Skip to content
yellow · warm

#635a21

a dark, vivid yellow · warm · closest name: Dark Olive Green

Token name suggestion: Shadow Honey

RGB
99, 90, 33
HSL
52°, 50%, 26%
CMYK
0, 9, 67, 61
Luminance
0.1007

#635a21 is a dark vivid yellow, 52° on the wheel and 18/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (6.97:1). As text it scores 6.97:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Olive Green, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(52 50% 26%)rgb(99 90 33)Base step 900AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #635a21 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#635a21
Hue
52°
yellow
Saturation
50%
vivid
Lightness
26%
dark
Brightness
39%
HSV value
Perceived
35%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1007
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
18/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
6.97:1
Closest name
Dark Olive Green
ΔE2000 11
Chroma
33.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.464
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 19.8
Web-safe
#666633
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue52° of 360°
Saturation50%
Lightness26%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #635a21.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool18% 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
Red26%
Green73%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#635a21
HEX (8-digit)#635a21ff
RGBrgb(99, 90, 33)
RGBArgba(99, 90, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(52, 50%, 26%)
HSV / HSBhsv(52, 67%, 39%)
HWBhwb(52 13% 61%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 9%, 67%, 61%)
LABlab(38.0 -4.1 33.3)
LCHlch(38.0 33.5 97.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.464 0.077 100.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(9.08, 10.08, 2.91)
Decimal6511137
Display P3color(display-p3 0.388 0.353 0.129)
Web-safe#666633

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #635a21;
background-color: #635a21;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #635a21;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#635a21] bg-[#635a21]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #635a21;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.388, green: 0.353, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.388, green: 0.353, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#635A21</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF635A21)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF635A21)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 90, 99)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(99, 90, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(99, 90, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 99, 90, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3882f, 0.3529f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{99,90,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #635a21 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #635a21 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#605720, #EEEAD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #635a21 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: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-100: #F6F4EA;
  --brand-200: #ECE8CF;
  --brand-300: #E3DBAB;
  --brand-400: #D5C981;
  --brand-500: #C7B857;
  --brand-600: #B8A73D;
  --brand-700: #998B33;
  --brand-800: #7A6F29;
  --brand-900: #635a21;
  --brand-950: #383315;
  --brand: #635a21;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EBE5C2;
  --brand-hover: #484218;
  --brand-pressed: #2E290F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242214;
    --brand-ink: #EEEAD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAFAF4',
        100: '#F6F4EA',
        200: '#ECE8CF',
        300: '#E3DBAB',
        400: '#D5C981',
        500: '#C7B857',
        600: '#B8A73D',
        700: '#998B33',
        800: '#7A6F29',
        900: '#635a21',
        950: '#383315',
        DEFAULT: '#635a21',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAFAF4,
  '100': #F6F4EA,
  '200': #ECE8CF,
  '300': #E3DBAB,
  '400': #D5C981,
  '500': #C7B857,
  '600': #B8A73D,
  '700': #998B33,
  '800': #7A6F29,
  '900': #635a21,
  '950': #383315,
);
$brand-base: #635a21;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAFAF4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F6F4EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#ECE8CF", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E3DBAB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D5C981", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#C7B857", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B8A73D", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#998B33", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7A6F29", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#635a21", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#383315", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #635a21 · 6.97:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 6.97:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.01:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #635a21 as text scores 6.97:1 on white and 3.01:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F9F7EC at 6.48:1.

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
#635a21 · 6.97:1
AA on whitealready passes
#635a21
The quick fox
#5F5720 · 7.32:1
AAA on white−1% L
#5F5720
The quick fox
#82762B · 4.58:1
AA on black+8% L
#82762B
The quick fox
#A89938 · 7.28:1
AAA on black+18% L
#A89938

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #635A21 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
#635a21 on white: 6.97:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#635a21 on black: 3.01:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #635a21 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #635a21.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White6.97:1AaAa
Slate 506.66:1AaAa
Slate 1006.36:1AaAa
Slate 2005.65:1AaAa
Slate 3004.69:1AaAa
Slate 4002.72:1AaAa
Slate 5001.46:1AaAa
Slate 6001.09:1AaAa
Slate 7001.49:1AaAa
Slate 8002.10:1AaAa
Slate 9002.56:1AaAa
Black3.01:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #63571A
deuteranopia · #655B24
tritanopia · #6B544E

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. #635a21 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.

#FAFAF4
#F6F4EA
#ECE8CF
#E3DBAB
#D5C981
#C7B857
#B8A73D
#998B33
#7A6F29
#635a21
#383315
Base = 900Lightest = 50 · #FAFAF4Darkest = 950 · #383315Text 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 0.019 100.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.031 100.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.046 100.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.060 100.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.071 100.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.077 100.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.077 100.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.073 100.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.065 100.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.054 100.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.043 100.4);
}

Colors that work with #635a21

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#EBE5C2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B904B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1E3A66
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#605720
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F9F7EC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242214
Dark-mode background
Hover#484218
One step down in lightness
Pressed#2E290F
Two steps down
Disabled#958E5F
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#7A6D1E
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 #635a21

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • Weight74/100
  • 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#212A63
Analogous left#633921
Analogous right#4B6321
Split-complement 1#214B63
Split-complement 2#392163
Triadic 1#21635A
Triadic 2#5A2163
Tetradic#216339
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°52°

#635a21 sits at 52°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red38.8%
Green35.3%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
99
0x63
G · 0–255
90
0x5a
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta9.1%
Yellow66.7%
Key (black)61.2%

Total ink coverage is 137%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#635a21 text on a black background

contrast 3.01:1

Card sample

#635a21 text on a white background

contrast 6.97:1

Card sample

#635a21 on grey

6.36:1

#635a21 on its own surface

6.65:1

#635a21 on its dark surface

2.29:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #635a21;
Background color
Panel with #635a21 background
background-color: #635a21;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #635a21;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(99, 90, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(99, 90, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #635a21;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #635a21, #406321);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #635a21, #306321);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #635a21;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #635a21;
caret-color: #635a21;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #635a21;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F9F7EC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #635a21;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#635a21 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #635a21 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(99, 90, 33, 0.5)
rgb(99 90 33 / 50%)
#635a2180
hsl(52 50% 26% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #635a21 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#635a211a#EFEFE9
20%#635a2133#E0DED3
40%#635a2166#C1BDA6
60%#635a2199#A19C7A
80%#635a21cc#827B4D

Gradients from #635a21

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, #918430, #635a21 45%, #605720);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #635a21, #2D4C19);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #635a21, #212A63);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #A89938 0%, #635a21 45%, #605720 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%, #89472E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #567A29 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #605720 0%, transparent 65%), #635a21;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #635a21

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.

#635a21 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 3.01:1 — lift it to #82762B 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.

#635a21, answered

What color is #635a21?

#635a21 is a dark vivid yellow, closest to Dark Olive Green (ΔE2000 11). It sits at 52° on the hue wheel with 50% saturation and 26% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #635a21?

rgb(99, 90, 33) — 99 red, 90 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 38.8% / 35.3% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #635a21 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(52, 50%, 26%) and hsv(52, 67%, 39%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #635a21 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1007 and perceived brightness is 35%, so white text on it reaches 6.97:1.

Should I use black or white text on #635a21?

White. It scores 6.97:1 against #635a21, versus 3.01:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #635a21 accessible on a white background?

#635a21 on white scores 6.97:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #635a21?

#212A63 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #214B63 and #392163, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #635a21?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EBE5C2 for borders, #9B904B for secondary text, #1E3A66 as an accent and #605720 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #633921 and #4B6321 stays calm, while #212A63 is the loudest partner.

What is #635a21 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 9%, 67%, 61%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #635a21 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 18 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #634321; nudged cooler, #556420.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #635a21?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 19.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #635a21 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #635a21 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#635a21] or text-[#635a21], 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 #635a21 with 50% opacity?

rgba(99, 90, 33, 0.5), or #635a2180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B1AD90; over black, #322D11.

Is #635a21 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #666633, ΔE2000 5.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #635a21 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 chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #635a21?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #918430, #635a21 45%, #605720). For more colour, a short hue run to #2D4C19 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #635a21 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #635a21 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.