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yellow · warm

#737521

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

Token name suggestion: Shadow Straw

RGB
115, 117, 33
HSL
61°, 56%, 29%
CMYK
2, 0, 72, 54
Luminance
0.1648

#737521 is a dark vivid yellow, 61° on the wheel and 26/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (4.89:1). As text it scores 4.89:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Olive, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(61 56% 29%)rgb(115 117 33)Base step 800AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #737521 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#737521
Hue
61°
yellow
Saturation
56%
vivid
Lightness
29%
dark
Brightness
46%
HSV value
Perceived
43%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1648
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
26/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
4.89:1
Closest name
Olive
ΔE2000 5.9
Chroma
45.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.544
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 21.5
Web-safe
#666633
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue61° of 360°
Saturation56%
Lightness29%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #737521.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool26% 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
Red22%
Green77%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#737521
HEX (8-digit)#737521ff
RGBrgb(115, 117, 33)
RGBArgba(115, 117, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(61, 56%, 29%)
HSV / HSBhsv(61, 72%, 46%)
HWBhwb(61 13% 54%)
CMYKcmyk(2%, 0%, 72%, 54%)
LABlab(47.6 -11.9 43.7)
LCHlch(47.6 45.3 105.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.544 0.104 110.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(13.71, 16.48, 3.90)
Decimal7566625
Display P3color(display-p3 0.451 0.459 0.129)
Web-safe#666633

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #737521;
background-color: #737521;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #737521;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#737521] bg-[#737521]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #737521;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.451, green: 0.459, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.451, green: 0.459, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#737521</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF737521)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF737521)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 117, 115)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(115, 117, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(115, 117, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 115, 117, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4510f, 0.4588f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{115,117,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #737521 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #737521 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#62631C, #EEEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #737521 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: #FBFBF4;
  --brand-100: #F6F6E9;
  --brand-200: #EDEECE;
  --brand-300: #E5E6A7;
  --brand-400: #D8DA7C;
  --brand-500: #CBCE50;
  --brand-600: #BCBF36;
  --brand-700: #9C9F2D;
  --brand-800: #737521;
  --brand-900: #5B5D1E;
  --brand-950: #393A13;
  --brand: #737521;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #ECEDC0;
  --brand-hover: #585919;
  --brand-pressed: #3C3D11;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EEEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBFBF4',
        100: '#F6F6E9',
        200: '#EDEECE',
        300: '#E5E6A7',
        400: '#D8DA7C',
        500: '#CBCE50',
        600: '#BCBF36',
        700: '#9C9F2D',
        800: '#737521',
        900: '#5B5D1E',
        950: '#393A13',
        DEFAULT: '#737521',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBFBF4,
  '100': #F6F6E9,
  '200': #EDEECE,
  '300': #E5E6A7,
  '400': #D8DA7C,
  '500': #CBCE50,
  '600': #BCBF36,
  '700': #9C9F2D,
  '800': #737521,
  '900': #5B5D1E,
  '950': #393A13,
);
$brand-base: #737521;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBFBF4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F6F6E9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EDEECE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E5E6A7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D8DA7C", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#CBCE50", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#BCBF36", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#9C9F2D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#737521", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5B5D1E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#393A13", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #737521 · 4.89:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.89:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.30:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #737521 as text scores 4.89:1 on white and 4.30:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F9F9EB at 4.60:1.

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
#737521 · 4.89:1
AA on whitealready passes
#737521
The quick fox
#585919 · 7.35:1
AAA on white−7% L
#585919
The quick fox
#777922 · 4.54:1
AA on black+1% L
#777922
The quick fox
#9A9D2C · 7.23:1
AAA on black+10% L
#9A9D2C

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #737521 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
#737521 on white: 4.89:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#737521 on black: 4.30:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #737521 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #737521.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.89:1AaAa
Slate 504.67:1AaAa
Slate 1004.46:1AaAa
Slate 2003.97:1AaAa
Slate 3003.29:1AaAa
Slate 4001.91:1AaAa
Slate 5001.03:1AaAa
Slate 6001.55:1AaAa
Slate 7002.12:1AaAa
Slate 8002.99:1AaAa
Slate 9003.65:1AaAa
Black4.30:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #7E7014
deuteranopia · #7F7227
tritanopia · #7B6D64

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. #737521 is pinned to step 800; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FBFBF4
#F6F6E9
#EDEECE
#E5E6A7
#D8DA7C
#CBCE50
#BCBF36
#9C9F2D
#737521
#5B5D1E
#393A13
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #FBFBF4Darkest = 950 · #393A13Text 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 0.026 110.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.042 110.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.063 110.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.081 110.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.096 110.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.104 110.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.104 110.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.098 110.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.088 110.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.073 110.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.057 110.8);
}

Colors that work with #737521

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#ECEDC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#999B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1E3278
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#62631C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F9F9EB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#585919
One step down in lightness
Pressed#3C3D11
Two steps down
Disabled#9D9E68
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#8B8D1D
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 #737521

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
  • Weight71/100
  • 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#232175
Analogous left#754D21
Analogous right#497521
Split-complement 1#214975
Split-complement 2#4D2175
Triadic 1#217375
Triadic 2#752173
Tetradic#21754D
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°61°

#737521 sits at 61°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red45.1%
Green45.9%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
115
0x73
G · 0–255
117
0x75
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan1.7%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow71.8%
Key (black)54.1%

Total ink coverage is 128%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#737521 text on a black background

contrast 4.30:1

Card sample

#737521 text on a white background

contrast 4.89:1

Card sample

#737521 on grey

4.46:1

#737521 on its own surface

4.67:1

#737521 on its dark surface

3.21:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #737521;
Background color
Panel with #737521 background
background-color: #737521;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #737521;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(115, 117, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(115, 117, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #737521;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #737521, #3B7521);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #737521, #267521);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #737521;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #737521;
caret-color: #737521;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #737521;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F9F9EB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #737521;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#737521 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #737521 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(115, 117, 33, 0.5)
rgb(115 117 33 / 50%)
#73752180
hsl(61 56% 29% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #737521 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#7375211a#F1F1E9
20%#73752133#E3E3D3
40%#73752166#C7C8A6
60%#73752199#ABAC7A
80%#737521cc#8F914D

Gradients from #737521

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, #A2A52E, #737521 45%, #62631C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #737521, #295D1A);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #737521, #232175);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B9BD35 0%, #737521 45%, #62631C 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%, #9D5E2C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #4F8D28 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #62631C 0%, transparent 65%), #737521;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #737521

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.

#737521 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 4.30:1 — lift it to #777922 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.

#737521, answered

What color is #737521?

#737521 is a dark vivid yellow, closest to Olive (ΔE2000 5.9). It sits at 61° on the hue wheel with 56% saturation and 29% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #737521?

rgb(115, 117, 33) — 115 red, 117 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 45.1% / 45.9% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #737521 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(61, 56%, 29%) and hsv(61, 72%, 46%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #737521 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1648 and perceived brightness is 43%, so white text on it reaches 4.89:1.

Should I use black or white text on #737521?

White. It scores 4.89:1 against #737521, versus 4.30:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #737521 accessible on a white background?

#737521 on white scores 4.89:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #737521?

#232175 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #214975 and #4D2175, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #737521?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #ECEDC0 for borders, #999B4B for secondary text, #1E3278 as an accent and #62631C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #754D21 and #497521 stays calm, while #232175 is the loudest partner.

What is #737521 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(2%, 0%, 72%, 54%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #737521 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 26 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #755821; nudged cooler, #55761F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #737521?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 21.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #737521 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #737521 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#737521] or text-[#737521], 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 #737521 with 50% opacity?

rgba(115, 117, 33, 0.5), or #73752180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B9BA90; over black, #3A3B11.

Is #737521 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #666633, ΔE2000 7.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #737521 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 #737521?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A2A52E, #737521 45%, #62631C). For more colour, a short hue run to #295D1A keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #737521 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #737521 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.