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yellow · warm

#4b5021

a deep, soft yellow · warm · closest name: Dark Olive Green

Token name suggestion: Abyss Citron

RGB
75, 80, 33
HSL
66°, 42%, 22%
CMYK
6, 0, 59, 69
Luminance
0.0734

#4b5021 is a deep soft yellow, 66° on the wheel and 30/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (8.51:1). As text it scores 8.51:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Olive Green, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(66 42% 22%)rgb(75 80 33)Base step 900AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #4b5021 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#4b5021
Hue
66°
yellow
Saturation
42%
soft
Lightness
22%
deep
Brightness
31%
HSV value
Perceived
29%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0734
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
30/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
8.51:1
Closest name
Dark Olive Green
ΔE2000 9.8
Chroma
28.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.415
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 22.3
Web-safe
#336633
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue66° of 360°
Saturation42%
Lightness22%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #4b5021.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool30% cool

Reads warm. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red20%
Green78%
Blue1%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#4b5021
HEX (8-digit)#4b5021ff
RGBrgb(75, 80, 33)
RGBArgba(75, 80, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(66, 42%, 22%)
HSV / HSBhsv(66, 59%, 31%)
HWBhwb(66 13% 69%)
CMYKcmyk(6%, 0%, 59%, 69%)
LABlab(32.6 -9.8 26.6)
LCHlch(32.6 28.4 110.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.415 0.069 114.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(6.04, 7.34, 2.54)
Decimal4935713
Display P3color(display-p3 0.294 0.314 0.129)
Web-safe#336633

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #4b5021;
background-color: #4b5021;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #4b5021;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#4b5021] bg-[#4b5021]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #4b5021;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.294, green: 0.314, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.294, green: 0.314, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#4B5021</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF4B5021)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF4B5021)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 80, 75)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(75, 80, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(75, 80, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 75, 80, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2941f, 0.3137f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{75,80,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #4b5021 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #4b5021 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#555A25, #EAEDD4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #4b5021 h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F9FAF5;
  --brand-100: #F4F5EB;
  --brand-200: #E7EAD2;
  --brand-300: #D9DEB0;
  --brand-400: #C6CE88;
  --brand-500: #B4BD60;
  --brand-600: #A2AD47;
  --brand-700: #87903C;
  --brand-800: #6C7430;
  --brand-900: #4b5021;
  --brand-950: #323518;
  --brand: #4b5021;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #E4E7C5;
  --brand-hover: #333717;
  --brand-pressed: #1C1E0C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #232414;
    --brand-ink: #EAEDD4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9FAF5',
        100: '#F4F5EB',
        200: '#E7EAD2',
        300: '#D9DEB0',
        400: '#C6CE88',
        500: '#B4BD60',
        600: '#A2AD47',
        700: '#87903C',
        800: '#6C7430',
        900: '#4b5021',
        950: '#323518',
        DEFAULT: '#4b5021',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9FAF5,
  '100': #F4F5EB,
  '200': #E7EAD2,
  '300': #D9DEB0,
  '400': #C6CE88,
  '500': #B4BD60,
  '600': #A2AD47,
  '700': #87903C,
  '800': #6C7430,
  '900': #4b5021,
  '950': #323518,
);
$brand-base: #4b5021;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9FAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4F5EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E7EAD2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D9DEB0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C6CE88", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#B4BD60", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A2AD47", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#87903C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6C7430", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4b5021", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#323518", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#ffffff", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#ffffff on #4b5021 · 8.51:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 8.51:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.47:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #4b5021 as text scores 8.51:1 on white and 2.47:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F6F8ED at 7.93:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#4b5021 · 8.51:1
AA on whitealready passes
#4b5021
The quick fox
#4b5021 · 8.51:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#4b5021
The quick fox
#747B33 · 4.62:1
AA on black+12% L
#747B33
The quick fox
#929C40 · 7.05:1
AAA on black+21% L
#929C40

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #4B5021 is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#4b5021 on white: 8.51:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#4b5021 on black: 2.47:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #4b5021 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #4b5021.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White8.51:1AaAa
Slate 508.13:1AaAa
Slate 1007.77:1AaAa
Slate 2006.90:1AaAa
Slate 3005.73:1AaAa
Slate 4003.32:1AaAa
Slate 5001.79:1AaAa
Slate 6001.12:1AaAa
Slate 7001.22:1AaAa
Slate 8001.72:1AaAa
Slate 9002.10:1AaAa
Black2.47:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #564C1C
deuteranopia · #554D24
tritanopia · #504C46

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #4b5021 is pinned to step 900; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9FAF5
#F4F5EB
#E7EAD2
#D9DEB0
#C6CE88
#B4BD60
#A2AD47
#87903C
#6C7430
#4b5021
#323518
Base = 900Lightest = 50 · #F9FAF5Darkest = 950 · #323518Text step on white = 800
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.017 114.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.027 114.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.041 114.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.053 114.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.063 114.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.069 114.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.069 114.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.064 114.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.058 114.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.048 114.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.038 114.5);
}

Colors that work with #4b5021

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#ffffff
White wins here
Surface#FAFAF4
Tinted page background
Border#E4E7C5
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#929B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1F2652
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#555A25
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6F8ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#232414
Dark-mode background
Hover#333717
One step down in lightness
Pressed#1C1E0C
Two steps down
Disabled#848A58
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#5E6520
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #4b5021

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • Black text placed on it
  • Thin strokes and 1px borders — they disappear on light UI
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Any size
Safe as a fill behind white type
Yes
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

optimisticalertcheap-and-cheerfulvisible

The most visible hue at low light levels, which is why it owns warnings, hazard tape and value retail.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

Almost never passes contrast against white. Treat it as a surface or a marker, not as text.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight78/100
  • TemperatureWarm
  • ApproachabilityHigh

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#262150
Analogous left#503E21
Analogous right#345021
Split-complement 1#213450
Split-complement 2#3E2150
Triadic 1#214B50
Triadic 2#50214B
Tetradic#21503E
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°66°

#4b5021 sits at 66°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red29.4%
Green31.4%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
75
0x4b
G · 0–255
80
0x50
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan6.2%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow58.8%
Key (black)68.6%

Total ink coverage is 134%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#4b5021 text on a black background

contrast 2.47:1

Card sample

#4b5021 text on a white background

contrast 8.51:1

Card sample

#4b5021 on grey

7.77:1

#4b5021 on its own surface

8.12:1

#4b5021 on its dark surface

1.85:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #4b5021;
Background color
Panel with #4b5021 background
background-color: #4b5021;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #4b5021;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(75, 80, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(75, 80, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #4b5021;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #4b5021, #2C5021);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #4b5021, #215022);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #4b5021;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #4b5021;
caret-color: #4b5021;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #4b5021;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6F8ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #4b5021;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#4b5021 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #4b5021 over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(75, 80, 33, 0.5)
rgb(75 80 33 / 50%)
#4b502180
hsl(66 42% 22% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #4b5021 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#4b50211a#EDEEE9
20%#4b502133#DBDCD3
40%#4b502166#B7B9A6
60%#4b502199#93967A
80%#4b5021cc#6F734D

Gradients from #4b5021

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #747B33, #4b5021 45%, #555A25);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #4b5021, #1D3A18);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #4b5021, #262150);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #88913C 0%, #4b5021 45%, #555A25 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAFAF4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #745430 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #3D662A 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #555A25 0%, transparent 65%), #4b5021;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #4b5021

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#4b5021 in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
RetailLeisureEnergyWarning systems
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Too dim on dark surfaces at 2.47:1 — lift it to #747B33 for body text, or reserve it for fills.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#4b5021, answered

What color is #4b5021?

#4b5021 is a deep soft yellow, closest to Dark Olive Green (ΔE2000 9.8). It sits at 66° on the hue wheel with 42% saturation and 22% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #4b5021?

rgb(75, 80, 33) — 75 red, 80 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 29.4% / 31.4% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #4b5021 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(66, 42%, 22%) and hsv(66, 59%, 31%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #4b5021 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0734 and perceived brightness is 29%, so white text on it reaches 8.51:1.

Should I use black or white text on #4b5021?

White. It scores 8.51:1 against #4b5021, versus 2.47:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #4b5021 accessible on a white background?

#4b5021 on white scores 8.51:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #4b5021?

#262150 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #213450 and #3E2150, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #4b5021?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #E4E7C5 for borders, #929B4B for secondary text, #1F2652 as an accent and #555A25 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #503E21 and #345021 stays calm, while #262150 is the loudest partner.

What is #4b5021 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(6%, 0%, 59%, 69%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #4b5021 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 30 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #504421; nudged cooler, #3A5120.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #4b5021?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 22.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #4b5021 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #4b5021 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#4b5021] or text-[#4b5021], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #4b5021 with 50% opacity?

rgba(75, 80, 33, 0.5), or #4b502180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A5A890; over black, #262811.

Is #4b5021 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #336633, ΔE2000 12.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #4b5021 mean?

As a yellow, it reads optimistic, alert, cheap-and-cheerful. The most visible hue at low light levels, which is why it owns warnings, hazard tape and value retail. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #4b5021?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #747B33, #4b5021 45%, #555A25). For more colour, a short hue run to #1D3A18 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #4b5021 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #4b5021 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.