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yellow · warm

#af8f4e

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Brass

RGB
175, 143, 78
HSL
40°, 38%, 50%
CMYK
0, 18, 55, 31
Luminance
0.2931

#af8f4e is a balanced soft yellow, 40° on the wheel and 8/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (6.86:1). As text it scores 3.06:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Dark Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(40 38% 50%)rgb(175 143 78)Base step 600AA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #af8f4e is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#af8f4e
Hue
40°
yellow
Saturation
38%
soft
Lightness
50%
balanced
Brightness
69%
HSV value
Perceived
58%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2931
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
8/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
6.86:1
Closest name
Dark Goldenrod
ΔE2000 7.8
Chroma
39.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.666
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 15.9
Web-safe
#999966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue40° of 360°
Saturation38%
Lightness50%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #af8f4e.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool8% 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
Red31%
Green67%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#af8f4e
HEX (8-digit)#af8f4eff
RGBrgb(175, 143, 78)
RGBArgba(175, 143, 78, 1)
HSLhsl(40, 38%, 50%)
HSV / HSBhsv(40, 55%, 69%)
HWBhwb(40 31% 31%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 18%, 55%, 31%)
LABlab(61.0 4.0 38.8)
LCHlch(61.0 39.0 84.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.666 0.092 83.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(28.88, 29.31, 11.34)
Decimal11505486
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.561 0.306)
Web-safe#999966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #af8f4e;
background-color: #af8f4e;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #af8f4e;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#af8f4e] bg-[#af8f4e]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #af8f4e;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.561, blue: 0.306)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.561, blue: 0.306, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AF8F4E</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAF8F4E)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAF8F4E)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(78, 143, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 143, 78)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 143, 78)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 143, 78)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.5608f, 0.3059f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,143,78}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #af8f4e 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #af8f4e 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#584827, #ECE4D5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #af8f4e 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: #FAF8F5;
  --brand-100: #F4F1EB;
  --brand-200: #E9E2D3;
  --brand-300: #DCCEB1;
  --brand-400: #CBB68B;
  --brand-500: #BA9D64;
  --brand-600: #af8f4e;
  --brand-700: #8D733F;
  --brand-800: #715C32;
  --brand-900: #534528;
  --brand-950: #342B19;
  --brand: #af8f4e;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #E6DCC7;
  --brand-hover: #967B43;
  --brand-pressed: #7E6738;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241F14;
    --brand-ink: #ECE4D5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF8F5',
        100: '#F4F1EB',
        200: '#E9E2D3',
        300: '#DCCEB1',
        400: '#CBB68B',
        500: '#BA9D64',
        600: '#af8f4e',
        700: '#8D733F',
        800: '#715C32',
        900: '#534528',
        950: '#342B19',
        DEFAULT: '#af8f4e',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF8F5,
  '100': #F4F1EB,
  '200': #E9E2D3,
  '300': #DCCEB1,
  '400': #CBB68B,
  '500': #BA9D64,
  '600': #af8f4e,
  '700': #8D733F,
  '800': #715C32,
  '900': #534528,
  '950': #342B19,
);
$brand-base: #af8f4e;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF8F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4F1EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E9E2D3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DCCEB1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#CBB68B", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#BA9D64", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#af8f4e", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8D733F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#715C32", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#534528", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#342B19", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #af8f4e · 6.86:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.06:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 6.86:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #af8f4e as text scores 3.06:1 on white and 6.86:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #584827 at 2.89:1.

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
#8C723E · 4.57:1
AA on white−10% L
#8C723E
The quick fox
#68552F · 7.17:1
AAA on white−20% L
#68552F
The quick fox
#af8f4e · 6.86:1
AA on blackalready passes
#af8f4e
The quick fox
#B19151 · 7.04:1
AAA on black+1% L
#B19151

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AF8F4E 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
#af8f4e on white: 3.06:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#af8f4e on black: 6.86:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #af8f4e as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #af8f4e.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.06:1AaAa
Slate 502.93:1AaAa
Slate 1002.79:1AaAa
Slate 2002.48:1AaAa
Slate 3002.06:1AaAa
Slate 4001.19:1AaAa
Slate 5001.55:1AaAa
Slate 6002.48:1AaAa
Slate 7003.38:1AaAa
Slate 8004.78:1AaAa
Slate 9005.83:1AaAa
Black6.86:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9D8F48
deuteranopia · #A59750
tritanopia · #BC8580

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. #af8f4e is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FAF8F5
#F4F1EB
#E9E2D3
#DCCEB1
#CBB68B
#BA9D64
#af8f4e
#8D733F
#715C32
#534528
#342B19
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FAF8F5Darkest = 950 · #342B19Text step on white = 700
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 0.023 83.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.037 83.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.055 83.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.072 83.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.085 83.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.092 83.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.092 83.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.087 83.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.077 83.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.065 83.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.051 83.6);
}

Colors that work with #af8f4e

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#FAF8F4
Tinted page background
Border#E6DCC7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B804B
Captions on the surface
Accent#4987B4
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#584827
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7F4ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241F14
Dark-mode background
Hover#967B43
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7E6738
Two steps down
Disabled#C7BCA7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C29C50
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 #af8f4e

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
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • 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 #584827
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.

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
  • Weight50/100
  • 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#4E6EAF
Analogous left#AF5F4E
Analogous right#9EAF4E
Split-complement 1#4E9EAF
Split-complement 2#5F4EAF
Triadic 1#4EAF8F
Triadic 2#8F4EAF
Tetradic#4EAF5F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°40°

#af8f4e sits at 40°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green56.1%
Blue30.6%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
143
0x8f
B · 0–255
78
0x4e

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta18.3%
Yellow55.4%
Key (black)31.4%

Total ink coverage is 105%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#af8f4e text on a black background

contrast 6.86:1

Card sample

#af8f4e text on a white background

contrast 3.06:1

Card sample

#af8f4e on grey

2.79:1

#af8f4e on its own surface

2.89:1

#af8f4e on its dark surface

5.36:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #af8f4e;
Background color
Panel with #af8f4e background
background-color: #af8f4e;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #af8f4e;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 143, 78, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 143, 78, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #af8f4e;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #af8f4e, #8EAF4E);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af8f4e, #76AF4E);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #af8f4e;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #af8f4e;
caret-color: #af8f4e;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #af8f4e;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7F4ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #af8f4e;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#af8f4e 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #af8f4e 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, 143, 78, 0.5)
rgb(175 143 78 / 50%)
#af8f4e80
hsl(40 38% 50% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #af8f4e 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#af8f4e1a#F7F4ED
20%#af8f4e33#EFE9DC
40%#af8f4e66#DFD2B8
60%#af8f4e99#CFBC95
80%#af8f4ecc#BFA571

Gradients from #af8f4e

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, #C3AA78, #af8f4e 45%, #584827);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #af8f4e, #769A45);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #af8f4e, #4E6EAF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CCB78D 0%, #af8f4e 45%, #584827 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF8F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #BF7771 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A3B962 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #584827 0%, transparent 65%), #af8f4e;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #af8f4e

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.

#af8f4e 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 6.86:1.

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.

#af8f4e, answered

What color is #af8f4e?

#af8f4e is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Goldenrod (ΔE2000 7.8). It sits at 40° on the hue wheel with 38% saturation and 50% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #af8f4e?

rgb(175, 143, 78) — 175 red, 143 green and 78 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 56.1% / 30.6% by channel.

What is #af8f4e in HSL and HSV?

hsl(40, 38%, 50%) and hsv(40, 55%, 69%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #af8f4e a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2931 and perceived brightness is 58%, so black text on it reaches 6.86:1.

Should I use black or white text on #af8f4e?

Black. It scores 6.86:1 against #af8f4e, versus 3.06:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #af8f4e accessible on a white background?

#af8f4e on white scores 3.06:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #8C723E to reach 4.5:1, or #68552F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #af8f4e?

#4E6EAF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #4E9EAF and #5F4EAF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #af8f4e?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #E6DCC7 for borders, #9B804B for secondary text, #4987B4 as an accent and #584827 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AF5F4E and #9EAF4E stays calm, while #4E6EAF is the loudest partner.

What is #af8f4e in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 18%, 55%, 31%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #af8f4e warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 8 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AF7E4E; nudged cooler, #AEB14C.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #af8f4e?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 15.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #af8f4e as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #af8f4e in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#af8f4e] or text-[#af8f4e], 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 #af8f4e with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 143, 78, 0.5), or #af8f4e80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7C7A7; over black, #584827.

Is #af8f4e a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999966, ΔE2000 11 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #af8f4e 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 #af8f4e?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C3AA78, #af8f4e 45%, #584827). For more colour, a short hue run to #769A45 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #af8f4e in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #af8f4e at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.