We're live on Product Hunt!Support us
ColorArchive

A curated color library with 5,446 algorithmically generated colors. Browse, search, save favorites, and export palette tokens — no account required.

CollectionsFamiliesBrandsRegionsJournalNotesGuidesFree ResourcesEmbed widgetConvertColorblindAboutSupportUpdatesiOS app
Ready for static export
Privacy·Terms·Refunds·Cookies·Commerce Disclosure
colorarchive.org · © 2026 ColorArchive
Skip to content
ColorArchive
ProLog in
ArchiveAll ColorsCollections
Vermillion Core Soft
Color detail

Vermillion Core Soft

Orange · Hue 15
Metrics
S 34% · L 48%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white4.6:1AAon black4.6:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Vermillion Core Soft (#A46651) belongs to the orange family — hue 15°, 34% 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-vermillion-core-soft: #A46651;
  --colorarchive-vermillion-core-soft-hsl: hsl(15, 34%, 48%);
  --colorarchive-vermillion-core-soft-rgb: rgb(164, 102, 81);
}

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 #A46651.

  • Notionaccent
    Default Brown · #9F6B53
    →
  • Anthropicaccent
    claude.ai Accent (2024) · #C96442
    →
  • GitHubaccent
    Attention Yellow · #9A6700
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #A46651.

  • Greece (Aegean)Terracotta Tile
    #B85B40 · Fired earthenware roof tiles
    →
  • BrazilSalvador Terracotta
    #B85B40 · Colonial Pelourinho district
    →
  • MoroccoPisé Terracotta
    #C75B3D · Sun-dried earth wall construction
    →

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 PalettesBrand & MarketingColor in Packaging Design: What Works and Why

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
Vermillion Radiant Soft
#B27662 · hsl(15, 34%, 54%)
Darker companion
Vermillion Velvet Soft
#905947 · hsl(15, 34%, 42%)
Complementary counterpoint
Cerulean Core Soft
#5196A4 · hsl(190, 34%, 48%)
Analogous lead
Apricot Core Soft
#A48851 · hsl(40, 34%, 48%)
Analogous echo
Merlot Core Soft
#A4515F · hsl(350, 34%, 48%)
Triadic +120°
Mint Core Soft
#51A45F · hsl(130, 34%, 48%)
Triadic +240°
Violet Core Soft
#5F51A4 · hsl(250, 34%, 48%)
Split-comp +150°
Teal Core Soft
#51A488 · hsl(160, 34%, 48%)
Split-comp +210°
Cobalt Core Soft
#516DA4 · hsl(220, 34%, 48%)
Export preview
Base: Vermillion Core Soft #A46651
Lighter companion: Vermillion Radiant Soft #B27662
Darker companion: Vermillion Velvet Soft #905947
Complementary counterpoint: Cerulean Core Soft #5196A4
Analogous lead: Apricot Core Soft #A48851
Analogous echo: Merlot Core Soft #A4515F
Triadic +120°: Mint Core Soft #51A45F
Triadic +240°: Violet Core Soft #5F51A4
Split-comp +150°: Teal Core Soft #51A488
Split-comp +210°: Cobalt Core Soft #516DA4

Compare

See how Vermillion Core Soft compares side by side with related colors.

vsVermillion Radiant SoftvsVermillion Velvet SoftvsCerulean Core SoftvsApricot Core SoftvsMerlot Core SoftvsMint Core Soft

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Vermillion Core Dust
#9A6A5B · hsl(15, 26%, 48%)
Nearby match
Vermillion Velvet Soft
#905947 · hsl(15, 34%, 42%)
Nearby match
Vermillion Radiant Soft
#B27662 · hsl(15, 34%, 54%)
Nearby match
Ruby Core Soft
#A45F51 · hsl(10, 34%, 48%)
Nearby match
Ember Core Soft
#A46D51 · hsl(20, 34%, 48%)
Nearby match
Vermillion Core Muted
#906F64 · hsl(15, 18%, 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
Aqua Veil Vivid
#F6FEFE
AA4.5:1
Aqua Veil Bright
#F6FEFE
AA4.5:1
Aqua Veil Pure
#F5FFFF
AA4.5:1
Cyan Veil Vivid
#F6FEFD
AA4.5:1
Cyan Veil Bright
#F6FEFD
AA4.5:1
Cyan Veil Pure
#F5FFFE

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#919558
Protanopia
#8D8D57
Tritanopia
#A25B5C
Color of the Day

Like Vermillion Core Soft? Get one like it every morning.

One hand-picked color a day — with its hex, family, and the story behind it.

Get a color every morning

One email per day. Unsubscribe anytime.

Ready to build

Turn these colors into design tokens

Copy the CSS variables and the Tailwind class free, right here. ColorArchive Pro lifts the daily export limit — 10 a day signed in, 3 without an account.

Upgrade to ProFree downloadView collections

Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Vermillion Core Faint#87746E · hsl(15, 10%, 48%)Vermillion Core Muted#906F64 · hsl(15, 18%, 48%)Vermillion Core Dust#9A6A5B · hsl(15, 26%, 48%)Vermillion Core Soft#A46651 · hsl(15, 34%, 48%)Vermillion Core Clear#BC5938 · hsl(15, 54%, 48%)Vermillion Core Vivid#D54D20 · hsl(15, 74%, 48%)Vermillion Core Bright#E14714 · hsl(15, 84%, 48%)Vermillion Core Pure#EB420A · hsl(15, 92%, 48%)
More from Orange →