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yellow · warm

#afb172

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Straw

RGB
175, 177, 114
HSL
62°, 29%, 57%
CMYK
1, 0, 36, 31
Luminance
0.4177

#afb172 is a balanced soft yellow, 62° on the wheel and 31/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.35:1). As text it scores 2.24:1 on white — use #787A43 instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(62 29% 57%)rgb(175 177 114)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #afb172 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#afb172
Hue
62°
yellow
Saturation
29%
soft
Lightness
57%
balanced
Brightness
69%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4177
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
31/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.35:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 4
Chroma
33.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.744
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 16.2
Web-safe
#999966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue62° of 360°
Saturation29%
Lightness57%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #afb172.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool31% 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%
Green75%
Blue3%

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

Every format

HEX#afb172
HEX (8-digit)#afb172ff
RGBrgb(175, 177, 114)
RGBArgba(175, 177, 114, 1)
HSLhsl(62, 29%, 57%)
HSV / HSBhsv(62, 36%, 69%)
HWBhwb(62 45% 31%)
CMYKcmyk(1%, 0%, 36%, 31%)
LABlab(70.7 -10.5 32.0)
LCHlch(70.7 33.7 108.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.744 0.084 109.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(36.44, 41.77, 22.06)
Decimal11514226
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.694 0.447)
Web-safe#999966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #afb172;
background-color: #afb172;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #afb172;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#afb172] bg-[#afb172]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #afb172;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.694, blue: 0.447)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.694, blue: 0.447, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AFB172</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAFB172)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAFB172)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(114, 177, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 177, 114)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 177, 114)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 177, 114)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.6941f, 0.4471f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,177,114}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #afb172 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #afb172 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#51522D, #E9E9D8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #afb172 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: #F3F3EC;
  --brand-200: #E6E6D5;
  --brand-300: #D6D7B7;
  --brand-400: #C2C393;
  --brand-500: #afb172;
  --brand-600: #9B9E57;
  --brand-700: #828349;
  --brand-800: #68693A;
  --brand-900: #4C4D2D;
  --brand-950: #30301C;
  --brand: #afb172;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9FAF5;
  --brand-border: #E1E2CA;
  --brand-hover: #A2A45B;
  --brand-pressed: #8C8E4E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #E9E9D8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F9F6',
        100: '#F3F3EC',
        200: '#E6E6D5',
        300: '#D6D7B7',
        400: '#C2C393',
        500: '#afb172',
        600: '#9B9E57',
        700: '#828349',
        800: '#68693A',
        900: '#4C4D2D',
        950: '#30301C',
        DEFAULT: '#afb172',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F9F6,
  '100': #F3F3EC,
  '200': #E6E6D5,
  '300': #D6D7B7,
  '400': #C2C393,
  '500': #afb172,
  '600': #9B9E57,
  '700': #828349,
  '800': #68693A,
  '900': #4C4D2D,
  '950': #30301C,
);
$brand-base: #afb172;
$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": "#F3F3EC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6E6D5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D6D7B7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C2C393", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#afb172", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9B9E57", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#828349", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#68693A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4C4D2D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#30301C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #afb172 · 9.35:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.24:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.35:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #afb172 as text scores 2.24:1 on white and 9.35:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #51522D at 3.61:1.

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
#787A43 · 4.50:1
AA on white−20% L
#787A43
The quick fox
#585931 · 7.27:1
AAA on white−30% L
#585931
The quick fox
#afb172 · 9.35:1
AA on blackalready passes
#afb172
The quick fox
#afb172 · 9.35:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#afb172

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #959754 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
#afb172 on white: 2.24:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#afb172 on black: 9.35:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #afb172 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #afb172.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.24:1AaAa
Slate 502.15:1AaAa
Slate 1002.05:1AaAa
Slate 2001.82:1AaAa
Slate 3001.51:1AaAa
Slate 4001.14:1AaAa
Slate 5002.12:1AaAa
Slate 6003.38:1AaAa
Slate 7004.61:1AaAa
Slate 8006.52:1AaAa
Slate 9007.95:1AaAa
Black9.35:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BAAC6D
deuteranopia · #BBAE75
tritanopia · #B7AAA1

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. #afb172 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
#F3F3EC
#E6E6D5
#D6D7B7
#C2C393
#afb172
#9B9E57
#828349
#68693A
#4C4D2D
#30301C
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F9F6Darkest = 950 · #30301CText 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 0.021 109.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.034 109.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.050 109.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.065 109.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.077 109.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.084 109.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.084 109.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.079 109.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.070 109.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.059 109.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.046 109.8);
}

Colors that work with #afb172

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#F9FAF5
Tinted page background
Border#E1E2CA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#929452
Captions on the surface
Accent#6E7DB5
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#51522D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6F6EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#A2A45B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8C8E4E
Two steps down
Disabled#D5D5BE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C0C275
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 #afb172

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 #51522D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #959754

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
  • Weight43/100
  • 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#7472B1
Analogous left#B19472
Analogous right#90B172
Split-complement 1#7290B1
Split-complement 2#9472B1
Triadic 1#72AFB1
Triadic 2#B172AF
Tetradic#72B194
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°62°

#afb172 sits at 62°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green69.4%
Blue44.7%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
177
0xb1
B · 0–255
114
0x72

CMYK percentages

Cyan1.1%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow35.6%
Key (black)30.6%

Total ink coverage is 67%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#afb172 text on a black background

contrast 9.35:1

Card sample

#afb172 text on a white background

contrast 2.24:1

Card sample

#afb172 on grey

2.05:1

#afb172 on its own surface

2.14:1

#afb172 on its dark surface

6.99:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #afb172;
Background color
Panel with #afb172 background
background-color: #afb172;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #afb172;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 177, 114, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 177, 114, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #afb172;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #afb172, #85B172);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afb172, #75B172);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #afb172;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #afb172;
caret-color: #afb172;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #afb172;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6F6EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #afb172;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#afb172 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #afb172 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, 177, 114, 0.5)
rgb(175 177 114 / 50%)
#afb17280
hsl(62 29% 57% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #afb172 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#afb1721a#F7F7F1
20%#afb17233#EFEFE3
40%#afb17266#DFE0C7
60%#afb17299#CFD0AA
80%#afb172cc#BFC18E

Gradients from #afb172

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, #C5C79A, #afb172 45%, #51522D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #afb172, #6EA65E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afb172, #7472B1);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D1D2AD 0%, #afb172 45%, #51522D 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9FAF5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C3A993 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9BBC86 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #51522D 0%, transparent 65%), #afb172;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #afb172

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.

#afb172 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 9.35:1.

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.

#afb172, answered

What color is #afb172?

#afb172 is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 4). It sits at 62° on the hue wheel with 29% saturation and 57% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #afb172?

rgb(175, 177, 114) — 175 red, 177 green and 114 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 69.4% / 44.7% by channel.

What is #afb172 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(62, 29%, 57%) and hsv(62, 36%, 69%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #afb172 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4177 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 9.35:1.

Should I use black or white text on #afb172?

Black. It scores 9.35:1 against #afb172, versus 2.24:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #afb172 accessible on a white background?

#afb172 on white scores 2.24:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #787A43 to reach 4.5:1, or #585931 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #afb172?

#7472B1 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #7290B1 and #9472B1, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #afb172?

For interface work: #F9FAF5 as the surface, #E1E2CA for borders, #929452 for secondary text, #6E7DB5 as an accent and #51522D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B19472 and #90B172 stays calm, while #7472B1 is the loudest partner.

What is #afb172 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(1%, 0%, 36%, 31%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #afb172 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 31 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B19C72; nudged cooler, #98B370.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #afb172?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 16.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #afb172 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #afb172 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#afb172] or text-[#afb172], 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 #afb172 with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 177, 114, 0.5), or #afb17280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7D8B9; over black, #585939.

Is #afb172 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999966, ΔE2000 7.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #afb172 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 #afb172?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C5C79A, #afb172 45%, #51522D). For more colour, a short hue run to #6EA65E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #afb172 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #afb172 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.