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yellow · warm

#9da170

a balanced, soft yellow · warm · closest name: Dark Khaki

Token name suggestion: True Straw

RGB
157, 161, 112
HSL
65°, 21%, 54%
CMYK
3, 0, 30, 37
Luminance
0.3383

#9da170 is a balanced soft yellow, 65° on the wheel and 38/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.77:1). As text it scores 2.70:1 on white — use #767A50 instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(65 21% 54%)rgb(157 161 112)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #9da170 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#9da170
Hue
65°
yellow
Saturation
21%
soft
Lightness
54%
balanced
Brightness
63%
HSV value
Perceived
61%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3383
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
38/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.77:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 9.2
Chroma
26.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.693
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 19.2
Web-safe
#999966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue65° of 360°
Saturation21%
Lightness54%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #9da170.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool38% 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
Red21%
Green75%
Blue3%

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

Every format

HEX#9da170
HEX (8-digit)#9da170ff
RGBrgb(157, 161, 112)
RGBArgba(157, 161, 112, 1)
HSLhsl(65, 21%, 54%)
HSV / HSBhsv(65, 30%, 63%)
HWBhwb(65 44% 37%)
CMYKcmyk(3%, 0%, 30%, 37%)
LABlab(64.8 -9.6 25.1)
LCHlch(64.8 26.9 110.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.693 0.068 111.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(29.57, 33.83, 20.30)
Decimal10330480
Display P3color(display-p3 0.616 0.631 0.439)
Web-safe#999966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #9da170;
background-color: #9da170;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #9da170;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#9da170] bg-[#9da170]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #9da170;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.616, green: 0.631, blue: 0.439)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.616, green: 0.631, blue: 0.439, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#9DA170</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF9DA170)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF9DA170)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(112, 161, 157)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(157, 161, 112)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(157, 161, 112)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 157, 161, 112)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6157f, 0.6314f, 0.4392f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{157,161,112}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #9da170 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #9da170 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4B4D33, #E6E7DA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #9da170 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: #F8F9F6;
  --brand-100: #F2F2ED;
  --brand-200: #E3E4D8;
  --brand-300: #D1D3BB;
  --brand-400: #B9BC99;
  --brand-500: #9da170;
  --brand-600: #909461;
  --brand-700: #787B51;
  --brand-800: #606241;
  --brand-900: #474932;
  --brand-950: #2C2E1F;
  --brand: #9da170;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F9F6;
  --brand-border: #DDDFCE;
  --brand-hover: #8B8F5E;
  --brand-pressed: #767A50;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #212216;
    --brand-ink: #E6E7DA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F9F6',
        100: '#F2F2ED',
        200: '#E3E4D8',
        300: '#D1D3BB',
        400: '#B9BC99',
        500: '#9da170',
        600: '#909461',
        700: '#787B51',
        800: '#606241',
        900: '#474932',
        950: '#2C2E1F',
        DEFAULT: '#9da170',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F9F6,
  '100': #F2F2ED,
  '200': #E3E4D8,
  '300': #D1D3BB,
  '400': #B9BC99,
  '500': #9da170,
  '600': #909461,
  '700': #787B51,
  '800': #606241,
  '900': #474932,
  '950': #2C2E1F,
);
$brand-base: #9da170;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F2F2ED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E3E4D8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D1D3BB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B9BC99", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9da170", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#909461", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#787B51", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#606241", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#474932", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2C2E1F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$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#000000 on #9da170 · 7.77:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.70:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.77:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #9da170 as text scores 2.70:1 on white and 7.77:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4B4D33 at 3.22:1.

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
#767A50 · 4.50:1
AA on white−14% L
#767A50
The quick fox
#585B3C · 7.05:1
AAA on white−24% L
#585B3C
The quick fox
#9da170 · 7.77:1
AA on blackalready passes
#9da170
The quick fox
#9da170 · 7.77:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#9da170

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #949864 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
#9da170 on white: 2.70:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#9da170 on black: 7.77:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #9da170 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #9da170.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.70:1AaAa
Slate 502.58:1AaAa
Slate 1002.47:1AaAa
Slate 2002.19:1AaAa
Slate 3001.82:1AaAa
Slate 4001.05:1AaAa
Slate 5001.76:1AaAa
Slate 6002.80:1AaAa
Slate 7003.83:1AaAa
Slate 8005.41:1AaAa
Slate 9006.60:1AaAa
Black7.77:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A89D6D
deuteranopia · #A89E72
tritanopia · #A39B94

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. #9da170 is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F9F6
#F2F2ED
#E3E4D8
#D1D3BB
#B9BC99
#9da170
#909461
#787B51
#606241
#474932
#2C2E1F
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F8F9F6Darkest = 950 · #2C2E1FText 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 0.017 111.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.027 111.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.041 111.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.053 111.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.062 111.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.068 111.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.068 111.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.064 111.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.057 111.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.047 111.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.037 111.9);
}

Colors that work with #9da170

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

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F9F9F6
Tinted page background
Border#DDDFCE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#878B5B
Captions on the surface
Accent#6B75A6
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4B4D33
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F5F0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#212216
Dark-mode background
Hover#8B8F5E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#767A50
Two steps down
Disabled#CBCDB4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#AEB471
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 #9da170

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Thin strokes and 1px borders — they disappear on light UI
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #4B4D33
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #949864

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 mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight47/100
  • 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#7470A1
Analogous left#A18C70
Analogous right#84A170
Split-complement 1#7084A1
Split-complement 2#8C70A1
Triadic 1#709DA1
Triadic 2#A1709D
Tetradic#70A18C
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°65°

#9da170 sits at 65°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red61.6%
Green63.1%
Blue43.9%
R · 0–255
157
0x9d
G · 0–255
161
0xa1
B · 0–255
112
0x70

CMYK percentages

Cyan2.5%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow30.4%
Key (black)36.9%

Total ink coverage is 70%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#9da170 text on a black background

contrast 7.77:1

Card sample

#9da170 text on a white background

contrast 2.70:1

Card sample

#9da170 on grey

2.47:1

#9da170 on its own surface

2.56:1

#9da170 on its dark surface

5.95:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #9da170;
Background color
Panel with #9da170 background
background-color: #9da170;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #9da170;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(157, 161, 112, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(157, 161, 112, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #9da170;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #9da170, #7CA170);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9da170, #70A170);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #9da170;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #9da170;
caret-color: #9da170;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #9da170;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F5F0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #9da170;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#9da170 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #9da170 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(157, 161, 112, 0.5)
rgb(157 161 112 / 50%)
#9da17080
hsl(65 21% 54% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #9da170 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#9da1701a#F5F6F1
20%#9da17033#EBECE2
40%#9da17066#D8D9C6
60%#9da17099#C4C7A9
80%#9da170cc#B1B48D

Gradients from #9da170

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, #B6B995, #9da170 45%, #4B4D33);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #9da170, #689260);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9da170, #7470A1);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C3C5A7 0%, #9da170 45%, #4B4D33 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F9F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B5A28F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #91AD82 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4B4D33 0%, transparent 65%), #9da170;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #9da170

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.

#9da170 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

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 7.77:1.

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.

#9da170, answered

What color is #9da170?

#9da170 is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 9.2). It sits at 65° on the hue wheel with 21% saturation and 54% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #9da170?

rgb(157, 161, 112) — 157 red, 161 green and 112 blue out of 255, or 61.6% / 63.1% / 43.9% by channel.

What is #9da170 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(65, 21%, 54%) and hsv(65, 30%, 63%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #9da170 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3383 and perceived brightness is 61%, so black text on it reaches 7.77:1.

Should I use black or white text on #9da170?

Black. It scores 7.77:1 against #9da170, versus 2.70:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #9da170 accessible on a white background?

#9da170 on white scores 2.70:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #767A50 to reach 4.5:1, or #585B3C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #9da170?

#7470A1 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #7084A1 and #8C70A1, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #9da170?

For interface work: #F9F9F6 as the surface, #DDDFCE for borders, #878B5B for secondary text, #6B75A6 as an accent and #4B4D33 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A18C70 and #84A170 stays calm, while #7470A1 is the loudest partner.

What is #9da170 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(3%, 0%, 30%, 37%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #9da170 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 38 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #A19370; nudged cooler, #8BA36E.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #9da170?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 19.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #9da170 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #9da170 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#9da170] or text-[#9da170], 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 #9da170 with 50% opacity?

rgba(157, 161, 112, 0.5), or #9da17080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CED0B8; over black, #4F5138.

Is #9da170 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999966, ΔE2000 2.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #9da170 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 #9da170?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B6B995, #9da170 45%, #4B4D33). For more colour, a short hue run to #689260 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #9da170 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #9da170 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.