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yellow · warm

#bac85f

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Citron

RGB
186, 200, 95
HSL
68°, 49%, 58%
CMYK
7, 0, 53, 22
Luminance
0.5257

#bac85f is a balanced vivid yellow, 68° on the wheel and 32/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.51:1). As text it scores 1.82:1 on white — use #727C2B instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(68 49% 58%)rgb(186 200 95)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bac85f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bac85f
Hue
68°
yellow
Saturation
49%
vivid
Lightness
58%
balanced
Brightness
78%
HSV value
Perceived
73%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5257
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
32/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.51:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 7.1
Chroma
54.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.800
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 10.3
Web-safe
#CCCC66
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue68° of 360°
Saturation49%
Lightness58%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bac85f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool32% 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
Red20%
Green79%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#bac85f
HEX (8-digit)#bac85fff
RGBrgb(186, 200, 95)
RGBArgba(186, 200, 95, 1)
HSLhsl(68, 49%, 58%)
HSV / HSBhsv(68, 53%, 78%)
HWBhwb(68 37% 22%)
CMYKcmyk(7%, 0%, 53%, 22%)
LABlab(77.6 -19.8 50.2)
LCHlch(77.6 54.0 111.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.800 0.131 115.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(42.97, 52.57, 18.71)
Decimal12240991
Display P3color(display-p3 0.729 0.784 0.373)
Web-safe#CCCC66

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bac85f;
background-color: #bac85f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bac85f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bac85f] bg-[#bac85f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bac85f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.729, green: 0.784, blue: 0.373)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.729, green: 0.784, blue: 0.373, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BAC85F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBAC85F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBAC85F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(95, 200, 186)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(186, 200, 95)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(186, 200, 95)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 186, 200, 95)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7294f, 0.7843f, 0.3725f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{186,200,95}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bac85f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bac85f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#575F21, #EAEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bac85f 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: #F9FAF4;
  --brand-100: #F4F6EA;
  --brand-200: #E8ECD0;
  --brand-300: #DBE2AC;
  --brand-400: #C9D482;
  --brand-500: #bac85f;
  --brand-600: #A6B63F;
  --brand-700: #8B9834;
  --brand-800: #6F792A;
  --brand-900: #515922;
  --brand-950: #333715;
  --brand: #bac85f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #E5EAC2;
  --brand-hover: #AEBF44;
  --brand-pressed: #98A639;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #222414;
    --brand-ink: #EAEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9FAF4',
        100: '#F4F6EA',
        200: '#E8ECD0',
        300: '#DBE2AC',
        400: '#C9D482',
        500: '#bac85f',
        600: '#A6B63F',
        700: '#8B9834',
        800: '#6F792A',
        900: '#515922',
        950: '#333715',
        DEFAULT: '#bac85f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9FAF4,
  '100': #F4F6EA,
  '200': #E8ECD0,
  '300': #DBE2AC,
  '400': #C9D482,
  '500': #bac85f,
  '600': #A6B63F,
  '700': #8B9834,
  '800': #6F792A,
  '900': #515922,
  '950': #333715,
);
$brand-base: #bac85f;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9FAF4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4F6EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E8ECD0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DBE2AC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C9D482", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#bac85f", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A6B63F", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8B9834", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6F792A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#515922", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#333715", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bac85f · 11.51:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.82:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.51:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bac85f as text scores 1.82:1 on white and 11.51:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #575F21 at 3.76:1.

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
#727C2B · 4.53:1
AA on white−25% L
#727C2B
The quick fox
#525A1F · 7.39:1
AAA on white−34% L
#525A1F
The quick fox
#bac85f · 11.51:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bac85f
The quick fox
#bac85f · 11.51:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bac85f

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8D9B35 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
#bac85f on white: 1.82:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bac85f on black: 11.51:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bac85f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bac85f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.82:1AaAa
Slate 501.74:1AaAa
Slate 1001.66:1AaAa
Slate 2001.48:1AaAa
Slate 3001.23:1AaAa
Slate 4001.41:1AaAa
Slate 5002.61:1AaAa
Slate 6004.16:1AaAa
Slate 7005.68:1AaAa
Slate 8008.02:1AaAa
Slate 9009.79:1AaAa
Black11.51:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D4BF55
deuteranopia · #D3C165
tritanopia · #C4BEB0

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. #bac85f 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.

#F9FAF4
#F4F6EA
#E8ECD0
#DBE2AC
#C9D482
#bac85f
#A6B63F
#8B9834
#6F792A
#515922
#333715
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F9FAF4Darkest = 950 · #333715Text 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 0.033 115.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.052 115.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.079 115.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.102 115.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.121 115.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.131 115.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.131 115.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.123 115.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.110 115.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.092 115.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.072 115.7);
}

Colors that work with #bac85f

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#FAFAF4
Tinted page background
Border#E5EAC2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#909B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#5B68CC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#575F21
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7F8EC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#222414
Dark-mode background
Hover#AEBF44
One step down in lightness
Pressed#98A639
Two steps down
Disabled#D4D7C0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C8D764
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 #bac85f

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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 #575F21
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8D9B35

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • Weight42/100
  • 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#6D5FC8
Analogous left#C8A15F
Analogous right#85C85F
Split-complement 1#5F85C8
Split-complement 2#A15FC8
Triadic 1#5FBAC8
Triadic 2#C85FBA
Tetradic#5FC8A1
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°68°

#bac85f sits at 68°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red72.9%
Green78.4%
Blue37.3%
R · 0–255
186
0xba
G · 0–255
200
0xc8
B · 0–255
95
0x5f

CMYK percentages

Cyan7.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow52.5%
Key (black)21.6%

Total ink coverage is 81%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bac85f text on a black background

contrast 11.51:1

Card sample

#bac85f text on a white background

contrast 1.82:1

Card sample

#bac85f on grey

1.66:1

#bac85f on its own surface

1.74:1

#bac85f on its dark surface

8.65:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bac85f;
Background color
Panel with #bac85f background
background-color: #bac85f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bac85f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(186, 200, 95, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(186, 200, 95, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bac85f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bac85f, #74C85F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bac85f, #5FC864);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bac85f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bac85f;
caret-color: #bac85f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bac85f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7F8EC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bac85f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bac85f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bac85f 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(186, 200, 95, 0.5)
rgb(186 200 95 / 50%)
#bac85f80
hsl(68 49% 58% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bac85f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bac85f1a#F8FAEF
20%#bac85f33#F1F4DF
40%#bac85f66#E3E9BF
60%#bac85f99#D6DE9F
80%#bac85fcc#C8D37F

Gradients from #bac85f

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, #CED88C, #bac85f 45%, #575F21);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bac85f, #56C048);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bac85f, #6D5FC8);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D7DFA3 0%, #bac85f 45%, #575F21 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAFAF4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D5B185 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8FD076 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #575F21 0%, transparent 65%), #bac85f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bac85f

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.

#bac85f 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 11.51:1.

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.

#bac85f, answered

What color is #bac85f?

#bac85f is a balanced vivid yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 7.1). It sits at 68° on the hue wheel with 49% saturation and 58% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bac85f?

rgb(186, 200, 95) — 186 red, 200 green and 95 blue out of 255, or 72.9% / 78.4% / 37.3% by channel.

What is #bac85f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(68, 49%, 58%) and hsv(68, 53%, 78%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bac85f a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5257 and perceived brightness is 73%, so black text on it reaches 11.51:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bac85f?

Black. It scores 11.51:1 against #bac85f, versus 1.82:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bac85f accessible on a white background?

#bac85f on white scores 1.82:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #727C2B to reach 4.5:1, or #525A1F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bac85f?

#6D5FC8 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #5F85C8 and #A15FC8, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bac85f?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #E5EAC2 for borders, #909B4B for secondary text, #5B68CC as an accent and #575F21 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C8A15F and #85C85F stays calm, while #6D5FC8 is the loudest partner.

What is #bac85f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(7%, 0%, 53%, 22%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bac85f warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 32 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C8AF5F; nudged cooler, #93CA5D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bac85f?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 10.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bac85f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bac85f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bac85f] or text-[#bac85f], 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 #bac85f with 50% opacity?

rgba(186, 200, 95, 0.5), or #bac85f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDE4AF; over black, #5D6430.

Is #bac85f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC66, ΔE2000 3.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bac85f 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 #bac85f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CED88C, #bac85f 45%, #575F21). For more colour, a short hue run to #56C048 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bac85f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bac85f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.