Skip to content
yellow · warm

#bba01f

a dark, vivid yellow · warm · closest name: Goldenrod

Token name suggestion: Slate Citron

RGB
187, 160, 31
HSL
50°, 72%, 43%
CMYK
0, 14, 83, 27
Luminance
0.3581

#bba01f is a dark vivid yellow, 50° on the wheel and 16/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.16:1). As text it scores 2.57:1 on white — use #867316 instead. Nearest name is Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(50 72% 43%)rgb(187 160 31)Base step 700AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bba01f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bba01f
Hue
50°
yellow
Saturation
72%
vivid
Lightness
43%
dark
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
63%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3581
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
16/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.16:1
Closest name
Goldenrod
ΔE2000 7.7
Chroma
64.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.709
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 10
Web-safe
#CC9933
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue50° of 360°
Saturation72%
Lightness43%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bba01f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool16% 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
Red30%
Green70%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#bba01f
HEX (8-digit)#bba01fff
RGBrgb(187, 160, 31)
RGBArgba(187, 160, 31, 1)
HSLhsl(50, 72%, 43%)
HSV / HSBhsv(50, 83%, 73%)
HWBhwb(50 12% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 14%, 83%, 27%)
LABlab(66.4 -2.5 64.0)
LCHlch(66.4 64.1 92.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.709 0.138 96.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(33.31, 35.81, 6.45)
Decimal12296223
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.627 0.122)
Web-safe#CC9933

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bba01f;
background-color: #bba01f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bba01f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bba01f] bg-[#bba01f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bba01f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.627, blue: 0.122)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.627, blue: 0.122, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBA01F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBA01F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBA01F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(31, 160, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 160, 31)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 160, 31)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 160, 31)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.6275f, 0.1216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,160,31}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bba01f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bba01f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#6D5E12, #EEE9D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bba01f 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: #FCFAF3;
  --brand-100: #F8F5E7;
  --brand-200: #F3EBC9;
  --brand-300: #EFE19F;
  --brand-400: #E7D26F;
  --brand-500: #DFC33E;
  --brand-600: #D2B423;
  --brand-700: #bba01f;
  --brand-800: #8C7817;
  --brand-900: #665815;
  --brand-950: #3F370D;
  --brand: #bba01f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #EDE5C0;
  --brand-hover: #9C861A;
  --brand-pressed: #7E6B15;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242214;
    --brand-ink: #EEE9D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCFAF3',
        100: '#F8F5E7',
        200: '#F3EBC9',
        300: '#EFE19F',
        400: '#E7D26F',
        500: '#DFC33E',
        600: '#D2B423',
        700: '#bba01f',
        800: '#8C7817',
        900: '#665815',
        950: '#3F370D',
        DEFAULT: '#bba01f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCFAF3,
  '100': #F8F5E7,
  '200': #F3EBC9,
  '300': #EFE19F,
  '400': #E7D26F,
  '500': #DFC33E,
  '600': #D2B423,
  '700': #bba01f,
  '800': #8C7817,
  '900': #665815,
  '950': #3F370D,
);
$brand-base: #bba01f;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCFAF3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F8F5E7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F3EBC9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#EFE19F", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E7D26F", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#DFC33E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#D2B423", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#bba01f", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#8C7817", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#665815", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3F370D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bba01f · 8.16:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.57:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.16:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bba01f as text scores 2.57:1 on white and 8.16:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #6D5E12 at 2.50:1.

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
#867316 · 4.69:1
AA on white−12% L
#867316
The quick fox
#635510 · 7.40:1
AAA on white−20% L
#635510
The quick fox
#bba01f · 8.16:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bba01f
The quick fox
#bba01f · 8.16:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bba01f

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A9911C 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
#bba01f on white: 2.57:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bba01f on black: 8.16:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bba01f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bba01f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.57:1AaAa
Slate 502.46:1AaAa
Slate 1002.35:1AaAa
Slate 2002.09:1AaAa
Slate 3001.73:1AaAa
Slate 4001.00:1AaAa
Slate 5001.85:1AaAa
Slate 6002.94:1AaAa
Slate 7004.02:1AaAa
Slate 8005.69:1AaAa
Slate 9006.94:1AaAa
Black8.16:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B29C00
deuteranopia · #B8A529
tritanopia · #CB9389

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. #bba01f is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FCFAF3
#F8F5E7
#F3EBC9
#EFE19F
#E7D26F
#DFC33E
#D2B423
#bba01f
#8C7817
#665815
#3F370D
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #FCFAF3Darkest = 950 · #3F370DText step on white = 900
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 0.035 96.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.055 96.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.083 96.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.108 96.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.127 96.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.138 96.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.138 96.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.130 96.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.116 96.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.097 96.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.076 96.1);
}

Colors that work with #bba01f

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#FAF9F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDE5C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B8D4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1B60BF
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#6D5E12
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FBF8E9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242214
Dark-mode background
Hover#9C861A
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7E6B15
Two steps down
Disabled#B9B291
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D8B716
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 #bba01f

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
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Black text placed on it
  • 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 #6D5E12
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A9911C

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 low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

Almost never passes contrast against white. Treat it as a surface or a marker, not as text.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight57/100
  • 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#1F3ABB
Analogous left#BB521F
Analogous right#88BB1F
Split-complement 1#1F88BB
Split-complement 2#521FBB
Triadic 1#1FBBA0
Triadic 2#A01FBB
Tetradic#1FBB52
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°50°

#bba01f sits at 50°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green62.7%
Blue12.2%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
160
0xa0
B · 0–255
31
0x1f

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta14.4%
Yellow83.4%
Key (black)26.7%

Total ink coverage is 125%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bba01f text on a black background

contrast 8.16:1

Card sample

#bba01f text on a white background

contrast 2.57:1

Card sample

#bba01f on grey

2.35:1

#bba01f on its own surface

2.44:1

#bba01f on its dark surface

6.21:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bba01f;
Background color
Panel with #bba01f background
background-color: #bba01f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bba01f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 160, 31, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 160, 31, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bba01f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bba01f, #6EBB1F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bba01f, #47BB1F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bba01f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bba01f;
caret-color: #bba01f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bba01f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FBF8E9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bba01f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bba01f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bba01f 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(187, 160, 31, 0.5)
rgb(187 160 31 / 50%)
#bba01f80
hsl(50 72% 43% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bba01f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bba01f1a#F8F6E9
20%#bba01f33#F1ECD2
40%#bba01f66#E4D9A5
60%#bba01f99#D6C679
80%#bba01fcc#C9B34C

Gradients from #bba01f

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, #DEC239, #bba01f 45%, #6D5E12);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bba01f, #53A11B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bba01f, #1F3ABB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E3CA53 0%, #bba01f 45%, #6D5E12 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF9F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DD5A30 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8CD523 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #6D5E12 0%, transparent 65%), #bba01f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bba01f

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.

#bba01f 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 8.16:1.

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.

#bba01f, answered

What color is #bba01f?

#bba01f is a dark vivid yellow, closest to Goldenrod (ΔE2000 7.7). It sits at 50° on the hue wheel with 72% saturation and 43% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bba01f?

rgb(187, 160, 31) — 187 red, 160 green and 31 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 62.7% / 12.2% by channel.

What is #bba01f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(50, 72%, 43%) and hsv(50, 83%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bba01f a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3581 and perceived brightness is 63%, so black text on it reaches 8.16:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bba01f?

Black. It scores 8.16:1 against #bba01f, versus 2.57:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bba01f accessible on a white background?

#bba01f on white scores 2.57:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #867316 to reach 4.5:1, or #635510 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bba01f?

#1F3ABB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #1F88BB and #521FBB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bba01f?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #EDE5C0 for borders, #9B8D4B for secondary text, #1B60BF as an accent and #6D5E12 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BB521F and #88BB1F stays calm, while #1F3ABB is the loudest partner.

What is #bba01f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 14%, 83%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bba01f warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 16 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BB7A1F; nudged cooler, #9EBD1D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bba01f?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 10 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bba01f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bba01f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bba01f] or text-[#bba01f], 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 #bba01f with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 160, 31, 0.5), or #bba01f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDD08F; over black, #5E5010.

Is #bba01f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9933, ΔE2000 8.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bba01f 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 #bba01f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DEC239, #bba01f 45%, #6D5E12). For more colour, a short hue run to #53A11B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bba01f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bba01f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.