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Tangerine Silk Clear
Color detail

Tangerine Silk Clear

Orange · Hue 25
Hex
#D9A681
RGB
rgb(217, 166, 129)
HSL
hsl(25, 54%, 68%)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 24%, 41%, 15%)
Metrics
S 54% · L 68%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
2.2:1Fail
on black
9.7:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Tangerine Silk Clear (#D9A681) belongs to the orange family — hue 25°, 54% saturation, 68% 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-tangerine-silk-clear: #D9A681;
  --colorarchive-tangerine-silk-clear-hsl: hsl(25, 54%, 68%);
  --colorarchive-tangerine-silk-clear-rgb: rgb(217, 166, 129);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

CheerfulApproachableWarm
Common in

Children's Products · Wellness · Social Apps

Pairs well with

Soft teal for playful contrast, warm white for minimalism

Design tip

Perfect for onboarding screens and friendly UI. Light oranges feel welcoming without the intensity of pure orange.

Cultural context ▶

Peach and apricot tones are associated with friendliness and optimism. In many Asian cultures, orange symbolizes happiness.

Color Origins

Orange family

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

Heritage

Orange is unusual: in English the color was named after the fruit, not the other way around — before the fruit reached Europe in 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 that didn't fade or poison.

Across cultures

In Hindu and Buddhist tradition saffron orange marks renunciation — the robe of monks across Theravada and Tibetan lineages. 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 used orange-and-white spines as a class signal — fiction was always orange. Nickelodeon, Fanta, and easyJet all chose orange for the same reason: it reads playful and consumer-friendly while staying outside the more crowded red and yellow lanes. NASA flight suits use International Orange specifically because nothing in nature matches it, making astronauts maximally visible against any background.

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 the most common 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 most successful brand colors live.

Lightness band: At mid-lightness the hue carries its full character. This is the band where most 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 the most 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 #D9A681.

  • Slackaccent
    Slack Yellow · #ECB22E
    →
  • Instagramprimary
    Sunset Yellow · #F58529
    →
  • Patagoniasecondary
    Sunset Yellow · #F4D54F
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #D9A681.

  • ScandinaviaFaded Rose
    #D3A6A0 · Vintage Swedish wallpaper
    →
  • EgyptPapyrus Tan
    #C1A36F · Cyperus papyrus reed paper
    →
  • IcelandMidnight Sun Pink
    #F2AEB5 · Horizon light, June
    →

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
Tangerine Bloom Clear
#E3BCA1 · hsl(25, 54%, 76%)
Darker companion
Tangerine Tone Clear
#D09062 · hsl(25, 54%, 60%)
Complementary counterpoint
Steel Silk Clear
#81B5D9 · hsl(205, 54%, 68%)
Analogous lead
Amber Silk Clear
#D9CB81 · hsl(50, 54%, 68%)
Analogous echo
Crimson Silk Clear
#D98181 · hsl(0, 54%, 68%)
Triadic +120°
Celadon Silk Clear
#81D9A6 · hsl(145, 54%, 68%)
Triadic +240°
Orchid Silk Clear
#9F81D9 · hsl(260, 54%, 68%)
Split-comp +150°
Cyan Silk Clear
#81D9D2 · hsl(175, 54%, 68%)
Split-comp +210°
Indigo Silk Clear
#8190D9 · hsl(230, 54%, 68%)
Export preview
Base: Tangerine Silk Clear #D9A681
Lighter companion: Tangerine Bloom Clear #E3BCA1
Darker companion: Tangerine Tone Clear #D09062
Complementary counterpoint: Steel Silk Clear #81B5D9
Analogous lead: Amber Silk Clear #D9CB81
Analogous echo: Crimson Silk Clear #D98181
Triadic +120°: Celadon Silk Clear #81D9A6
Triadic +240°: Orchid Silk Clear #9F81D9
Split-comp +150°: Cyan Silk Clear #81D9D2
Split-comp +210°: Indigo Silk Clear #8190D9

Compare

See how Tangerine Silk Clear compares side by side with related colors.

vsTangerine Bloom ClearvsTangerine Tone ClearvsSteel Silk ClearvsAmber Silk ClearvsCrimson Silk ClearvsCeladon Silk Clear

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Ember Silk Clear
#D99F81 · hsl(20, 54%, 68%)
Nearby match
Coral Silk Clear
#D9AD81 · hsl(30, 54%, 68%)
Nearby match
Tangerine Tone Clear
#D09062 · hsl(25, 54%, 60%)
Nearby match
Tangerine Bloom Clear
#E3BCA1 · hsl(25, 54%, 76%)
Nearby match
Tangerine Silk Soft
#C9A992 · hsl(25, 34%, 68%)
Nearby match
Tangerine Silk Vivid
#EAA371 · hsl(25, 74%, 68%)

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
AAA7.2:1
Steel Ink Faint
#202427
AAA7.2:1
Steel Ink Muted
#1D252A
AAA7.2:1
Steel Ink Dust
#1A252D
AAA7.2:1
Steel Ink Soft
#182630
AAA7.1:1
Steel Ink Clear
#102737
AAA7:1
Steel Ink Vivid
#09283E

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#C8CB8D
Protanopia
#C5C58B
Tritanopia
#D79394
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