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yellow · warm

#ac9f5f

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Brass

RGB
172, 159, 95
HSL
50°, 32%, 52%
CMYK
0, 8, 45, 33
Luminance
0.3439

#ac9f5f is a balanced soft yellow, 50° on the wheel and 20/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.88:1). As text it scores 2.67:1 on white — use #817743 instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(50 32% 52%)rgb(172 159 95)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ac9f5f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ac9f5f
Hue
50°
yellow
Saturation
32%
soft
Lightness
52%
balanced
Brightness
67%
HSV value
Perceived
62%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3439
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
20/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.88:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 7.1
Chroma
35.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.699
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 16.4
Web-safe
#999966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue50° of 360°
Saturation32%
Lightness52%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ac9f5f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool20% 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%
Green72%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#ac9f5f
HEX (8-digit)#ac9f5fff
RGBrgb(172, 159, 95)
RGBArgba(172, 159, 95, 1)
HSLhsl(50, 32%, 52%)
HSV / HSBhsv(50, 45%, 67%)
HWBhwb(50 37% 33%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 8%, 45%, 33%)
LABlab(65.3 -4.4 35.0)
LCHlch(65.3 35.3 97.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.699 0.086 98.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.48, 34.39, 15.80)
Decimal11312991
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.624 0.373)
Web-safe#999966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ac9f5f;
background-color: #ac9f5f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ac9f5f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ac9f5f] bg-[#ac9f5f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ac9f5f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.624, blue: 0.373)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.675, green: 0.624, blue: 0.373, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AC9F5F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAC9F5F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAC9F5F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(95, 159, 172)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(172, 159, 95)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(172, 159, 95)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 172, 159, 95)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6745f, 0.6235f, 0.3725f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{172,159,95}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ac9f5f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ac9f5f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#544D2C, #EAE7D7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ac9f5f 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: #F9F9F5;
  --brand-100: #F3F2EC;
  --brand-200: #E7E4D5;
  --brand-300: #D9D3B5;
  --brand-400: #C6BD90;
  --brand-500: #ac9f5f;
  --brand-600: #A19454;
  --brand-700: #867B46;
  --brand-800: #6B6338;
  --brand-900: #4F492B;
  --brand-950: #312E1B;
  --brand: #ac9f5f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F5;
  --brand-border: #E3DFC9;
  --brand-hover: #988C4F;
  --brand-pressed: #817743;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242214;
    --brand-ink: #EAE7D7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F9F5',
        100: '#F3F2EC',
        200: '#E7E4D5',
        300: '#D9D3B5',
        400: '#C6BD90',
        500: '#ac9f5f',
        600: '#A19454',
        700: '#867B46',
        800: '#6B6338',
        900: '#4F492B',
        950: '#312E1B',
        DEFAULT: '#ac9f5f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F9F5,
  '100': #F3F2EC,
  '200': #E7E4D5,
  '300': #D9D3B5,
  '400': #C6BD90,
  '500': #ac9f5f,
  '600': #A19454,
  '700': #867B46,
  '800': #6B6338,
  '900': #4F492B,
  '950': #312E1B,
);
$brand-base: #ac9f5f;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F9F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3F2EC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E7E4D5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D9D3B5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C6BD90", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#ac9f5f", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A19454", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#867B46", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6B6338", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4F492B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#312E1B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ac9f5f · 7.88:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.67:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.88:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ac9f5f as text scores 2.67:1 on white and 7.88:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #544D2C at 3.18:1.

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
#817743 · 4.51:1
AA on white−14% L
#817743
The quick fox
#5F5831 · 7.18:1
AAA on white−24% L
#5F5831
The quick fox
#ac9f5f · 7.88:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ac9f5f
The quick fox
#ac9f5f · 7.88:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ac9f5f

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A39554 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
#ac9f5f on white: 2.67:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ac9f5f on black: 7.88:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ac9f5f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ac9f5f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.67:1AaAa
Slate 502.55:1AaAa
Slate 1002.43:1AaAa
Slate 2002.16:1AaAa
Slate 3001.80:1AaAa
Slate 4001.04:1AaAa
Slate 5001.79:1AaAa
Slate 6002.84:1AaAa
Slate 7003.88:1AaAa
Slate 8005.49:1AaAa
Slate 9006.70:1AaAa
Black7.88:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AA9C5A
deuteranopia · #AEA162
tritanopia · #B7978F

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. #ac9f5f 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.

#F9F9F5
#F3F2EC
#E7E4D5
#D9D3B5
#C6BD90
#ac9f5f
#A19454
#867B46
#6B6338
#4F492B
#312E1B
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F9F5Darkest = 950 · #312E1BText 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 0.021 98.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.034 98.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.051 98.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.067 98.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.079 98.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.086 98.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.086 98.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.080 98.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.072 98.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.060 98.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.047 98.1);
}

Colors that work with #ac9f5f

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#FAF9F5
Tinted page background
Border#E3DFC9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#978B4E
Captions on the surface
Accent#5A7FB1
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#544D2C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6F5EE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242214
Dark-mode background
Hover#988C4F
One step down in lightness
Pressed#817743
Two steps down
Disabled#CCC7AF
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BEAF61
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 #ac9f5f

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 #544D2C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A39554

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
  • Weight48/100
  • 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#5F6CAC
Analogous left#AC795F
Analogous right#93AC5F
Split-complement 1#5F93AC
Split-complement 2#795FAC
Triadic 1#5FAC9F
Triadic 2#9F5FAC
Tetradic#5FAC79
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°50°

#ac9f5f sits at 50°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green62.4%
Blue37.3%
R · 0–255
172
0xac
G · 0–255
159
0x9f
B · 0–255
95
0x5f

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta7.6%
Yellow44.8%
Key (black)32.5%

Total ink coverage is 85%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ac9f5f text on a black background

contrast 7.88:1

Card sample

#ac9f5f text on a white background

contrast 2.67:1

Card sample

#ac9f5f on grey

2.43:1

#ac9f5f on its own surface

2.53:1

#ac9f5f on its dark surface

6.00:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ac9f5f;
Background color
Panel with #ac9f5f background
background-color: #ac9f5f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ac9f5f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 159, 95, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 159, 95, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ac9f5f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ac9f5f, #86AC5F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac9f5f, #73AC5F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ac9f5f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ac9f5f;
caret-color: #ac9f5f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ac9f5f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6F5EE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ac9f5f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ac9f5f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ac9f5f 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(172, 159, 95, 0.5)
rgb(172 159 95 / 50%)
#ac9f5f80
hsl(50 32% 52% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ac9f5f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ac9f5f1a#F7F5EF
20%#ac9f5f33#EEECDF
40%#ac9f5f66#DED9BF
60%#ac9f5f99#CDC59F
80%#ac9f5fcc#BDB27F

Gradients from #ac9f5f

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, #C1B787, #ac9f5f 45%, #544D2C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ac9f5f, #709C51);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ac9f5f, #5F6CAC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CBC39C 0%, #ac9f5f 45%, #544D2C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF9F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #BE9081 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9BB773 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #544D2C 0%, transparent 65%), #ac9f5f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ac9f5f

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.

#ac9f5f 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 7.88:1.

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.

#ac9f5f, answered

What color is #ac9f5f?

#ac9f5f is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 7.1). It sits at 50° on the hue wheel with 32% saturation and 52% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ac9f5f?

rgb(172, 159, 95) — 172 red, 159 green and 95 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 62.4% / 37.3% by channel.

What is #ac9f5f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(50, 32%, 52%) and hsv(50, 45%, 67%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ac9f5f a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3439 and perceived brightness is 62%, so black text on it reaches 7.88:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ac9f5f?

Black. It scores 7.88:1 against #ac9f5f, versus 2.67:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ac9f5f accessible on a white background?

#ac9f5f on white scores 2.67:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #817743 to reach 4.5:1, or #5F5831 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ac9f5f?

#5F6CAC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #5F93AC and #795FAC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ac9f5f?

For interface work: #FAF9F5 as the surface, #E3DFC9 for borders, #978B4E for secondary text, #5A7FB1 as an accent and #544D2C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AC795F and #93AC5F stays calm, while #5F6CAC is the loudest partner.

What is #ac9f5f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 8%, 45%, 33%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ac9f5f warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 20 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AC885F; nudged cooler, #9EAF5D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ac9f5f?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 16.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ac9f5f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ac9f5f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ac9f5f] or text-[#ac9f5f], 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 #ac9f5f with 50% opacity?

rgba(172, 159, 95, 0.5), or #ac9f5f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6CFAF; over black, #565030.

Is #ac9f5f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999966, ΔE2000 5.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ac9f5f 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 #ac9f5f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C1B787, #ac9f5f 45%, #544D2C). For more colour, a short hue run to #709C51 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ac9f5f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ac9f5f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.