
#C9A492 · hsl(20, 34%, 68%)
Nearby match
Ember Tone Muted
#AB9387 · hsl(20, 18%, 60%)

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
AA5.3:1
Azure Ink Faint
#202527
AA5.3:1
Azure Ink Muted
#1D262A
AA5.3:1
Azure Ink Dust
#1A272D
AA5.2:1
Azure Ink Soft
#182830
AA5.1:1
Azure Ink Clear
#102A37
AA5:1
Azure Ink Vivid
#092D3E

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#ACB07D
Protanopia
#AAA97C
Tritanopia
#BA8182
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Ember Tone Faint#A3968F · hsl(20, 10%, 60%)Ember Tone Muted#AB9387 · hsl(20, 18%, 60%)Ember Tone Dust#B4907E · hsl(20, 26%, 60%)Ember Tone Soft#BC8D76 · hsl(20, 34%, 60%)Ember Tone Clear#D08762 · hsl(20, 54%, 60%)Ember Tone Vivid#E4804E · hsl(20, 74%, 60%)Ember Tone Bright#EF7C43 · hsl(20, 84%, 60%)Ember Tone Pure#F77A3B · hsl(20, 92%, 60%)
More from Orange →
Appears in collections
Harvest GlowSpiced AmberAmber ManuscriptTerracotta FiredDesert Dusk