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yellow · warm

#af8901

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

Token name suggestion: Shadow Straw

RGB
175, 137, 1
HSL
47°, 99%, 35%
CMYK
0, 22, 99, 31
Luminance
0.2701

#af8901 is a dark electric yellow, 47° on the wheel and 14/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (6.40:1). As text it scores 3.28:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Dark Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(47 99% 35%)rgb(175 137 1)Base step 800AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #af8901 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#af8901
Hue
47°
yellow
Saturation
99%
electric
Lightness
35%
dark
Brightness
69%
HSV value
Perceived
56%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2701
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
14/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
6.40:1
Closest name
Dark Goldenrod
ΔE2000 3.8
Chroma
63.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.648
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 14
Web-safe
#999900
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue47° of 360°
Saturation99%
Lightness35%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #af8901.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool14% 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
Red34%
Green66%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#af8901
HEX (8-digit)#af8901ff
RGBrgb(175, 137, 1)
RGBArgba(175, 137, 1, 1)
HSLhsl(47, 99%, 35%)
HSV / HSBhsv(47, 99%, 69%)
HWBhwb(47 0% 31%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 22%, 99%, 31%)
LABlab(59.0 4.0 63.7)
LCHlch(59.0 63.8 86.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.648 0.132 88.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(26.63, 27.01, 3.84)
Decimal11503873
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.537 0.004)
Web-safe#999900

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #af8901;
background-color: #af8901;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #af8901;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#af8901] bg-[#af8901]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #af8901;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.537, blue: 0.004)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.537, blue: 0.004, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AF8901</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAF8901)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAF8901)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(1, 137, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 137, 1)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 137, 1)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 137, 1)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.5373f, 0.0039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,137,1}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #af8901 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #af8901 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7F6301, #EEE8D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #af8901 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: #FEFBF1;
  --brand-100: #FCF7E3;
  --brand-200: #FBEEC0;
  --brand-300: #FEE68F;
  --brand-400: #FEDA58;
  --brand-500: #FECD20;
  --brand-600: #F3BF01;
  --brand-700: #CB9F01;
  --brand-800: #af8901;
  --brand-900: #755D06;
  --brand-950: #493A03;
  --brand: #af8901;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #EDE3C0;
  --brand-hover: #8B6D01;
  --brand-pressed: #685101;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242114;
    --brand-ink: #EEE8D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FEFBF1',
        100: '#FCF7E3',
        200: '#FBEEC0',
        300: '#FEE68F',
        400: '#FEDA58',
        500: '#FECD20',
        600: '#F3BF01',
        700: '#CB9F01',
        800: '#af8901',
        900: '#755D06',
        950: '#493A03',
        DEFAULT: '#af8901',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FEFBF1,
  '100': #FCF7E3,
  '200': #FBEEC0,
  '300': #FEE68F,
  '400': #FEDA58,
  '500': #FECD20,
  '600': #F3BF01,
  '700': #CB9F01,
  '800': #af8901,
  '900': #755D06,
  '950': #493A03,
);
$brand-base: #af8901;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FEFBF1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCF7E3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FBEEC0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#FEE68F", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FEDA58", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FECD20", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F3BF01", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#CB9F01", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#af8901", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#755D06", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#493A03", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #af8901 · 6.40:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.28:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 6.40:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #af8901 as text scores 3.28:1 on white and 6.40:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7F6301 at 1.74:1.

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
#917101 · 4.60:1
AA on white−6% L
#917101
The quick fox
#6D5501 · 7.12:1
AAA on white−13% L
#6D5501
The quick fox
#af8901 · 6.40:1
AA on blackalready passes
#af8901
The quick fox
#B99101 · 7.11:1
AAA on black+2% L
#B99101

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AF8901 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
#af8901 on white: 3.28:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#af8901 on black: 6.40:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #af8901 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #af8901.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.28:1AaAa
Slate 503.14:1AaAa
Slate 1002.99:1AaAa
Slate 2002.66:1AaAa
Slate 3002.21:1AaAa
Slate 4001.28:1AaAa
Slate 5001.45:1AaAa
Slate 6002.31:1AaAa
Slate 7003.16:1AaAa
Slate 8004.46:1AaAa
Slate 9005.44:1AaAa
Black6.40:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9B8800
deuteranopia · #A49212
tritanopia · #BF7B74

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. #af8901 is pinned to step 800; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FEFBF1
#FCF7E3
#FBEEC0
#FEE68F
#FEDA58
#FECD20
#F3BF01
#CB9F01
#af8901
#755D06
#493A03
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #FEFBF1Darkest = 950 · #493A03Text 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 0.033 88.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.053 88.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.079 88.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.103 88.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.122 88.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.132 88.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.132 88.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.124 88.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.111 88.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.093 88.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.073 88.9);
}

Colors that work with #af8901

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#FAF9F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDE3C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B894B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0052B0
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7F6301
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFF9E6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242114
Dark-mode background
Hover#8B6D01
One step down in lightness
Pressed#685101
Two steps down
Disabled#A89E78
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C49900
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 #af8901

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • 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
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • 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
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #7F6301
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

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
  • Weight66/100
  • 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#0127AF
Analogous left#AF3201
Analogous right#7EAF01
Split-complement 1#017EAF
Split-complement 2#3201AF
Triadic 1#01AF89
Triadic 2#8901AF
Tetradic#01AF32
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°47°

#af8901 sits at 47°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green53.7%
Blue0.4%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
137
0x89
B · 0–255
1
0x01

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta21.7%
Yellow99.4%
Key (black)31.4%

Total ink coverage is 153%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#af8901 text on a black background

contrast 6.40:1

Card sample

#af8901 text on a white background

contrast 3.28:1

Card sample

#af8901 on grey

2.99:1

#af8901 on its own surface

3.11:1

#af8901 on its dark surface

4.91:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #af8901;
Background color
Panel with #af8901 background
background-color: #af8901;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #af8901;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 137, 1, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 137, 1, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #af8901;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #af8901, #61AF01);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af8901, #35AF01);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #af8901;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #af8901;
caret-color: #af8901;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #af8901;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFF9E6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #af8901;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#af8901 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #af8901 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(175, 137, 1, 0.5)
rgb(175 137 1 / 50%)
#af890180
hsl(47 99% 35% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #af8901 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#af89011a#F7F3E6
20%#af890133#EFE7CC
40%#af890166#DFD099
60%#af890199#CFB867
80%#af8901cc#BFA134

Gradients from #af8901

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, #ECB901, #af8901 45%, #7F6301);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #af8901, #449101);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af8901, #0127AF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FEC90E 0%, #af8901 45%, #7F6301 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF9F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E22E01 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #83CD01 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7F6301 0%, transparent 65%), #af8901;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #af8901

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.

#af8901 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 6.40:1.

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.

#af8901, answered

What color is #af8901?

#af8901 is a dark electric yellow, closest to Dark Goldenrod (ΔE2000 3.8). It sits at 47° on the hue wheel with 99% saturation and 35% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #af8901?

rgb(175, 137, 1) — 175 red, 137 green and 1 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 53.7% / 0.4% by channel.

What is #af8901 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(47, 99%, 35%) and hsv(47, 99%, 69%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #af8901 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2701 and perceived brightness is 56%, so black text on it reaches 6.40:1.

Should I use black or white text on #af8901?

Black. It scores 6.40:1 against #af8901, versus 3.28:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #af8901 accessible on a white background?

#af8901 on white scores 3.28:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #917101 to reach 4.5:1, or #6D5501 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #af8901?

#0127AF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #017EAF and #3201AF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #af8901?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #EDE3C0 for borders, #9B894B for secondary text, #0052B0 as an accent and #7F6301 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AF3201 and #7EAF01 stays calm, while #0127AF is the loudest partner.

What is #af8901 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 22%, 99%, 31%). 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 #af8901 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 14 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AF6601; nudged cooler, #96B000.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #af8901?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 14 away. That is a visible difference, so define #af8901 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #af8901 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#af8901] or text-[#af8901], 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 #af8901 with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 137, 1, 0.5), or #af890180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7C480; over black, #584501.

Is #af8901 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999900, ΔE2000 11.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #af8901 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 #af8901?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ECB901, #af8901 45%, #7F6301). For more colour, a short hue run to #449101 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #af8901 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #af8901 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.