What Color Is Tangerine? Color Codes and Orange Color Swatches

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Tangerine is an orange-family color, but how is it different from ordinary orange? When working on a website, choosing by name alone can produce a different shade than expected. This article explores tangerine color codes, compares orange swatches with different amounts of red and yellow, and shows how to use the colors in a banner while keeping text legible.

Tangerine is an orange inspired by citrus fruit peel

Tangerine takes its name from the peel of the citrus fruit of the same name. It describes a vivid orange with a mixture of red and yellow undertones. For this article, we use ■#F28500 as the representative color. Compared with a brighter, yellower orange, this selection has a slightly deeper appearance.

■#F28500 is an example of a HEX color code. HEX specifies a screen color with a hash sign followed by six hexadecimal characters. The first two characters represent red, the next two green, and the last two blue. In RGB, a format that expresses amounts of red, green, and blue light, this color is red 242, green 133, and blue 0.

However, the color name “tangerine” does not have one universally official HEX value. Another color-name reference uses ■#FF9408 for tangerine. Compared side by side, that version looks slightly brighter. When sharing a design, record the selected HEX code rather than the color name alone. Also, “tangerine” is not one of the standard CSS named-color keywords, so specify the color with a HEX code or another supported CSS color format.

Compare orange swatches and choose where to use each shade

Colors in the orange family can play different roles depending on their red undertone, yellow undertone, and brightness. These samples offer a useful comparison:

Tangerine: ■#F28500. A relatively deep orange with a red undertone, suitable for a short strip next to a product name or a seasonal heading accent.
Alternative tangerine reference: ■#FF9408. A brighter option to compare when a lighter, more lively appearance is wanted.
Orange (the CSS keyword orange): ■#FFA500. More yellow in appearance than the representative tangerine, useful when a brighter orange is preferable.
Orange-red (the CSS keyword orangered): ■#FF4500. Noticeably redder and worth using sparingly when stronger emphasis is intended.
Pale orange comparison color: ■#FFE4C4. A light option that can serve as a background for a small information panel.

For example, on a web banner announcing a new citrus drink, use warm off-white ■#FFF9F0 for the overall background and deep brown ■#332820 for headings and descriptive text. Place tangerine ■#F28500 in a short strip or round decoration near a fruit photograph, and pale orange ■#FFE4C4 behind the sales-date details. A deep teal ■#155B59 sign-up button with white ■#FFFFFF lettering separates the action from the orange decoration.

You do not need all these shades of orange on the same page. Start with the representative tangerine, compare it with one alternative beside the actual product photograph, and decide whether the layout needs a redder or brighter orange.

Check contrast before placing text on tangerine

A contrast ratio measures the difference in relative lightness between adjacent colors, such as text and its background. White ■#FFFFFF text on tangerine ■#F28500 has a ratio of about 2.58:1. That falls below the 4.5:1 requirement for normal-sized text under WCAG 2.2 Level AA. Using deep brown ■#332820 text instead gives approximately 5.55:1 against the same tangerine background.

In the banner example, deep brown ■#332820 against warm off-white ■#FFF9F0 reaches about 13.69:1, and deep brown on pale orange ■#FFE4C4 reaches about 11.70:1. The deep teal button ■#155B59 with white ■#FFFFFF lettering has a ratio of about 7.86:1. These figures assume fully opaque solid colors.

However, tangerine ■#F28500 against off-white ■#FFF9F0 has a surface-to-surface ratio of about 2.47:1. That can be acceptable for a purely decorative shape, but a border needed to identify an interactive control may be subject to the 3:1 non-text contrast requirement against adjacent colors. Check any text over photographs or thin icons against their actual backgrounds too. Keeping color names, codes, and intended uses together makes the selected tangerine easier to reproduce consistently.