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yellow · warm

#bbaf69

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Brass

RGB
187, 175, 105
HSL
51°, 38%, 57%
CMYK
0, 6, 44, 27
Luminance
0.4224

#bbaf69 is a balanced soft yellow, 51° on the wheel and 18/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.45:1). As text it scores 2.22:1 on white — use #7F753A instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(51 38% 57%)rgb(187 175 105)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bbaf69 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bbaf69
Hue
51°
yellow
Saturation
38%
soft
Lightness
57%
balanced
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4224
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
18/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.45:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 2.8
Chroma
37.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.748
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 14.6
Web-safe
#CC9966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue51° of 360°
Saturation38%
Lightness57%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bbaf69.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool18% 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
Red25%
Green73%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#bbaf69
HEX (8-digit)#bbaf69ff
RGBrgb(187, 175, 105)
RGBArgba(187, 175, 105, 1)
HSLhsl(51, 38%, 57%)
HSV / HSBhsv(51, 44%, 73%)
HWBhwb(51 41% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 6%, 44%, 27%)
LABlab(71.0 -5.6 37.4)
LCHlch(71.0 37.8 98.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.748 0.092 99.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(38.37, 42.25, 19.49)
Decimal12300137
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.686 0.412)
Web-safe#CC9966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bbaf69;
background-color: #bbaf69;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bbaf69;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bbaf69] bg-[#bbaf69]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bbaf69;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.686, blue: 0.412)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.686, blue: 0.412, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBAF69</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBAF69)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBAF69)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(105, 175, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 175, 105)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 175, 105)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 175, 105)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.6863f, 0.4118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,175,105}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bbaf69 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bbaf69 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#585128, #ECE9D5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bbaf69 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: #FAF9F5;
  --brand-100: #F4F3EB;
  --brand-200: #E9E6D3;
  --brand-300: #DCD6B2;
  --brand-400: #CAC18B;
  --brand-500: #bbaf69;
  --brand-600: #A89B4C;
  --brand-700: #8C8140;
  --brand-800: #706733;
  --brand-900: #524C28;
  --brand-950: #333019;
  --brand: #bbaf69;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #E6E1C7;
  --brand-hover: #B0A251;
  --brand-pressed: #988C45;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242214;
    --brand-ink: #ECE9D5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF9F5',
        100: '#F4F3EB',
        200: '#E9E6D3',
        300: '#DCD6B2',
        400: '#CAC18B',
        500: '#bbaf69',
        600: '#A89B4C',
        700: '#8C8140',
        800: '#706733',
        900: '#524C28',
        950: '#333019',
        DEFAULT: '#bbaf69',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF9F5,
  '100': #F4F3EB,
  '200': #E9E6D3,
  '300': #DCD6B2,
  '400': #CAC18B,
  '500': #bbaf69,
  '600': #A89B4C,
  '700': #8C8140,
  '800': #706733,
  '900': #524C28,
  '950': #333019,
);
$brand-base: #bbaf69;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF9F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4F3EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E9E6D3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DCD6B2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#CAC18B", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#bbaf69", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A89B4C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8C8140", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#706733", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#524C28", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#333019", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bbaf69 · 9.45:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.22:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.45:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bbaf69 as text scores 2.22:1 on white and 9.45:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #585128 at 3.60:1.

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
#7F753A · 4.66:1
AA on white−21% L
#7F753A
The quick fox
#60582B · 7.17:1
AAA on white−30% L
#60582B
The quick fox
#bbaf69 · 9.45:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bbaf69
The quick fox
#bbaf69 · 9.45:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bbaf69

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A2954A 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
#bbaf69 on white: 2.22:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bbaf69 on black: 9.45:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bbaf69 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bbaf69.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.22:1AaAa
Slate 502.12:1AaAa
Slate 1002.03:1AaAa
Slate 2001.80:1AaAa
Slate 3001.50:1AaAa
Slate 4001.15:1AaAa
Slate 5002.14:1AaAa
Slate 6003.41:1AaAa
Slate 7004.66:1AaAa
Slate 8006.58:1AaAa
Slate 9008.03:1AaAa
Black9.45:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BBAB63
deuteranopia · #BFB06C
tritanopia · #C6A69E

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. #bbaf69 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.

#FAF9F5
#F4F3EB
#E9E6D3
#DCD6B2
#CAC18B
#bbaf69
#A89B4C
#8C8140
#706733
#524C28
#333019
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FAF9F5Darkest = 950 · #333019Text 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 0.023 99.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.037 99.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.055 99.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.072 99.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.084 99.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.092 99.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.092 99.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.086 99.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.077 99.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.064 99.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.050 99.8);
}

Colors that work with #bbaf69

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#E6E1C7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B8F4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#6589BF
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#585128
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7F6ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242214
Dark-mode background
Hover#B0A251
One step down in lightness
Pressed#988C45
Two steps down
Disabled#D6D2BF
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CBBE6D
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 #bbaf69

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 #585128
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A2954A

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#6975BB
Analogous left#BB8669
Analogous right#9EBB69
Split-complement 1#699EBB
Split-complement 2#8669BB
Triadic 1#69BBAF
Triadic 2#AF69BB
Tetradic#69BB86
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°51°

#bbaf69 sits at 51°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green68.6%
Blue41.2%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
175
0xaf
B · 0–255
105
0x69

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta6.4%
Yellow43.9%
Key (black)26.7%

Total ink coverage is 77%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bbaf69 text on a black background

contrast 9.45:1

Card sample

#bbaf69 text on a white background

contrast 2.22:1

Card sample

#bbaf69 on grey

2.03:1

#bbaf69 on its own surface

2.11:1

#bbaf69 on its dark surface

7.19:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bbaf69;
Background color
Panel with #bbaf69 background
background-color: #bbaf69;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bbaf69;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 175, 105, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 175, 105, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bbaf69;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bbaf69, #90BB69);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbaf69, #7CBB69);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bbaf69;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bbaf69;
caret-color: #bbaf69;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bbaf69;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7F6ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bbaf69;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bbaf69 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bbaf69 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, 175, 105, 0.5)
rgb(187 175 105 / 50%)
#bbaf6980
hsl(51 38% 57% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bbaf69 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bbaf691a#F8F7F0
20%#bbaf6933#F1EFE1
40%#bbaf6966#E4DFC3
60%#bbaf6999#D6CFA5
80%#bbaf69cc#C9BF87

Gradients from #bbaf69

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, #CEC693, #bbaf69 45%, #585128);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bbaf69, #79B254);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbaf69, #6975BB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D8D1A8 0%, #bbaf69 45%, #585128 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%, #CB9D8C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A6C57E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #585128 0%, transparent 65%), #bbaf69;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bbaf69

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.

#bbaf69 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 9.45:1.

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.

#bbaf69, answered

What color is #bbaf69?

#bbaf69 is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 2.8). It sits at 51° on the hue wheel with 38% saturation and 57% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bbaf69?

rgb(187, 175, 105) — 187 red, 175 green and 105 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 68.6% / 41.2% by channel.

What is #bbaf69 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(51, 38%, 57%) and hsv(51, 44%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bbaf69 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4224 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 9.45:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bbaf69?

Black. It scores 9.45:1 against #bbaf69, versus 2.22:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bbaf69 accessible on a white background?

#bbaf69 on white scores 2.22:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7F753A to reach 4.5:1, or #60582B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bbaf69?

#6975BB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #699EBB and #8669BB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bbaf69?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #E6E1C7 for borders, #9B8F4B for secondary text, #6589BF as an accent and #585128 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BB8669 and #9EBB69 stays calm, while #6975BB is the loudest partner.

What is #bbaf69 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 6%, 44%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bbaf69 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 18 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BB9569; nudged cooler, #AABD67.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bbaf69?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 14.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bbaf69 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bbaf69 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bbaf69] or text-[#bbaf69], 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 #bbaf69 with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 175, 105, 0.5), or #bbaf6980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDD7B4; over black, #5E5835.

Is #bbaf69 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9966, ΔE2000 14.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bbaf69 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 #bbaf69?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CEC693, #bbaf69 45%, #585128). For more colour, a short hue run to #79B254 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bbaf69 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bbaf69 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.