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yellow · warm

#aeaf83

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Brass

RGB
174, 175, 131
HSL
61°, 22%, 60%
CMYK
1, 0, 25, 31
Luminance
0.4130

#aeaf83 is a balanced soft yellow, 61° on the wheel and 35/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.26:1). As text it scores 2.27:1 on white — use #78794E instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(61 22% 60%)rgb(174 175 131)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #aeaf83 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#aeaf83
Hue
61°
yellow
Saturation
22%
soft
Lightness
60%
balanced
Brightness
69%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4130
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
35/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.26:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 7.5
Chroma
23.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.742
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 19.2
Web-safe
#999999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue61° of 360°
Saturation22%
Lightness60%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #aeaf83.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool35% 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%
Green74%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#aeaf83
HEX (8-digit)#aeaf83ff
RGBrgb(174, 175, 131)
RGBArgba(174, 175, 131, 1)
HSLhsl(61, 22%, 60%)
HSV / HSBhsv(61, 25%, 69%)
HWBhwb(61 51% 31%)
CMYKcmyk(1%, 0%, 25%, 31%)
LABlab(70.4 -7.7 22.5)
LCHlch(70.4 23.8 108.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.742 0.060 108.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(36.88, 41.30, 27.50)
Decimal11448195
Display P3color(display-p3 0.682 0.686 0.514)
Web-safe#999999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #aeaf83;
background-color: #aeaf83;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #aeaf83;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#aeaf83] bg-[#aeaf83]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #aeaf83;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.682, green: 0.686, blue: 0.514)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.682, green: 0.686, blue: 0.514, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AEAF83</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAEAF83)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAEAF83)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(131, 175, 174)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(174, 175, 131)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(174, 175, 131)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 174, 175, 131)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6824f, 0.6863f, 0.5137f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{174,175,131}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #aeaf83 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #aeaf83 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4D4E32, #E7E7DA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #aeaf83 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: #F2F2ED;
  --brand-200: #E4E4D8;
  --brand-300: #D2D3BB;
  --brand-400: #BCBD99;
  --brand-500: #aeaf83;
  --brand-600: #949560;
  --brand-700: #7B7C50;
  --brand-800: #626340;
  --brand-900: #494931;
  --brand-950: #2D2E1F;
  --brand: #aeaf83;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F9F6;
  --brand-border: #DFDFCD;
  --brand-hover: #A0A16D;
  --brand-pressed: #8D8F5C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #222216;
    --brand-ink: #E7E7DA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F9F6',
        100: '#F2F2ED',
        200: '#E4E4D8',
        300: '#D2D3BB',
        400: '#BCBD99',
        500: '#aeaf83',
        600: '#949560',
        700: '#7B7C50',
        800: '#626340',
        900: '#494931',
        950: '#2D2E1F',
        DEFAULT: '#aeaf83',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F9F6,
  '100': #F2F2ED,
  '200': #E4E4D8,
  '300': #D2D3BB,
  '400': #BCBD99,
  '500': #aeaf83,
  '600': #949560,
  '700': #7B7C50,
  '800': #626340,
  '900': #494931,
  '950': #2D2E1F,
);
$brand-base: #aeaf83;
$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": "#F2F2ED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E4E4D8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D2D3BB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BCBD99", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#aeaf83", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#949560", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7B7C50", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#626340", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#494931", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2D2E1F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #aeaf83 · 9.26:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.27:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.26:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #aeaf83 as text scores 2.27:1 on white and 9.26:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4D4E32 at 3.78:1.

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
#78794E · 4.52:1
AA on white−21% L
#78794E
The quick fox
#595A3A · 7.12:1
AAA on white−31% L
#595A3A
The quick fox
#aeaf83 · 9.26:1
AA on blackalready passes
#aeaf83
The quick fox
#aeaf83 · 9.26:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#aeaf83

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #979862 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
#aeaf83 on white: 2.27:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#aeaf83 on black: 9.26:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #aeaf83 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #aeaf83.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.27:1AaAa
Slate 502.17:1AaAa
Slate 1002.07:1AaAa
Slate 2001.84:1AaAa
Slate 3001.53:1AaAa
Slate 4001.13:1AaAa
Slate 5002.10:1AaAa
Slate 6003.34:1AaAa
Slate 7004.57:1AaAa
Slate 8006.45:1AaAa
Slate 9007.87:1AaAa
Black9.26:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B6AB80
deuteranopia · #B7AD85
tritanopia · #B4A9A3

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. #aeaf83 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
#F2F2ED
#E4E4D8
#D2D3BB
#BCBD99
#aeaf83
#949560
#7B7C50
#626340
#494931
#2D2E1F
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F9F6Darkest = 950 · #2D2E1FText 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 0.015 108.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 108.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.036 108.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.047 108.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.055 108.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.060 108.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.060 108.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.056 108.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.050 108.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.042 108.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 108.9);
}

Colors that work with #aeaf83

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#F9F9F6
Tinted page background
Border#DFDFCD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8A8C5A
Captions on the surface
Accent#7F8BB3
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4D4E32
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5F5EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#222216
Dark-mode background
Hover#A0A16D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8D8F5C
Two steps down
Disabled#DBDBC7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BFC086
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 #aeaf83

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 #4D4E32
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #979862

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
  • Weight40/100
  • 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#8483AF
Analogous left#AF9A83
Analogous right#98AF83
Split-complement 1#8398AF
Split-complement 2#9A83AF
Triadic 1#83AEAF
Triadic 2#AF83AE
Tetradic#83AF9A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°61°

#aeaf83 sits at 61°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.2%
Green68.6%
Blue51.4%
R · 0–255
174
0xae
G · 0–255
175
0xaf
B · 0–255
131
0x83

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.6%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow25.1%
Key (black)31.4%

Total ink coverage is 57%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#aeaf83 text on a black background

contrast 9.26:1

Card sample

#aeaf83 text on a white background

contrast 2.27:1

Card sample

#aeaf83 on grey

2.07:1

#aeaf83 on its own surface

2.15:1

#aeaf83 on its dark surface

7.08:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #aeaf83;
Background color
Panel with #aeaf83 background
background-color: #aeaf83;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #aeaf83;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(174, 175, 131, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(174, 175, 131, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #aeaf83;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #aeaf83, #91AF83);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aeaf83, #86AF83);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #aeaf83;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #aeaf83;
caret-color: #aeaf83;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #aeaf83;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5F5EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #aeaf83;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#aeaf83 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #aeaf83 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, 175, 131, 0.5)
rgb(174 175 131 / 50%)
#aeaf8380
hsl(61 22% 60% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #aeaf83 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#aeaf831a#F7F7F3
20%#aeaf8333#EFEFE6
40%#aeaf8366#DFDFCD
60%#aeaf8399#CECFB5
80%#aeaf83cc#BEBF9C

Gradients from #aeaf83

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, #C6C7A8, #aeaf83 45%, #4D4E32);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #aeaf83, #7CA370);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #aeaf83, #8483AF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D2D3BB 0%, #aeaf83 45%, #4D4E32 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F9F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C3B1A2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A4BB96 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4D4E32 0%, transparent 65%), #aeaf83;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #aeaf83

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.

#aeaf83 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 9.26:1.

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.

#aeaf83, answered

What color is #aeaf83?

#aeaf83 is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 7.5). It sits at 61° on the hue wheel with 22% saturation and 60% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #aeaf83?

rgb(174, 175, 131) — 174 red, 175 green and 131 blue out of 255, or 68.2% / 68.6% / 51.4% by channel.

What is #aeaf83 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(61, 22%, 60%) and hsv(61, 25%, 69%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #aeaf83 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4130 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 9.26:1.

Should I use black or white text on #aeaf83?

Black. It scores 9.26:1 against #aeaf83, versus 2.27:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #aeaf83 accessible on a white background?

#aeaf83 on white scores 2.27:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #78794E to reach 4.5:1, or #595A3A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #aeaf83?

#8483AF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #8398AF and #9A83AF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #aeaf83?

For interface work: #F9F9F6 as the surface, #DFDFCD for borders, #8A8C5A for secondary text, #7F8BB3 as an accent and #4D4E32 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AF9A83 and #98AF83 stays calm, while #8483AF is the loudest partner.

What is #aeaf83 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(1%, 0%, 25%, 31%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #aeaf83 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 35 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AFA083; nudged cooler, #9EB181.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #aeaf83?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 19.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #aeaf83 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #aeaf83 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#aeaf83] or text-[#aeaf83], 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 #aeaf83 with 50% opacity?

rgba(174, 175, 131, 0.5), or #aeaf8380 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7D7C1; over black, #575842.

Is #aeaf83 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999999, ΔE2000 17.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #aeaf83 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 #aeaf83?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C6C7A8, #aeaf83 45%, #4D4E32). For more colour, a short hue run to #7CA370 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #aeaf83 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #aeaf83 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.