#CE6521

sRGB: 206 / 101 / 33

#CE6521 belongs to the orange family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 206 red, 101 green and 33 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 23.6° lands in the orange region. Its 72.4% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 46.9% on a scale from black (0%) to white (100%). Of black and white lettering, black has the clearer light-to-dark separation on this background (5.51:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 206, 101, 33
HSL: 23.58°, 72.38%, 46.86%
HSV / HSB: 23.58°, 83.98%, 80.78%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 50.97%, 83.98%, 19.22%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 30.381, 22.541, 4.190
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 54.596, 37.575, 54.201
WCAG relative luminance: 0.22539
24-bit decimal: 13526305

CMYK uses a profile-free approximation. Printed output depends on the press, ink and paper. Lab uses a D65 white point.

Text contrast

Contrast tells you how clearly lettering separates from #CE6521 in light and dark. The ratio compares relative luminance, a measure of light weighted for human vision. Identical colors give 1:1 and black against white gives 21:1. A ratio of 2.99:1 falls just below the 3:1 AA minimum for large text. Body text needs at least 4.5:1 because its finer strokes are harder to distinguish.

Black text: 5.51:1

Normal text: AA
Large text: AAA

White text: 3.81:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: AA

AA and AAA are WCAG accessibility levels. AAA sets a higher bar: 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Large text begins at 18 pt regular or 14 pt bold. Ratings use the unrounded ratio.

Reference: WCAG text contrast guidance

Palettes & scales

Harmonies rotate the hue. Scales mix the starting color with white, black or middle gray in 20% steps in encoded sRGB.

Complementary

#218ACE sits half a turn (180°) from #CE6521 on the HSL wheel. Keeping saturation and lightness steady while crossing to the opposite hue gives you a contrasting accent. Check text contrast separately before using the pair for lettering.

#CE6521 #218ACE

Analogous

#CE2134 and #CEBB21 sit 30° to either side of #CE6521. The three hues are neighbors on the wheel, so you can change the color of a border or highlight while keeping it close to the original.

#CE2134 #CE6521 #CEBB21

Triadic

#CE6521, #21CE65 and #6521CE are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#CE6521 #21CE65 #6521CE

Split complementary

Start at #CE6521 and look across the wheel. #21CEBB and #2134CE sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#CE6521 #21CEBB #2134CE

Square

Starting with #CE6521, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #34CE21, #218ACE, then #BB21CE. Across the square, #CE6521 pairs with #218ACE, and #34CE21 with #BB21CE.

#CE6521 #34CE21 #218ACE #BB21CE

Tetradic

#CE6521 and #218ACE are opposites, as are #8ACE21 and #6521CE. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#CE6521 #8ACE21 #218ACE #6521CE

Tints

Mixing #CE6521 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #D8844D, keeps 80% of the original. By #F5E0D3, the mixture is 80% white.

#CE6521 #D8844D #E2A37A #EBC1A6 #F5E0D3 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #CE6521 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #A5511A, keeps 80% of the original. By #291407, the mixture is 80% black.

#CE6521 #A5511A #7C3D14 #52280D #291407 #000000

Tones

Mixing #CE6521 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #BE6A34, keeps 80% of the original. By #907B6D, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#CE6521 #BE6A34 #AF7047 #9F755A #907B6D #808080

Copy color codes

Hex, RGB and HSL are three ways to write this screen color. Paste any of them into a CSS color property.

Hex

#CE6521

RGB

rgb(206 101 33)

HSL

hsl(23.584 72.385% 46.863%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #CE6521;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#CE6521 uses 206 red, 101 green and 33 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 80.8%

Green 39.6%

Blue 12.9%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #CE6521 is 0.0% cyan, 51.0% magenta, 84.0% yellow and 19.2% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 51.0%

Yellow 84.0%

Black 19.2%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #CC6622. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #C62 in CSS. For a modern design, keep #CE6521 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CC6633, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #CC6622 Nearest web-safe: #CC6633

Gradient to complement

#CE6521 #B16B3E #94715B #787878 #5B7E94 #3E84B1 #218ACE

Color vision previews

Compare how #CE6521 appears in each simulation. When two chart lines or status indicators become hard to tell apart, a label, shape or line pattern gives readers another way to distinguish them. Individual perception varies.

Protanopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from long-wavelength cones, some reds and greens can look alike, and reds can appear darker.

#837415

Deuteranopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from medium-wavelength cones, some greens can be difficult to distinguish from reds or browns.

#9D8C1E

Tritanopia

A blue–yellow color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from short-wavelength cones, blue can resemble green, and yellow can resemble pink.

#E24D58

Protanomaly (50%)

An altered long-wavelength cone response can make reds appear dimmer and harder to distinguish from greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#A47217

Deuteranomaly (50%)

An altered medium-wavelength cone response can reduce the visible difference between reds and greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#AC801D

Tritanomaly (50%)

An altered short-wavelength cone response can make blue harder to distinguish from green. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#D0623E

Grayscale (luminance)

This design check removes hue and preserves relative luminance so you can compare light and dark areas.

#838383

Partial grayscale (50% blend)

This design check mixes the original color halfway toward its grayscale equivalent in linear light. Use it to see how a design holds up as color fades.

#AE7561

Reference: National Eye Institute: Types of Color Vision Deficiency

Technical reference

CAM16 and CIECAM02 below assume D65 white, an average surround, background Y of 20 against white at 100, and adapting luminance of 4.07 cd/m².

Linear sRGB

These channels scale with emitted light. Use them for lighting calculations and physically meaningful blends.

R 0.61721 G 0.13014 B 0.01521

Display P3

P3 displays can reproduce a wider range of reds and greens. These coordinates reproduce this same sRGB swatch on a color-managed P3 display.

R 0.75525 G 0.41863 B 0.20226

Linear Display P3

These P3 channels are proportional to light, before display encoding.

R 0.53073 G 0.14630 B 0.03381

CIE xyY

The x and y coordinates locate chromaticity on a diagram. Y gives relative luminance on a scale where white is 100.

x 0.532 y 0.395 Y 22.541

CMY

Ideal cyan, magenta and yellow are the complements of the encoded red, green and blue channels.

C % 19.216 M % 60.392 Y % 87.059

Binary RGB

Each eight-bit group represents one channel. Together they store the 24-bit hex color.

11001110 01100101 00100001