What is the hex code for Tawny?

The hex code for Tawny is #CD5700.

What are the RGB values for Tawny?

The RGB values for Tawny are rgb(205, 87, 0).

Is Tawny accessible on white backgrounds?

Tawny has a contrast ratio of 4.23:1 on white, which does not pass WCAG AA (requires 4.5:1).

Tawny (#CD5700) — Hex, RGB, HSL & WCAG Scores

Tints & Shades

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Scale from white (50) through Tawny (500) to black (900), interpolated in Lab color space.

Color Values

HEX: #CD5700
RGB: rgb(205, 87, 0)
HSL: hsl(25, 100%, 40%)
OKLCH: oklch(0.599 0.168 46)
CMYK: cmyk(0%, 58%, 100%, 20%)

Luminance:0.1980

CSS var:--color-tawny

Tailwind:bg-[#CD5700]

Accessibility

Score: 39/100

On White (#FFF)

4.23:1

AA Large

On Black (#000)

4.96:1

On Light Gray (#F5F5F5)

3.88:1

AA Large

Best text color on this background:

black — 4.96:1

Open in Contrast Checker →

Design Applications

Background

background-color: #CD5700

Text Color

color: #CD5700

bg-[#CD5700] text-[#000000]

Accent border card component

border-left: 4px solid #CD5700

Color Harmonies

Complementary

Celestial Blue

#4997D0

Triadic

Sea Green

#2E8B57

Royal Purple

#7851A9

Split-Complementary

Deep Teal

#004D47

Liberty Purple

#545AA7

Analogous

Candy Pink

#E4717A

Poppy

#E35335

Platinum

#E5E4E2

Dark Khaki

#BDB76B

Similar Colors

Burnt Orange

#CC5500

Cinnamon Orange

#D2691E

Cinnamon

#D2691E

Persimmon

#EC5800

Harvest Orange

#DA6A00

Flame

#E25822

Color Meaning & Psychology

Brown is the color of earth, wood, and food — the most organic color in the spectrum. It conveys honesty, dependability, and unpretentiousness. Unlike the engineered precision of black, brown's warmth feels handmade and authentic. Coffee culture has made brown aspirational in ways it never was in the 20th century; the smell and warmth of a coffee shop is inseparable from its brown palette. Darker, richer browns signal luxury craft — leather, walnut, dark chocolate. Lighter sandy browns feel outdoor, regional, and approachable. Brown's weakness is its association with dirt and decay in medical contexts, where it is largely avoided. Its deeper, richer tone gives it gravitas and sophistication, making it well-suited for primary brand colors, typography, and contexts where authority matters.

Industry Usage

Common contexts and industries where Tawny is applied in professional design.

Coffee shops and specialty beverage brands
Chocolate and premium confectionery
Outdoor gear and hiking equipment
Furniture and home furnishing brands
Craft beer and artisanal food products
Leather goods and accessories
Organic and natural food products
Heritage and classic whiskey/spirits brands

Accessibility Considerations

Normal Text

Fails AA

4.5:1 minimum required

Large Text

Passes AA Large

3:1 minimum required

UI Components

Meets 1.4.11

3:1 for non-text UI

Tawny is a light color. Use black (#000000) text on top of it for maximum readability (4.96:1). Avoid white text on this background.

Test this color in the Contrast Checker →·WCAG Contrast Guide →

CSS & Code Examples

Background

background-color: #CD5700;

Text

color: #CD5700;

Border

border: 2px solid #CD5700;

Box Shadow

box-shadow: 0 4px 20px #CD570040;

Gradient

background: linear-gradient(135deg, #CD5700, #ff8639);

Tailwind-style

--color-tawny: #CD5700;

Tailwind CSS Utilities

Use arbitrary value syntax in Tailwind CSS to apply Tawny without a custom config.

Background

bg-[#CD5700]

Text

text-[#CD5700]

Border

border-[#CD5700]

Ring

ring-[#CD5700]

Fill

fill-[#CD5700]

From (gradient)

from-[#CD5700]

Via (gradient)

via-[#CD5700]

To (gradient)

to-[#CD5700]

Design Tokens

Ready-to-use Tawny design token in CSS custom properties, SCSS, Tailwind v3/v4, and JSON formats.

CSS Custom Properties

:root {
  --color-tawny: #CD5700;
  --color-tawny-rgb: 205, 87, 0;
  --color-tawny-hsl: 25, 100%, 40%;
}

SCSS Variables

$color-tawny: #CD5700;
$color-tawny-rgb: 205, 87, 0;
$color-tawny-hsl: 25, 100%, 40%;

Tailwind v3 Config

// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        'tawny': '#CD5700',
      },
    },
  },
};

Tailwind v4 (@theme)

/* tailwind.css */
@theme {
  --color-tawny: #CD5700;
}

JSON Design Token (W3C format)

{
  "tawny": {
    "value": "#CD5700",
    "type": "color",
    "description": "Tawny — #CD5700"
  }
}

More brown colors

View all →

Brown

#A52A2A

Dark Brown

#5C4033

Light Brown

#B5651D

Chocolate

#7B3F00

Coffee

#6F4E37

Mahogany

#C04000

Caramel

#C68642

Sienna

#A0522D

Raw Umber

#826644

Burnt Sienna

#E97451

Cinnamon

#D2691E

Mocha

#967117

What Does Tawny Mean? Color Psychology & Cultural Symbolism

Color psychology research consistently places brown as the most "trustworthy" of the warm tones—not because it demands attention like red or commands authority like navy, but because it simply asks to be believed. Tawny's medium quality makes stability its natural register.

Across color psychology research, brown consistently tests high for "authenticity" associations, making Tawny a reliable vehicle for stability in cross-demographic audiences.
Brand designers draw on brown-family tones to project naturalness and warmth—values that Tawny communicates in a medium key.
At 100% saturation, Tawny reads as vivid—Richer, more saturated terracottas and warm siennas carry a Mediterranean, artisanal energy—earthy but vibrant, associated with ceramic crafts and sun-baked landscapes.
Tawny's medium lightness (40%) shifts its psychological register: a balanced mid-tone that embodies earthiness, stability, warmth, and authenticity at its most direct.

The brands that use Tawny well are the ones that understand that authenticity can't be faked—it can only be matched by colors that embody it.

How to Use Tawny in Design: Applications, Pairings & Best Practices

Brands reaching for authenticity and craft frequently choose Tawny over other options precisely because it doesn't try to be clever. It simply is what it is—warm, honest, and materially grounded.

Avoid: technology products, clinical healthcare, and anything that needs to project cleanliness or digital precision.
Color harmonies: Tawny's complementary color creates a high-energy split ideal for promotional design; its analogous palette (±30° hue) builds cohesive, monochromatic sophistication.
Proportional use: Tawny's vivid saturation (100%) means small applications—accents, highlights, icons—deliver maximum impact without visual fatigue. Reserve large-scale use for intentional brand moments.
Tawny creates strong legibility with black text overlays (5.0:1 contrast ratio), making it a reliable background or surface color in design systems
Typography: Tawny as text requires a dark background; its 40% lightness means it provides 4.2:1 contrast on white, not meeting WCAG AA.

The brands that use Tawny well are the ones that understand that authenticity can't be faked—it can only be matched by colors that embody it.

Tawny Accessibility: WCAG Contrast Ratios, Color Blindness & Inclusive Design

Tawny (#CD5700) reaches 4.96:1 contrast with black text—meeting WCAG 2.1 AA minimum of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. It clears standard production accessibility requirements. Relative luminance: 19.8%.

As text on white (#FFFFFF): 4.23:1 — AA (large text only)
As text on black (#000000): 4.96:1 — AA ✓
Best text color on Tawny background: Black (#000000) at 4.96:1
WCAG 2.1 luminance: 19.8% — mid-range luminance—it sits in the transition zone where both dark and light text approaches require testing against the 4.5:1 WCAG threshold
Tawny qualifies for normal body text and all larger sizes (AA).
Color blindness consideration: protanopia and deuteranopia (red-green color blindness, ~8% of males) may affect how brown-family colors are distinguished from greens and browns. For critical UI states, supplement color alone with shape, label, or pattern cues.

For production use, test Tawny against your specific background colors rather than assuming #FFFFFF or #000000 performance translates. Surrounding colors alter perceived contrast.

Tawny in Industry: Branding, Design & Market Applications

Tawny's brand positioning falls squarely in the territory of earthiness, stability, warmth, and authenticity. Industry data supports its strongest performance in food & beverage, outdoor & lifestyle, coffee categories, where the vivid saturation calibrates the message at a medium, considered level.

Food & Beverage: Brown's associations with coffee, chocolate, bread, and wood-fire cooking make it indispensable for food brands that want to project artisanal quality, warmth, and natural origin. The color does the work of suggesting handmade, slow-craft processes before a single word is read. (examples: Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Blue Bottle Coffee) Light browns work for dairy and bakery; dark browns for coffee, chocolate, and premium spirits.
Outdoor & Lifestyle: Outdoor, hiking, and adventure brands use brown as an earth tone that grounds the product in natural environments. Combined with forest greens and slate grays, it creates a palette language of terrain, durability, and wilderness competence. (examples: Yeti, Arc'teryx, Patagonia) Brown leather and canvas associations make it particularly effective for gear, footwear, and heritage outdoor brands.
Craft & Artisanal: The craft movement across food, beer, candles, and home goods has made brown its unofficial color—it signals hand-made, small-batch, locally-sourced, and premium-for-a-reason. Any product that wants to claim artisanal credentials benefits from earthy, brown-anchored packaging. Kraft paper brown in particular has become synonymous with sustainable, artisanal packaging.
Brand positioning: Tawny is best suited for brands projecting naturalness, warmth, reliability. Categories outside this positioning—technology products—tend to see weaker results.
Adjacent applications: Beyond primary industries, Tawny works effectively in artisanal food, furniture and home goods, natural product labels—contexts where earthiness serves a secondary but reinforcing role.

For marketers and brand strategists, Tawny is a commitment to earthiness, stability, warmth, and authenticity. Match it with industries that make that promise and it will pay dividends consistently.

Accessibility & Design Guides

WCAG Contrast Ratio Guide

Understand contrast requirements for AA and AAA compliance

WCAG AA vs AAA

When to target AA vs AAA accessibility standards

Color Blindness Guide

Design for color vision deficiency with safe palettes

Accessible Design Systems

Build color systems that work for everyone

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the hex code for Tawny?: The hex code for Tawny is #CD5700. Its RGB values are rgb(205, 87, 0) and its HSL values are hsl(25, 100%, 40%).
What does Tawny mean in design?: Brown is the color of earth, wood, and food — the most organic color in the spectrum. It conveys honesty, dependability, and unpretentiousness. Unlike the engineered precision of black, brown's warmth feels handmade and authentic. Coffee culture has made brown aspirational in ways it never was in the 20th century; the smell and warmth of a coffee shop is inseparable from its brown palette. Darker, richer browns signal luxury craft — leather, walnut, dark chocolate. Lighter sandy browns feel outdoor, regional, and approachable. Brown's weakness is its association with dirt and decay in medical contexts, where it is largely avoided. Its deeper, richer tone gives it gravitas and sophistication, making it well-suited for primary brand colors, typography, and contexts where authority matters.
Is Tawny WCAG accessible?: Tawny (#CD5700) passes WCAG AA-large on white with a 4.23:1 contrast ratio. Its overall accessibility score is 39/100.
What colors go well with Tawny?: Tawny pairs well with its complementary color Celestial Blue (#4997D0). Analogous colors like Candy Pink and Poppy also work harmoniously. Check the Color Harmonies section above for the full palette.
What is Tawny used for?: Tawny is commonly used for: Coffee shops and specialty beverage brands; Chocolate and premium confectionery; Outdoor gear and hiking equipment; Furniture and home furnishing brands; Craft beer and artisanal food products.
What are the CSS and Tailwind values for Tawny?: In CSS, use `color: #CD5700` or `background-color: #CD5700`. The CSS custom property is `--color-tawny: #CD5700`. In Tailwind CSS, use the arbitrary value class `bg-[#CD5700]` for backgrounds or `text-[#CD5700]` for text.