Crayola crayon color

Crayola Yellow Orange #FFAE42

Crayola Yellow Orange is shown here as #FFAE42, the commonly published value for the crayon. It is a light soft orange in the orange family. In OKLCH it sits at lightness 0.811, chroma 0.151 and hue 69.9°. The nearest CSS named color is orange (#FFA500), ΔE2000 3.8 away.

Relative luminance
0.5193
OKLCH L · C · h
0.811 · 0.151 · 69.9
Best text
Black 11.38:1
Hue family
Orange

#FFAE42 color codes

HEX
#FFAE42
RGB
rgb(255, 174, 66)
HSL
hsl(34, 100%, 63%)
OKLCH
oklch(0.811 0.151 69.9)
OKLab
oklab(0.811 0.052 0.142)
CIELAB (D65)
L* 77.24, a* 20.65, b* 64.46
XYZ (D65)
X 57.36, Y 51.93, Z 12.16
CMYK (naive)
cmyk(0%, 32%, 74%, 0%)

CIELAB and XYZ use the D65 white point; CSS lab() uses D50, so paste the OKLCH or HEX value into stylesheets. CMYK here is a plain formula with no press profile.

Crayola is a trademark of Crayola LLC, which this site is not affiliated with. The value is the commonly published sRGB rendering of the crayon, not a Crayola specification.

Legibility

Contrast: is #FFAE42 accessible?

Black text on it reaches 11.38:1, passing AAA. White text fails at 1.84:1.

WCAG 2 gives the same ratio whichever color is the text; APCA does not, so its Lc changes sign and size with polarity.

Open the Contrast System
  • Black text on it

    11.38:1

    • AA passes
    • AA large passes
    • AAA passes
    • APCA Lc +69
  • White text on it

    1.84:1

    • AA fails
    • AA large fails
    • AAA fails
    • APCA Lc −38
  • As text on black

    11.38:1

    • AA passes
    • AA large passes
    • AAA passes
    • APCA Lc −68
  • As text on white

    1.84:1

    • AA fails
    • AA large fails
    • AAA fails
    • APCA Lc +34

Nearest versions that pass 4.5:1

  • For text on white

    #A56800 4.58:1

    Darkening its OKLCH lightness from 0.81 to 0.57 reaches 4.58:1 on white, keeping the hue.

  • For text on black

    #FFAE42 11.38:1

    It already reaches 11.38:1 on black, so no change is needed.

Checking another pair? Use the Contrast Checker.

Studio

Adjust #FFAE42 live

Move lightness, chroma and hue in OKLCH, or drag on the map. The map is every lightness and chroma at the current hue: sRGB inside the solid area, Display P3 out to the dashed line.

The studio needs JavaScript.

Scale

Shades and tints of #FFAE42

Eleven OKLCH lightness steps at this hue, each with its contrast against white and black. #FFAE42 sits at step 300.

  1. 50#FFF3E6
    White
    1.09
    Black
    19.21
  2. 100#FFE7CC
    White
    1.19
    Black
    17.55
  3. 200#FFCD95
    White
    1.45
    Black
    14.41
  4. 300This color#FFAE42
    White
    1.84
    Black
    11.38
  5. 400#DB8E17
    White
    2.66
    Black
    7.89
  6. 500#B97500
    White
    3.74
    Black
    5.60
  7. 600#996000
    White
    5.21
    Black
    4.02
  8. 700#7B4C00
    White
    7.30
    Black
    2.87
  9. 800#5A3700
    White
    10.59
    Black
    1.98
  10. 900#3C2200
    White
    14.77
    Black
    1.42
  11. 950#221200
    White
    18.18
    Black
    1.15

Under each step, white and black text on it; a bold figure passes 4.5:1.

Gamut

How vivid #FFAE42 can get

At its lightness and hue, sRGB reaches OKLCH chroma 0.151; #FFAE42 uses 100% of it. Display P3, which many recent phones and laptops show, reaches 0.190 there: 26% more.

0.00.20.40.60.80.20.40.60.8 460480500520540560580600620
  • sRGB
  • Display P3
  • Rec. 2020
  • Dominant wavelength
OKLCH chroma
0.151
sRGB edge
0.151
Display P3 edge
0.190
Rec. 2020 edge
0.205
Dominant wavelength
583 nm
Excitation purity
72%
Chromaticity
x 0.4723, y 0.4276
  • This color#FFAE42
  • Most vivid in sRGB#FFAE42
  • Most vivid in Display P3oklch(0.811 0.190 69.9)

On a screen without Display P3 the last tile shows the sRGB edge instead.

Use the wider color where screens show it
.accent {
  color: #ffae42;
}
@media (color-gamut: p3) {
  .accent { color: color(display-p3 1 0.6723 0.1541); }
}

Mixing

Mixing #FFAE42

Each row is the same mix worked out in a different space, with the halfway color at its end. sRGB, which older CSS gradients use, can sag gray or dark in the middle; OKLab keeps the lightness steps even; OKLCH holds chroma and hue as it goes.

White #FFFFFF

  • sRGB50%#FFD7A1
  • OKLab50%#FFD8A9
  • OKLCH50%#FFD8AD

Black #000000

  • sRGB50%#805721
  • OKLab50%#634114
  • OKLCH50%#634114

Its complement #90C7FF

  • sRGB50%#C8BBA1
  • OKLab50%#CDBFAF
  • OKLCH50%#72DAA5
In CSS
/* A gradient and a mix, worked out in OKLCH */
background: linear-gradient(in oklch, #ffae42, white);
color: color-mix(in oklch, #ffae42 50%, white);

In use

#FFAE42 in an interface

A button, a link, a heading, a focused field, an icon and a chart line in this color, on a light page and a dark one. Each check is a WCAG 2 contrast minimum: 1.4.3 for text, 1.4.11 for the rest.

Light page

  • Button labelText, 4.5:111.38:1 Passes
  • Link and body-size textText, 4.5:11.84:1 Fails
  • Large headingLarge text, 3:11.84:1 Fails
  • Icons, borders and focus ringsNon-text, 3:11.84:1 Fails

For text on this page, the nearest shade that passes is #A56800 4.58:1

Dark page

  • Button labelText, 4.5:111.38:1 Passes
  • Link and body-size textText, 4.5:110.15:1 Passes
  • Large headingLarge text, 3:110.15:1 Passes
  • Icons, borders and focus ringsNon-text, 3:110.15:1 Passes

Color vision

How #FFAE42 looks with color blindness

Tritanopia changes it most, ΔE2000 28.8; protanopia changes it least, 16.8.

Simulated with Machado et al. (2009) at full severity, in linear light.

Simulate a whole page What each type sees
  • Protanopia

    No working red (long-wavelength) cones

    #C9B333 ΔE2000 16.8

    Distinct

    Reads as light soft amber

  • Deuteranopia

    No working green (medium-wavelength) cones

    #DCC645 ΔE2000 17.1

    Distinct

    Reads as pale soft amber

  • Tritanopia

    No working blue (short-wavelength) cones

    #FF9A98 ΔE2000 28.8

    Distinct

    Reads as light soft red

  • Achromatopsia

    No cone color vision; lightness only

    #BFBFBF ΔE2000 26.9

    Distinct

    Reads as light gray

Pairing check

Checked against its complement, #90C7FF. Their lightness contrast is only 1.03:1, so where hue collapses, add a label, icon or pattern.

VisionThe pairΔE2000Verdict
Normal vision#FFAE42 · #90C7FF46.4Stays distinct
Protanopia#C9B333 · #B1C8FF49.0Stays distinct
Deuteranopia#DCC645 · #A3BDFE51.7Stays distinct
Tritanopia#FF9A98 · #64D4DA48.6Stays distinct
Achromatopsia#BFBFBF · #C2C2C20.8Easily confused

Harmony

Color harmonies for #FFAE42

Its complement is #90C7FF, a light muted blue, on the cool side of the wheel.

Hue rotations in OKLCH, mapped into sRGB by trimming chroma so hue and lightness stay put.

Open the Harmony Studio
  • Base#FFAE42
  • Complement#90C7FF

Complementary

Open in Harmony Studio
  • −30°#FFA98B
  • Base#FFAE42
  • +30°#D9C338
  • Base#FFAE42
  • +120°#00DED5
  • +240°#DAAAFF
  • Base#FFAE42
  • +150°#2ED5FF
  • +210°#B5BBFF

Split-complementary

Open in Harmony Studio

Code

Design tokens

Ready-to-paste tokens in six formats. Rename them to fit your system.

CSS custom property

:root {
  --color-crayola-yellow-orange: #ffae42;
}

Tailwind config

// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        'crayola-yellow-orange': '#ffae42',
      },
    },
  },
};

Tailwind v4 theme

/* app.css — Tailwind CSS v4 */
@import "tailwindcss";

@theme {
  --color-crayola-yellow-orange: oklch(0.811 0.151 69.9);
}

Design token (W3C DTCG)

{
  "color": {
    "crayola-yellow-orange": {
      "$type": "color",
      "$value": {
        "colorSpace": "srgb",
        "components": [1, 0.6824, 0.2588],
        "hex": "#ffae42"
      },
      "$description": "Crayola Yellow Orange"
    }
  }
}

SwiftUI color

import SwiftUI

enum Palette {
    static let crayolaYellowOrange = Color(.sRGB, red: 1.000, green: 0.682, blue: 0.259, opacity: 1)
}

Jetpack Compose color

import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color

object Palette {
    val CrayolaYellowOrange = Color(0xFFFFAE42)
}

Matches

The nearest match in each system

The closest CSS name, Tailwind shade, RAL Classic paint and Crayola crayon by ΔE2000; under 2 is hard to tell apart side by side. RAL and Crayola values approximate physical colors.

Tools

Open #FFAE42 in the tools

Each opens over this page. More colors live in the Color Library, and every color page is listed on the hub.