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yellow · warm

#afb461

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Citron

RGB
175, 180, 97
HSL
64°, 36%, 54%
CMYK
3, 0, 46, 29
Luminance
0.4262

#afb461 is a balanced soft yellow, 64° on the wheel and 28/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.52:1). As text it scores 2.20:1 on white — use #767A3A instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(64 36% 54%)rgb(175 180 97)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #afb461 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#afb461
Hue
64°
yellow
Saturation
36%
soft
Lightness
54%
balanced
Brightness
71%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4262
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
28/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.52:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 3.5
Chroma
43.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.748
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 13.5
Web-safe
#99CC66
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue64° of 360°
Saturation36%
Lightness54%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #afb461.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool28% 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
Red21%
Green77%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#afb461
HEX (8-digit)#afb461ff
RGBrgb(175, 180, 97)
RGBArgba(175, 180, 97, 1)
HSLhsl(64, 36%, 54%)
HSV / HSBhsv(64, 46%, 71%)
HWBhwb(64 38% 29%)
CMYKcmyk(3%, 0%, 46%, 29%)
LABlab(71.3 -14.0 41.5)
LCHlch(71.3 43.8 108.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.748 0.107 111.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(36.16, 42.62, 17.63)
Decimal11514977
Display P3color(display-p3 0.686 0.706 0.380)
Web-safe#99CC66

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #afb461;
background-color: #afb461;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #afb461;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#afb461] bg-[#afb461]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #afb461;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.686, green: 0.706, blue: 0.380)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.686, green: 0.706, blue: 0.380, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#AFB461</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFAFB461)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFAFB461)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(97, 180, 175)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(175, 180, 97)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(175, 180, 97)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 175, 180, 97)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6863f, 0.7059f, 0.3804f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{175,180,97}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #afb461 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #afb461 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#545629, #EAEBD6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #afb461 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: #F3F4EB;
  --brand-200: #E7E8D3;
  --brand-300: #D8DBB3;
  --brand-400: #C5C98D;
  --brand-500: #afb461;
  --brand-600: #A1A64F;
  --brand-700: #868A42;
  --brand-800: #6B6F35;
  --brand-900: #4F5129;
  --brand-950: #31331A;
  --brand: #afb461;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF5;
  --brand-border: #E3E5C8;
  --brand-hover: #9EA44E;
  --brand-pressed: #878B42;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #232414;
    --brand-ink: #EAEBD6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F9F5',
        100: '#F3F4EB',
        200: '#E7E8D3',
        300: '#D8DBB3',
        400: '#C5C98D',
        500: '#afb461',
        600: '#A1A64F',
        700: '#868A42',
        800: '#6B6F35',
        900: '#4F5129',
        950: '#31331A',
        DEFAULT: '#afb461',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F9F5,
  '100': #F3F4EB,
  '200': #E7E8D3,
  '300': #D8DBB3,
  '400': #C5C98D,
  '500': #afb461,
  '600': #A1A64F,
  '700': #868A42,
  '800': #6B6F35,
  '900': #4F5129,
  '950': #31331A,
);
$brand-base: #afb461;
$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": "#F3F4EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E7E8D3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D8DBB3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C5C98D", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#afb461", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A1A64F", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#868A42", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6B6F35", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4F5129", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#31331A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #afb461 · 9.52:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.20:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.52:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #afb461 as text scores 2.20:1 on white and 9.52:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #545629 at 3.48:1.

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
#767A3A · 4.55:1
AA on white−19% L
#767A3A
The quick fox
#585B2B · 7.13:1
AAA on white−28% L
#585B2B
The quick fox
#afb461 · 9.52:1
AA on blackalready passes
#afb461
The quick fox
#afb461 · 9.52:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#afb461

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #949949 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
#afb461 on white: 2.20:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#afb461 on black: 9.52:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #afb461 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #afb461.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.20:1AaAa
Slate 502.11:1AaAa
Slate 1002.01:1AaAa
Slate 2001.79:1AaAa
Slate 3001.49:1AaAa
Slate 4001.16:1AaAa
Slate 5002.16:1AaAa
Slate 6003.44:1AaAa
Slate 7004.70:1AaAa
Slate 8006.63:1AaAa
Slate 9008.10:1AaAa
Black9.52:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BFAD5A
deuteranopia · #BFB065
tritanopia · #B8ABA0

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. #afb461 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
#F3F4EB
#E7E8D3
#D8DBB3
#C5C98D
#afb461
#A1A64F
#868A42
#6B6F35
#4F5129
#31331A
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9F9F5Darkest = 950 · #31331AText 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 0.027 111.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.043 111.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.064 111.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.083 111.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.098 111.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.107 111.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.107 111.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.100 111.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.090 111.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.075 111.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.059 111.7);
}

Colors that work with #afb461

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#E3E5C8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#969B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#5C6EB9
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#545629
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6F7EE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#232414
Dark-mode background
Hover#9EA44E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#878B42
Two steps down
Disabled#CED0B5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#BFC564
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 #afb461

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 #545629
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #949949

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
  • Weight46/100
  • 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#6661B4
Analogous left#B48F61
Analogous right#85B461
Split-complement 1#6185B4
Split-complement 2#8F61B4
Triadic 1#61AFB4
Triadic 2#B461AF
Tetradic#61B48F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°64°

#afb461 sits at 64°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red68.6%
Green70.6%
Blue38.0%
R · 0–255
175
0xaf
G · 0–255
180
0xb4
B · 0–255
97
0x61

CMYK percentages

Cyan2.8%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow46.1%
Key (black)29.4%

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

Color previews

#afb461 text on a black background

contrast 9.52:1

Card sample

#afb461 text on a white background

contrast 2.20:1

Card sample

#afb461 on grey

2.01:1

#afb461 on its own surface

2.11:1

#afb461 on its dark surface

7.14:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #afb461;
Background color
Panel with #afb461 background
background-color: #afb461;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #afb461;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(175, 180, 97, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(175, 180, 97, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #afb461;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #afb461, #78B461);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afb461, #63B461);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #afb461;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #afb461;
caret-color: #afb461;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #afb461;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6F7EE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #afb461;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#afb461 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #afb461 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, 180, 97, 0.5)
rgb(175 180 97 / 50%)
#afb46180
hsl(64 36% 54% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #afb461 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#afb4611a#F7F8EF
20%#afb46133#EFF0DF
40%#afb46166#DFE1C0
60%#afb46199#CFD2A0
80%#afb461cc#BFC381

Gradients from #afb461

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, #C4C88A, #afb461 45%, #545629);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #afb461, #60A74F);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #afb461, #6661B4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CED29F 0%, #afb461 45%, #545629 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%, #C4A284 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8FBE76 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #545629 0%, transparent 65%), #afb461;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #afb461

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.

#afb461 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 9.52:1.

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.

#afb461, answered

What color is #afb461?

#afb461 is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 3.5). It sits at 64° on the hue wheel with 36% saturation and 54% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #afb461?

rgb(175, 180, 97) — 175 red, 180 green and 97 blue out of 255, or 68.6% / 70.6% / 38% by channel.

What is #afb461 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(64, 36%, 54%) and hsv(64, 46%, 71%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #afb461 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4262 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 9.52:1.

Should I use black or white text on #afb461?

Black. It scores 9.52:1 against #afb461, versus 2.20:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #afb461 accessible on a white background?

#afb461 on white scores 2.20:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #767A3A to reach 4.5:1, or #585B2B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #afb461?

#6661B4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #6185B4 and #8F61B4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #afb461?

For interface work: #FAFAF5 as the surface, #E3E5C8 for borders, #969B4B for secondary text, #5C6EB9 as an accent and #545629 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B48F61 and #85B461 stays calm, while #6661B4 is the loudest partner.

What is #afb461 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(3%, 0%, 46%, 29%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #afb461 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 28 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B49B61; nudged cooler, #91B65F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #afb461?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 13.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #afb461 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #afb461 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#afb461] or text-[#afb461], 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 #afb461 with 50% opacity?

rgba(175, 180, 97, 0.5), or #afb46180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D7DAB0; over black, #585A31.

Is #afb461 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CC66, ΔE2000 10.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #afb461 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 #afb461?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C4C88A, #afb461 45%, #545629). For more colour, a short hue run to #60A74F keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #afb461 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #afb461 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.