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yellow · warm

#ad9b0f

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

Token name suggestion: Slate Brass

RGB
173, 155, 15
HSL
53°, 84%, 37%
CMYK
0, 10, 91, 32
Luminance
0.3236

#ad9b0f is a dark electric yellow, 53° on the wheel and 19/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.47:1). As text it scores 2.81:1 on white — use #83750B instead. Nearest name is Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(53 84% 37%)rgb(173 155 15)Base step 700AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ad9b0f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ad9b0f
Hue
53°
yellow
Saturation
84%
electric
Lightness
37%
dark
Brightness
68%
HSV value
Perceived
60%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3236
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
19/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
7.47:1
Closest name
Goldenrod
ΔE2000 10.9
Chroma
65.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.684
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 13.1
Web-safe
#999900
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue53° of 360°
Saturation84%
Lightness37%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ad9b0f.

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#ad9b0f
HEX (8-digit)#ad9b0fff
RGBrgb(173, 155, 15)
RGBArgba(173, 155, 15, 1)
HSLhsl(53, 84%, 37%)
HSV / HSBhsv(53, 91%, 68%)
HWBhwb(53 6% 32%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 10%, 91%, 32%)
LABlab(63.6 -6.5 64.9)
LCHlch(63.6 65.2 95.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.684 0.140 100.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(29.04, 32.36, 5.17)
Decimal11377423
Display P3color(display-p3 0.678 0.608 0.059)
Web-safe#999900

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ad9b0f;
background-color: #ad9b0f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ad9b0f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ad9b0f] bg-[#ad9b0f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ad9b0f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.678, green: 0.608, blue: 0.059)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.678, green: 0.608, blue: 0.059, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AD9B0F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAD9B0F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAD9B0F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(15, 155, 173)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(173, 155, 15)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(173, 155, 15)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 173, 155, 15)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6784f, 0.6078f, 0.0588f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{173,155,15}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ad9b0f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ad9b0f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#75690A, #EEEBD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ad9b0f 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: #FAF8E6;
  --brand-200: #F6F1C5;
  --brand-300: #F6EB98;
  --brand-400: #F2E264;
  --brand-500: #EDD831;
  --brand-600: #E1CA14;
  --brand-700: #ad9b0f;
  --brand-800: #96870D;
  --brand-900: #6C620E;
  --brand-950: #443D09;
  --brand: #ad9b0f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EDE8C0;
  --brand-hover: #8C7E0C;
  --brand-pressed: #6B6009;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242314;
    --brand-ink: #EEEBD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCFBF2',
        100: '#FAF8E6',
        200: '#F6F1C5',
        300: '#F6EB98',
        400: '#F2E264',
        500: '#EDD831',
        600: '#E1CA14',
        700: '#ad9b0f',
        800: '#96870D',
        900: '#6C620E',
        950: '#443D09',
        DEFAULT: '#ad9b0f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCFBF2,
  '100': #FAF8E6,
  '200': #F6F1C5,
  '300': #F6EB98,
  '400': #F2E264,
  '500': #EDD831,
  '600': #E1CA14,
  '700': #ad9b0f,
  '800': #96870D,
  '900': #6C620E,
  '950': #443D09,
);
$brand-base: #ad9b0f;
$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": "#FAF8E6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F6F1C5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F6EB98", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F2E264", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#EDD831", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#E1CA14", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#ad9b0f", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#96870D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6C620E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#443D09", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ad9b0f · 7.47:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.81:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.47:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ad9b0f as text scores 2.81:1 on white and 7.47:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #75690A at 1.98:1.

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
#83750B · 4.65:1
AA on white−9% L
#83750B
The quick fox
#625809 · 7.19:1
AAA on white−16% L
#625809
The quick fox
#ad9b0f · 7.47:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ad9b0f
The quick fox
#ad9b0f · 7.47:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ad9b0f

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A4930E 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
#ad9b0f on white: 2.81:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ad9b0f on black: 7.47:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ad9b0f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ad9b0f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.81:1AaAa
Slate 502.69:1AaAa
Slate 1002.57:1AaAa
Slate 2002.28:1AaAa
Slate 3001.89:1AaAa
Slate 4001.10:1AaAa
Slate 5001.69:1AaAa
Slate 6002.70:1AaAa
Slate 7003.68:1AaAa
Slate 8005.21:1AaAa
Slate 9006.35:1AaAa
Black7.47:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AB9600
deuteranopia · #B09D1F
tritanopia · #BB8F84

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. #ad9b0f is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FCFBF2
#FAF8E6
#F6F1C5
#F6EB98
#F2E264
#EDD831
#E1CA14
#ad9b0f
#96870D
#6C620E
#443D09
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #FCFBF2Darkest = 950 · #443D09Text 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 0.035 100.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.056 100.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.084 100.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.109 100.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.129 100.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.140 100.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.140 100.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.131 100.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.117 100.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.098 100.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.077 100.8);
}

Colors that work with #ad9b0f

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#EDE8C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B924B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0B47B1
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#75690A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDFBE8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242314
Dark-mode background
Hover#8C7E0C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6B6009
Two steps down
Disabled#ADA87F
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CAB406
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 #ad9b0f

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

Works well for
  • 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
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #75690A
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A4930E

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
  • Weight63/100
  • 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#0F21AD
Analogous left#AD4C0F
Analogous right#70AD0F
Split-complement 1#0F70AD
Split-complement 2#4C0FAD
Triadic 1#0FAD9B
Triadic 2#9B0FAD
Tetradic#0FAD4C
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°53°

#ad9b0f sits at 53°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red67.8%
Green60.8%
Blue5.9%
R · 0–255
173
0xad
G · 0–255
155
0x9b
B · 0–255
15
0x0f

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta10.4%
Yellow91.3%
Key (black)32.2%

Total ink coverage is 134%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ad9b0f text on a black background

contrast 7.47:1

Card sample

#ad9b0f text on a white background

contrast 2.81:1

Card sample

#ad9b0f on grey

2.57:1

#ad9b0f on its own surface

2.68:1

#ad9b0f on its dark surface

5.64:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ad9b0f;
Background color
Panel with #ad9b0f background
background-color: #ad9b0f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ad9b0f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(173, 155, 15, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(173, 155, 15, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ad9b0f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ad9b0f, #56AD0F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ad9b0f, #2EAD0F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ad9b0f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ad9b0f;
caret-color: #ad9b0f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ad9b0f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FDFBE8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ad9b0f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ad9b0f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ad9b0f 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(173, 155, 15, 0.5)
rgb(173 155 15 / 50%)
#ad9b0f80
hsl(53 84% 37% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ad9b0f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ad9b0f1a#F7F5E7
20%#ad9b0f33#EFEBCF
40%#ad9b0f66#DED79F
60%#ad9b0f99#CEC36F
80%#ad9b0fcc#BDAF3F

Gradients from #ad9b0f

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, #E5CE14, #ad9b0f 45%, #75690A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ad9b0f, #3D910D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ad9b0f, #0F21AD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EDD72B 0%, #ad9b0f 45%, #75690A 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%, #DC5013 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #73C912 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #75690A 0%, transparent 65%), #ad9b0f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ad9b0f

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.

#ad9b0f 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 7.47:1.

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.

#ad9b0f, answered

What color is #ad9b0f?

#ad9b0f is a dark electric yellow, closest to Goldenrod (ΔE2000 10.9). It sits at 53° on the hue wheel with 84% saturation and 37% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ad9b0f?

rgb(173, 155, 15) — 173 red, 155 green and 15 blue out of 255, or 67.8% / 60.8% / 5.9% by channel.

What is #ad9b0f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(53, 84%, 37%) and hsv(53, 91%, 68%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ad9b0f a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3236 and perceived brightness is 60%, so black text on it reaches 7.47:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ad9b0f?

Black. It scores 7.47:1 against #ad9b0f, versus 2.81:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ad9b0f accessible on a white background?

#ad9b0f on white scores 2.81:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #83750B to reach 4.5:1, or #625809 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ad9b0f?

#0F21AD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #0F70AD and #4C0FAD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ad9b0f?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EDE8C0 for borders, #9B924B for secondary text, #0B47B1 as an accent and #75690A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AD4C0F and #70AD0F stays calm, while #0F21AD is the loudest partner.

What is #ad9b0f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 10%, 91%, 32%). 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 #ad9b0f 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 #AD700F; nudged cooler, #86AF0D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ad9b0f?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 13.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ad9b0f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ad9b0f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ad9b0f] or text-[#ad9b0f], 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 #ad9b0f with 50% opacity?

rgba(173, 155, 15, 0.5), or #ad9b0f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D6CD87; over black, #574E08.

Is #ad9b0f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999900, ΔE2000 5.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ad9b0f 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 #ad9b0f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E5CE14, #ad9b0f 45%, #75690A). For more colour, a short hue run to #3D910D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ad9b0f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ad9b0f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.