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Burning Mead

#dd8e29
Notes

Burning Mead (#DD8E29) is a true orange with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (34°, 73%, 51%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary azure. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#dd8e29
RGB
rgb(221, 142, 41)
HSL
hsl(34, 73%, 51%)
HWB
hwb(34 16% 13%)
OKLCH
oklch(71.2% 0.144 67.0)
HSV
hsv(34, 81%, 87%)
LAB
lab(65.66% 22.40 61.71)
LCH
lch(65.66% 65.65 70.05)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 36%, 81%, 13%)

Etymology

Burning
adjective

The progressive participle of burn — used as a color modifier for hues that read as actively luminous, as if combustion is in progress. Burning red, burning orange: the implication is high saturation combined with thermal heat. Sits in the bright-and-warm corner alongside hot and flame. Slightly more active than smoldering.

Mead
noun

Honey wine — fermented honey-and-water, one of the oldest known alcoholic beverages, central to Norse and Anglo-Saxon halls. The color refers to a young Polish miód pitny: a soft, slightly cool warm gold-yellow with the optical clarity of honey-derived alcohol. Warmer than champagne, lighter than whiskey.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

Click any swatch to explore

Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#dd8e29
Original
#a89415
Protanopia
#baa72b
Deuteranopia
#f17b7b
Tritanopia
#989898
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon White
2.63:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
7.98:1

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