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yellow · warm

#acaf74

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

Token name suggestion: True Brass

RGB
172, 175, 116
HSL
63°, 27%, 57%
CMYK
2, 0, 34, 31
Luminance
0.4069

#acaf74 is a balanced soft yellow, 63° on the wheel and 33/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.14:1). As text it scores 2.30:1 on white — use #757845 instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(63 27% 57%)rgb(172 175 116)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #acaf74 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#acaf74
Hue
63°
yellow
Saturation
27%
soft
Lightness
57%
balanced
Brightness
69%
HSV value
Perceived
66%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4069
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
33/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.14:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 5.1
Chroma
31.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.737
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 16.7
Web-safe
#999966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue63° of 360°
Saturation27%
Lightness57%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #acaf74.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool33% 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%
Green75%
Blue3%

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

Every format

HEX#acaf74
HEX (8-digit)#acaf74ff
RGBrgb(172, 175, 116)
RGBArgba(172, 175, 116, 1)
HSLhsl(63, 27%, 57%)
HSV / HSBhsv(63, 34%, 69%)
HWBhwb(63 45% 31%)
CMYKcmyk(2%, 0%, 34%, 31%)
LABlab(70.0 -10.4 30.0)
LCHlch(70.0 31.7 109.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.737 0.079 110.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.50, 40.69, 22.50)
Decimal11317108
Display P3color(display-p3 0.675 0.686 0.455)
Web-safe#999966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #acaf74;
background-color: #acaf74;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #acaf74;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#acaf74] bg-[#acaf74]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #acaf74;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.675, green: 0.686, blue: 0.455)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.675, green: 0.686, blue: 0.455, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ACAF74</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFACAF74)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFACAF74)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(116, 175, 172)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(172, 175, 116)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(172, 175, 116)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 172, 175, 116)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6745f, 0.6863f, 0.4549f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{172,175,116}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #acaf74 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #acaf74 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4F512F, #E8E9D8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #acaf74 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: #F9F9F6;
  --brand-100: #F3F3EC;
  --brand-200: #E5E6D6;
  --brand-300: #D4D6B8;
  --brand-400: #BFC194;
  --brand-500: #acaf74;
  --brand-600: #989B59;
  --brand-700: #7F814B;
  --brand-800: #65683C;
  --brand-900: #4B4C2E;
  --brand-950: #2F301D;
  --brand: #acaf74;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F9F5;
  --brand-border: #E0E1CB;
  --brand-hover: #9EA25E;
  --brand-pressed: #888B50;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #232415;
    --brand-ink: #E8E9D8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F9F6',
        100: '#F3F3EC',
        200: '#E5E6D6',
        300: '#D4D6B8',
        400: '#BFC194',
        500: '#acaf74',
        600: '#989B59',
        700: '#7F814B',
        800: '#65683C',
        900: '#4B4C2E',
        950: '#2F301D',
        DEFAULT: '#acaf74',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F9F6,
  '100': #F3F3EC,
  '200': #E5E6D6,
  '300': #D4D6B8,
  '400': #BFC194,
  '500': #acaf74,
  '600': #989B59,
  '700': #7F814B,
  '800': #65683C,
  '900': #4B4C2E,
  '950': #2F301D,
);
$brand-base: #acaf74;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3F3EC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E5E6D6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D4D6B8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BFC194", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#acaf74", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#989B59", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7F814B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#65683C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4B4C2E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2F301D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #acaf74 · 9.14:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.30:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.14:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #acaf74 as text scores 2.30:1 on white and 9.14:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4F512F at 3.58:1.

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
#757845 · 4.64:1
AA on white−20% L
#757845
The quick fox
#595B34 · 7.07:1
AAA on white−29% L
#595B34
The quick fox
#acaf74 · 9.14:1
AA on blackalready passes
#acaf74
The quick fox
#acaf74 · 9.14:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#acaf74

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #959858 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
#acaf74 on white: 2.30:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#acaf74 on black: 9.14:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #acaf74 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #acaf74.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.30:1AaAa
Slate 502.20:1AaAa
Slate 1002.10:1AaAa
Slate 2001.86:1AaAa
Slate 3001.55:1AaAa
Slate 4001.12:1AaAa
Slate 5002.07:1AaAa
Slate 6003.30:1AaAa
Slate 7004.51:1AaAa
Slate 8006.37:1AaAa
Slate 9007.77:1AaAa
Black9.14:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B8AA70
deuteranopia · #B8AC76
tritanopia · #B4A8A0

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. #acaf74 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.

#F9F9F6
#F3F3EC
#E5E6D6
#D4D6B8
#BFC194
#acaf74
#989B59
#7F814B
#65683C
#4B4C2E
#2F301D
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F9F6Darkest = 950 · #2F301DText 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 0.020 110.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.032 110.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.048 110.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.062 110.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.073 110.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.079 110.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.079 110.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.074 110.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.067 110.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.055 110.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.044 110.7);
}

Colors that work with #acaf74

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#F9F9F5
Tinted page background
Border#E0E1CB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8E9254
Captions on the surface
Accent#707DB3
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4F512F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5F6EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#232415
Dark-mode background
Hover#9EA25E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#888B50
Two steps down
Disabled#D4D5BE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BDC077
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 #acaf74

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 #4F512F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #959858

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
  • Weight43/100
  • 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#7774AF
Analogous left#AF9574
Analogous right#8FAF74
Split-complement 1#748FAF
Split-complement 2#9574AF
Triadic 1#74ACAF
Triadic 2#AF74AC
Tetradic#74AF95
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°63°

#acaf74 sits at 63°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.5%
Green68.6%
Blue45.5%
R · 0–255
172
0xac
G · 0–255
175
0xaf
B · 0–255
116
0x74

CMYK percentages

Cyan1.7%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow33.7%
Key (black)31.4%

Total ink coverage is 67%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#acaf74 text on a black background

contrast 9.14:1

Card sample

#acaf74 text on a white background

contrast 2.30:1

Card sample

#acaf74 on grey

2.10:1

#acaf74 on its own surface

2.18:1

#acaf74 on its dark surface

6.85:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #acaf74;
Background color
Panel with #acaf74 background
background-color: #acaf74;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #acaf74;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(172, 175, 116, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(172, 175, 116, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #acaf74;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #acaf74, #85AF74);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #acaf74, #76AF74);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #acaf74;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #acaf74;
caret-color: #acaf74;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #acaf74;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5F6EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #acaf74;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#acaf74 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #acaf74 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, 175, 116, 0.5)
rgb(172 175 116 / 50%)
#acaf7480
hsl(63 27% 57% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #acaf74 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#acaf741a#F7F7F1
20%#acaf7433#EEEFE3
40%#acaf7466#DEDFC7
60%#acaf7499#CDCFAC
80%#acaf74cc#BDBF90

Gradients from #acaf74

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, #C3C59B, #acaf74 45%, #4F512F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #acaf74, #6EA461);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #acaf74, #7774AF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CFD1AE 0%, #acaf74 45%, #4F512F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F9F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C2AA95 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9ABA88 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4F512F 0%, transparent 65%), #acaf74;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #acaf74

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.

#acaf74 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 9.14:1.

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.

#acaf74, answered

What color is #acaf74?

#acaf74 is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 5.1). It sits at 63° on the hue wheel with 27% saturation and 57% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #acaf74?

rgb(172, 175, 116) — 172 red, 175 green and 116 blue out of 255, or 67.5% / 68.6% / 45.5% by channel.

What is #acaf74 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(63, 27%, 57%) and hsv(63, 34%, 69%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #acaf74 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4069 and perceived brightness is 66%, so black text on it reaches 9.14:1.

Should I use black or white text on #acaf74?

Black. It scores 9.14:1 against #acaf74, versus 2.30:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #acaf74 accessible on a white background?

#acaf74 on white scores 2.30:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #757845 to reach 4.5:1, or #595B34 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #acaf74?

#7774AF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #748FAF and #9574AF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #acaf74?

For interface work: #F9F9F5 as the surface, #E0E1CB for borders, #8E9254 for secondary text, #707DB3 as an accent and #4F512F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AF9574 and #8FAF74 stays calm, while #7774AF is the loudest partner.

What is #acaf74 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(2%, 0%, 34%, 31%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #acaf74 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 33 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AF9C74; nudged cooler, #97B172.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #acaf74?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 16.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #acaf74 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #acaf74 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#acaf74] or text-[#acaf74], 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 #acaf74 with 50% opacity?

rgba(172, 175, 116, 0.5), or #acaf7480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6D7BA; over black, #56583A.

Is #acaf74 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999966, ΔE2000 6.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #acaf74 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 #acaf74?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C3C59B, #acaf74 45%, #4F512F). For more colour, a short hue run to #6EA461 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #acaf74 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #acaf74 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.