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yellow · warm

#a49310

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

Token name suggestion: Dusk Brass

RGB
164, 147, 16
HSL
53°, 82%, 35%
CMYK
0, 10, 90, 36
Luminance
0.2880

#a49310 is a dark electric yellow, 53° on the wheel and 19/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (6.76:1). As text it scores 3.11:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Olive, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(53 82% 35%)rgb(164 147 16)Base step 800AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a49310 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a49310
Hue
53°
yellow
Saturation
82%
electric
Lightness
35%
dark
Brightness
64%
HSV value
Perceived
56%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2880
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
19/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
6.76:1
Closest name
Olive
ΔE2000 9.4
Chroma
62.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.658
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 15.2
Web-safe
#999900
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue53° of 360°
Saturation82%
Lightness35%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a49310.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool19% 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
Red27%
Green72%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#a49310
HEX (8-digit)#a49310ff
RGBrgb(164, 147, 16)
RGBArgba(164, 147, 16, 1)
HSLhsl(53, 82%, 35%)
HSV / HSBhsv(53, 90%, 64%)
HWBhwb(53 6% 36%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 10%, 90%, 36%)
LABlab(60.6 -6.3 62.0)
LCHlch(60.6 62.3 95.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.658 0.134 100.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(25.84, 28.80, 4.69)
Decimal10785552
Display P3color(display-p3 0.643 0.576 0.063)
Web-safe#999900

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a49310;
background-color: #a49310;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a49310;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a49310] bg-[#a49310]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a49310;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.643, green: 0.576, blue: 0.063)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.643, green: 0.576, blue: 0.063, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A49310</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA49310)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA49310)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(16, 147, 164)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(164, 147, 16)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(164, 147, 16)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 164, 147, 16)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6431f, 0.5765f, 0.0627f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{164,147,16}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a49310 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a49310 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#74680B, #EEEBD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a49310 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: #FCFBF2;
  --brand-100: #FAF7E6;
  --brand-200: #F6F0C6;
  --brand-300: #F5EA99;
  --brand-400: #F0E066;
  --brand-500: #EBD633;
  --brand-600: #DFC816;
  --brand-700: #BAA712;
  --brand-800: #a49310;
  --brand-900: #6B610F;
  --brand-950: #433D09;
  --brand: #a49310;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EDE7C0;
  --brand-hover: #83760D;
  --brand-pressed: #63590A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242314;
    --brand-ink: #EEEBD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCFBF2',
        100: '#FAF7E6',
        200: '#F6F0C6',
        300: '#F5EA99',
        400: '#F0E066',
        500: '#EBD633',
        600: '#DFC816',
        700: '#BAA712',
        800: '#a49310',
        900: '#6B610F',
        950: '#433D09',
        DEFAULT: '#a49310',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCFBF2,
  '100': #FAF7E6,
  '200': #F6F0C6,
  '300': #F5EA99,
  '400': #F0E066,
  '500': #EBD633,
  '600': #DFC816,
  '700': #BAA712,
  '800': #a49310,
  '900': #6B610F,
  '950': #433D09,
);
$brand-base: #a49310;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCFBF2", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FAF7E6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F6F0C6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F5EA99", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F0E066", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#EBD633", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#DFC816", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#BAA712", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#a49310", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6B610F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#433D09", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #a49310 · 6.76:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.11:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 6.76:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #a49310 as text scores 3.11:1 on white and 6.76:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #74680B at 1.81:1.

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
#83760D · 4.60:1
AA on white−7% L
#83760D
The quick fox
#63590A · 7.09:1
AAA on white−14% L
#63590A
The quick fox
#a49310 · 6.76:1
AA on blackalready passes
#a49310
The quick fox
#A99710 · 7.12:1
AAA on black+1% L
#A99710

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A49310 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
#a49310 on white: 3.11:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a49310 on black: 6.76:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a49310 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a49310.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.11:1AaAa
Slate 502.97:1AaAa
Slate 1002.84:1AaAa
Slate 2002.52:1AaAa
Slate 3002.09:1AaAa
Slate 4001.21:1AaAa
Slate 5001.53:1AaAa
Slate 6002.44:1AaAa
Slate 7003.33:1AaAa
Slate 8004.71:1AaAa
Slate 9005.75:1AaAa
Black6.76:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A28E00
deuteranopia · #A7951E
tritanopia · #B2877D

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. #a49310 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.

#FCFBF2
#FAF7E6
#F6F0C6
#F5EA99
#F0E066
#EBD633
#DFC816
#BAA712
#a49310
#6B610F
#433D09
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #FCFBF2Darkest = 950 · #433D09Text step on white = 900
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 0.033 100.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.054 100.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.080 100.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.104 100.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.123 100.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.134 100.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.134 100.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.126 100.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.112 100.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.094 100.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.074 100.8);
}

Colors that work with #a49310

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#FAFAF4
Tinted page background
Border#EDE7C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B924B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0C45A8
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#74680B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDFAE8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242314
Dark-mode background
Hover#83760D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#63590A
Two steps down
Disabled#AAA57A
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C1AB08
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 #a49310

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • 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
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • 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
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #74680B
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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight65/100
  • 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#1021A4
Analogous left#A44910
Analogous right#6BA410
Split-complement 1#106BA4
Split-complement 2#4910A4
Triadic 1#10A493
Triadic 2#9310A4
Tetradic#10A449
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°53°

#a49310 sits at 53°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red64.3%
Green57.6%
Blue6.3%
R · 0–255
164
0xa4
G · 0–255
147
0x93
B · 0–255
16
0x10

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta10.4%
Yellow90.2%
Key (black)35.7%

Total ink coverage is 136%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a49310 text on a black background

contrast 6.76:1

Card sample

#a49310 text on a white background

contrast 3.11:1

Card sample

#a49310 on grey

2.84:1

#a49310 on its own surface

2.97:1

#a49310 on its dark surface

5.10:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a49310;
Background color
Panel with #a49310 background
background-color: #a49310;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a49310;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(164, 147, 16, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(164, 147, 16, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a49310;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a49310, #52A410);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a49310, #2DA410);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a49310;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a49310;
caret-color: #a49310;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a49310;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FDFAE8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a49310;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a49310 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a49310 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(164, 147, 16, 0.5)
rgb(164 147 16 / 50%)
#a4931080
hsl(53 82% 35% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a49310 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a493101a#F6F4E7
20%#a4931033#EDE9CF
40%#a4931066#DBD49F
60%#a4931099#C8BE70
80%#a49310cc#B6A940

Gradients from #a49310

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, #DCC515, #a49310 45%, #74680B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a49310, #3A880D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a49310, #1021A4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EAD326 0%, #a49310 45%, #74680B 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%, #D24E15 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #6FC013 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #74680B 0%, transparent 65%), #a49310;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a49310

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.

#a49310 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 6.76:1.

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.

#a49310, answered

What color is #a49310?

#a49310 is a dark electric yellow, closest to Olive (ΔE2000 9.4). It sits at 53° on the hue wheel with 82% saturation and 35% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #a49310?

rgb(164, 147, 16) — 164 red, 147 green and 16 blue out of 255, or 64.3% / 57.6% / 6.3% by channel.

What is #a49310 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(53, 82%, 35%) and hsv(53, 90%, 64%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a49310 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2880 and perceived brightness is 56%, so black text on it reaches 6.76:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a49310?

Black. It scores 6.76:1 against #a49310, versus 3.11:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #a49310 accessible on a white background?

#a49310 on white scores 3.11:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #83760D to reach 4.5:1, or #63590A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #a49310?

#1021A4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #106BA4 and #4910A4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a49310?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EDE7C0 for borders, #9B924B for secondary text, #0C45A8 as an accent and #74680B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A44910 and #6BA410 stays calm, while #1021A4 is the loudest partner.

What is #a49310 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 10%, 90%, 36%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #a49310 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 19 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #A46A10; nudged cooler, #80A60E.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a49310?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 15.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a49310 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a49310 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a49310] or text-[#a49310], 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 #a49310 with 50% opacity?

rgba(164, 147, 16, 0.5), or #a4931080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D2C988; over black, #524A08.

Is #a49310 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999900, ΔE2000 4.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a49310 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 #a49310?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DCC515, #a49310 45%, #74680B). For more colour, a short hue run to #3A880D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a49310 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a49310 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.