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yellow · warm

#aea864

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

Token name suggestion: True Citron

RGB
174, 168, 100
HSL
55°, 31%, 54%
CMYK
0, 3, 43, 32
Luminance
0.3792

#aea864 is a balanced soft yellow, 55° on the wheel and 24/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.58:1). As text it scores 2.45:1 on white — use #7B7640 instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(55 31% 54%)rgb(174 168 100)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #aea864 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#aea864
Hue
55°
yellow
Saturation
31%
soft
Lightness
54%
balanced
Brightness
68%
HSV value
Perceived
64%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3792
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
24/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.58:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 4.4
Chroma
36.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.721
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 16.9
Web-safe
#999966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue55° of 360°
Saturation31%
Lightness54%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #aea864.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool24% 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
Red24%
Green74%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#aea864
HEX (8-digit)#aea864ff
RGBrgb(174, 168, 100)
RGBArgba(174, 168, 100, 1)
HSLhsl(55, 31%, 54%)
HSV / HSBhsv(55, 43%, 68%)
HWBhwb(55 39% 32%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 3%, 43%, 32%)
LABlab(68.0 -7.8 35.8)
LCHlch(68.0 36.7 102.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.721 0.089 104.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(33.76, 37.92, 17.60)
Decimal11446372
Display P3color(display-p3 0.682 0.659 0.392)
Web-safe#999966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #aea864;
background-color: #aea864;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #aea864;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#aea864] bg-[#aea864]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #aea864;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.682, green: 0.659, blue: 0.392)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.682, green: 0.659, blue: 0.392, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AEA864</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAEA864)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAEA864)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(100, 168, 174)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(174, 168, 100)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(174, 168, 100)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 174, 168, 100)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6824f, 0.6588f, 0.3922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{174,168,100}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #aea864 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #aea864 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#54502C, #EAE8D7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #aea864 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: #F3F3EC;
  --brand-200: #E7E6D5;
  --brand-300: #D9D6B5;
  --brand-400: #C5C190;
  --brand-500: #aea864;
  --brand-600: #A19B54;
  --brand-700: #868146;
  --brand-800: #6B6738;
  --brand-900: #4F4C2C;
  --brand-950: #312F1B;
  --brand: #aea864;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F5;
  --brand-border: #E3E1C9;
  --brand-hover: #9C9652;
  --brand-pressed: #858045;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242314;
    --brand-ink: #EAE8D7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F9F5',
        100: '#F3F3EC',
        200: '#E7E6D5',
        300: '#D9D6B5',
        400: '#C5C190',
        500: '#aea864',
        600: '#A19B54',
        700: '#868146',
        800: '#6B6738',
        900: '#4F4C2C',
        950: '#312F1B',
        DEFAULT: '#aea864',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F9F5,
  '100': #F3F3EC,
  '200': #E7E6D5,
  '300': #D9D6B5,
  '400': #C5C190,
  '500': #aea864,
  '600': #A19B54,
  '700': #868146,
  '800': #6B6738,
  '900': #4F4C2C,
  '950': #312F1B,
);
$brand-base: #aea864;
$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": "#F3F3EC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E7E6D5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D9D6B5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C5C190", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#aea864", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A19B54", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#868146", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6B6738", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4F4C2C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#312F1B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #aea864 · 8.58:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.45:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.58:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #aea864 as text scores 2.45:1 on white and 8.58:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #54502C at 3.35:1.

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
#7B7640 · 4.66:1
AA on white−17% L
#7B7640
The quick fox
#5D5930 · 7.15:1
AAA on white−26% L
#5D5930
The quick fox
#aea864 · 8.58:1
AA on blackalready passes
#aea864
The quick fox
#aea864 · 8.58:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#aea864

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9C9652 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
#aea864 on white: 2.45:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#aea864 on black: 8.58:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #aea864 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #aea864.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.45:1AaAa
Slate 502.34:1AaAa
Slate 1002.23:1AaAa
Slate 2001.98:1AaAa
Slate 3001.65:1AaAa
Slate 4001.05:1AaAa
Slate 5001.95:1AaAa
Slate 6003.10:1AaAa
Slate 7004.23:1AaAa
Slate 8005.98:1AaAa
Slate 9007.30:1AaAa
Black8.58:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B3A45F
deuteranopia · #B5A767
tritanopia · #B8A097

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. #aea864 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
#F3F3EC
#E7E6D5
#D9D6B5
#C5C190
#aea864
#A19B54
#868146
#6B6738
#4F4C2C
#312F1B
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F9F5Darkest = 950 · #312F1BText 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 0.022 104.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.036 104.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.054 104.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.070 104.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.082 104.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.089 104.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.089 104.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.084 104.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.075 104.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.063 104.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.049 104.0);
}

Colors that work with #aea864

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#E3E1C9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#97914F
Captions on the surface
Accent#5F7BB3
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#54502C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6F6EE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242314
Dark-mode background
Hover#9C9652
One step down in lightness
Pressed#858045
Two steps down
Disabled#CFCCB3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C0B866
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 #aea864

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 #54502C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9C9652

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
  • Weight46/100
  • 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#646AAE
Analogous left#AE8364
Analogous right#8FAE64
Split-complement 1#648FAE
Split-complement 2#8364AE
Triadic 1#64AEA8
Triadic 2#A864AE
Tetradic#64AE83
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°55°

#aea864 sits at 55°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.2%
Green65.9%
Blue39.2%
R · 0–255
174
0xae
G · 0–255
168
0xa8
B · 0–255
100
0x64

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta3.4%
Yellow42.5%
Key (black)31.8%

Total ink coverage is 78%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#aea864 text on a black background

contrast 8.58:1

Card sample

#aea864 text on a white background

contrast 2.45:1

Card sample

#aea864 on grey

2.23:1

#aea864 on its own surface

2.32:1

#aea864 on its dark surface

6.48:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #aea864;
Background color
Panel with #aea864 background
background-color: #aea864;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #aea864;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(174, 168, 100, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(174, 168, 100, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #aea864;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #aea864, #83AE64);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aea864, #70AE64);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #aea864;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #aea864;
caret-color: #aea864;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #aea864;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6F6EE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #aea864;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#aea864 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #aea864 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(174, 168, 100, 0.5)
rgb(174 168 100 / 50%)
#aea86480
hsl(55 31% 54% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #aea864 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#aea8641a#F7F6F0
20%#aea86433#EFEEE0
40%#aea86466#DFDCC1
60%#aea86499#CECBA2
80%#aea864cc#BEB983

Gradients from #aea864

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, #C3BF8C, #aea864 45%, #54502C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #aea864, #6DA053);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aea864, #646AAE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CDCAA0 0%, #aea864 45%, #54502C 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%, #C09985 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #98B978 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #54502C 0%, transparent 65%), #aea864;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #aea864

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.

#aea864 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 8.58:1.

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.

#aea864, answered

What color is #aea864?

#aea864 is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 4.4). It sits at 55° on the hue wheel with 31% saturation and 54% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #aea864?

rgb(174, 168, 100) — 174 red, 168 green and 100 blue out of 255, or 68.2% / 65.9% / 39.2% by channel.

What is #aea864 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(55, 31%, 54%) and hsv(55, 43%, 68%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #aea864 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3792 and perceived brightness is 64%, so black text on it reaches 8.58:1.

Should I use black or white text on #aea864?

Black. It scores 8.58:1 against #aea864, versus 2.45:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #aea864 accessible on a white background?

#aea864 on white scores 2.45:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7B7640 to reach 4.5:1, or #5D5930 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #aea864?

#646AAE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #648FAE and #8364AE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #aea864?

For interface work: #FAF9F5 as the surface, #E3E1C9 for borders, #97914F for secondary text, #5F7BB3 as an accent and #54502C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AE8364 and #8FAE64 stays calm, while #646AAE is the loudest partner.

What is #aea864 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 3%, 43%, 32%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #aea864 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 24 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AE8D64; nudged cooler, #9AB062.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #aea864?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 16.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #aea864 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #aea864 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#aea864] or text-[#aea864], 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 #aea864 with 50% opacity?

rgba(174, 168, 100, 0.5), or #aea86480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7D4B2; over black, #575432.

Is #aea864 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999966, ΔE2000 6.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #aea864 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 #aea864?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C3BF8C, #aea864 45%, #54502C). For more colour, a short hue run to #6DA053 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #aea864 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #aea864 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.