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yellow · warm

#afad60

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

Token name suggestion: True Straw

RGB
175, 173, 96
HSL
59°, 33%, 53%
CMYK
0, 1, 45, 31
Luminance
0.3985

#afad60 is a balanced soft yellow, 59° on the wheel and 25/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.97:1). As text it scores 2.34:1 on white — use #7B793E instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(59 33% 53%)rgb(175 173 96)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #afad60 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#afad60
Hue
59°
yellow
Saturation
33%
soft
Lightness
53%
balanced
Brightness
69%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3985
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
25/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.97:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 3.2
Chroma
41.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.732
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 15.8
Web-safe
#999966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue59° of 360°
Saturation33%
Lightness53%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #afad60.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool25% 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
Red23%
Green75%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#afad60
HEX (8-digit)#afad60ff
RGBrgb(175, 173, 96)
RGBArgba(175, 173, 96, 1)
HSLhsl(59, 33%, 53%)
HSV / HSBhsv(58, 45%, 69%)
HWBhwb(59 38% 31%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 1%, 45%, 31%)
LABlab(69.4 -10.5 39.6)
LCHlch(69.4 41.0 104.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.732 0.100 107.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(34.73, 39.85, 16.93)
Decimal11513184
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.678 0.376)
Web-safe#999966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #afad60;
background-color: #afad60;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #afad60;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#afad60] bg-[#afad60]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #afad60;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.678, blue: 0.376)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.678, blue: 0.376, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AFAD60</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAFAD60)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAFAD60)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(96, 173, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 173, 96)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 173, 96)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 173, 96)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.6784f, 0.3765f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,173,96}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #afad60 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #afad60 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#55542B, #EBEAD6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #afad60 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: #F4F3EC;
  --brand-200: #E8E7D4;
  --brand-300: #D9D9B4;
  --brand-400: #C7C58F;
  --brand-500: #afad60;
  --brand-600: #A3A152;
  --brand-700: #888644;
  --brand-800: #6D6B37;
  --brand-900: #504F2B;
  --brand-950: #32311B;
  --brand: #afad60;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF5;
  --brand-border: #E4E3C9;
  --brand-hover: #9C9B4F;
  --brand-pressed: #858343;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EBEAD6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F9F5',
        100: '#F4F3EC',
        200: '#E8E7D4',
        300: '#D9D9B4',
        400: '#C7C58F',
        500: '#afad60',
        600: '#A3A152',
        700: '#888644',
        800: '#6D6B37',
        900: '#504F2B',
        950: '#32311B',
        DEFAULT: '#afad60',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F9F5,
  '100': #F4F3EC,
  '200': #E8E7D4,
  '300': #D9D9B4,
  '400': #C7C58F,
  '500': #afad60,
  '600': #A3A152,
  '700': #888644,
  '800': #6D6B37,
  '900': #504F2B,
  '950': #32311B,
);
$brand-base: #afad60;
$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": "#F4F3EC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E8E7D4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D9D9B4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C7C58F", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#afad60", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A3A152", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#888644", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6D6B37", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#504F2B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#32311B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #afad60 · 8.97:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.34:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.97:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #afad60 as text scores 2.34:1 on white and 8.97:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #55542B at 3.34:1.

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
#7B793E · 4.52:1
AA on white−17% L
#7B793E
The quick fox
#5C5B2E · 7.02:1
AAA on white−26% L
#5C5B2E
The quick fox
#afad60 · 8.97:1
AA on blackalready passes
#afad60
The quick fox
#afad60 · 8.97:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#afad60

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #99974D 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
#afad60 on white: 2.34:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#afad60 on black: 8.97:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #afad60 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #afad60.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.34:1AaAa
Slate 502.24:1AaAa
Slate 1002.14:1AaAa
Slate 2001.90:1AaAa
Slate 3001.58:1AaAa
Slate 4001.10:1AaAa
Slate 5002.03:1AaAa
Slate 6003.24:1AaAa
Slate 7004.42:1AaAa
Slate 8006.25:1AaAa
Slate 9007.62:1AaAa
Black8.97:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B8A85A
deuteranopia · #BAAB64
tritanopia · #B9A49B

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. #afad60 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
#F4F3EC
#E8E7D4
#D9D9B4
#C7C58F
#afad60
#A3A152
#888644
#6D6B37
#504F2B
#32311B
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F9F5Darkest = 950 · #32311BText 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 0.025 107.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.040 107.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.060 107.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.078 107.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.092 107.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.100 107.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.100 107.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.094 107.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.084 107.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.070 107.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.055 107.3);
}

Colors that work with #afad60

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#FAFAF5
Tinted page background
Border#E4E3C9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#99974D
Captions on the surface
Accent#5B73B4
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#55542B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6F6EE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#9C9B4F
One step down in lightness
Pressed#858343
Two steps down
Disabled#CDCDB2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C1BE62
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 #afad60

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 #55542B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #99974D

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
  • Weight47/100
  • 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#6062AF
Analogous left#AF8560
Analogous right#89AF60
Split-complement 1#6089AF
Split-complement 2#8560AF
Triadic 1#60AFAD
Triadic 2#AD60AF
Tetradic#60AF85
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°59°

#afad60 sits at 59°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green67.8%
Blue37.6%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
173
0xad
B · 0–255
96
0x60

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta1.1%
Yellow45.1%
Key (black)31.4%

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

Color previews

#afad60 text on a black background

contrast 8.97:1

Card sample

#afad60 text on a white background

contrast 2.34:1

Card sample

#afad60 on grey

2.14:1

#afad60 on its own surface

2.24:1

#afad60 on its dark surface

6.71:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #afad60;
Background color
Panel with #afad60 background
background-color: #afad60;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #afad60;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 173, 96, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 173, 96, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #afad60;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #afad60, #7CAF60);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afad60, #68AF60);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #afad60;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #afad60;
caret-color: #afad60;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #afad60;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6F6EE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #afad60;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#afad60 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #afad60 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, 173, 96, 0.5)
rgb(175 173 96 / 50%)
#afad6080
hsl(59 33% 53% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #afad60 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#afad601a#F7F7EF
20%#afad6033#EFEFDF
40%#afad6066#DFDEBF
60%#afad6099#CFCEA0
80%#afad60cc#BFBD80

Gradients from #afad60

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, #C3C289, #afad60 45%, #55542B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #afad60, #66A050);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afad60, #6062AF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CECC9D 0%, #afad60 45%, #55542B 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAFAF5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C09A82 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #93B974 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #55542B 0%, transparent 65%), #afad60;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #afad60

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.

#afad60 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 8.97:1.

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.

#afad60, answered

What color is #afad60?

#afad60 is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 3.2). It sits at 59° on the hue wheel with 33% saturation and 53% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #afad60?

rgb(175, 173, 96) — 175 red, 173 green and 96 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 67.8% / 37.6% by channel.

What is #afad60 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(59, 33%, 53%) and hsv(58, 45%, 69%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #afad60 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3985 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 8.97:1.

Should I use black or white text on #afad60?

Black. It scores 8.97:1 against #afad60, versus 2.34:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #afad60 accessible on a white background?

#afad60 on white scores 2.34:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7B793E to reach 4.5:1, or #5C5B2E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #afad60?

#6062AF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #6089AF and #8560AF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #afad60?

For interface work: #FAFAF5 as the surface, #E4E3C9 for borders, #99974D for secondary text, #5B73B4 as an accent and #55542B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AF8560 and #89AF60 stays calm, while #6062AF is the loudest partner.

What is #afad60 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 1%, 45%, 31%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #afad60 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 25 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #AF9060; nudged cooler, #95B15D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #afad60?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 15.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #afad60 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #afad60 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#afad60] or text-[#afad60], 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 #afad60 with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 173, 96, 0.5), or #afad6080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7D6B0; over black, #585730.

Is #afad60 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999966, ΔE2000 7.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #afad60 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 #afad60?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C3C289, #afad60 45%, #55542B). For more colour, a short hue run to #66A050 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #afad60 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #afad60 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.