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yellow · warm

#bbc427

a balanced, vivid yellow · warm · closest name: Yellow Green

Token name suggestion: Atlas Citron

RGB
187, 196, 39
HSL
63°, 67%, 46%
CMYK
5, 0, 80, 23
Luminance
0.5019

#bbc427 is a balanced vivid yellow, 63° on the wheel and 28/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.04:1). As text it scores 1.90:1 on white — use #767C19 instead. Nearest name is Yellow Green, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(63 67% 46%)rgb(187 196 39)Base step 600AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bbc427 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bbc427
Hue
63°
yellow
Saturation
67%
vivid
Lightness
46%
balanced
Brightness
77%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5019
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
28/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.04:1
Closest name
Yellow Green
ΔE2000 8.4
Chroma
73.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.788
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 11
Web-safe
#CCCC33
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue63° of 360°
Saturation67%
Lightness46%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bbc427.

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%
Green79%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#bbc427
HEX (8-digit)#bbc427ff
RGBrgb(187, 196, 39)
RGBArgba(187, 196, 39, 1)
HSLhsl(63, 67%, 46%)
HSV / HSBhsv(63, 80%, 77%)
HWBhwb(63 15% 23%)
CMYKcmyk(5%, 0%, 80%, 23%)
LABlab(76.2 -20.8 70.3)
LCHlch(76.2 73.3 106.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.788 0.166 113.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(40.60, 50.19, 9.47)
Decimal12305447
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.769 0.153)
Web-safe#CCCC33

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bbc427;
background-color: #bbc427;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bbc427;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bbc427] bg-[#bbc427]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bbc427;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.769, blue: 0.153)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.769, blue: 0.153, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBC427</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBC427)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBC427)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(39, 196, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 196, 39)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 196, 39)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 196, 39)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.7686f, 0.1529f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,196,39}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bbc427 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bbc427 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#666A15, #EDEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bbc427 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: #FBFBF3;
  --brand-100: #F7F8E8;
  --brand-200: #EFF1CA;
  --brand-300: #E8ECA1;
  --brand-400: #DDE373;
  --brand-500: #D1DA44;
  --brand-600: #bbc427;
  --brand-700: #A2AA22;
  --brand-800: #82881B;
  --brand-900: #5F6318;
  --brand-950: #3B3E0F;
  --brand: #bbc427;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EAEDC0;
  --brand-hover: #9FA621;
  --brand-pressed: #82891B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EDEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBFBF3',
        100: '#F7F8E8',
        200: '#EFF1CA',
        300: '#E8ECA1',
        400: '#DDE373',
        500: '#D1DA44',
        600: '#bbc427',
        700: '#A2AA22',
        800: '#82881B',
        900: '#5F6318',
        950: '#3B3E0F',
        DEFAULT: '#bbc427',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBFBF3,
  '100': #F7F8E8,
  '200': #EFF1CA,
  '300': #E8ECA1,
  '400': #DDE373,
  '500': #D1DA44,
  '600': #bbc427,
  '700': #A2AA22,
  '800': #82881B,
  '900': #5F6318,
  '950': #3B3E0F,
);
$brand-base: #bbc427;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBFBF3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F7F8E8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EFF1CA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E8ECA1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#DDE373", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#D1DA44", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#bbc427", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#A2AA22", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#82881B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5F6318", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3B3E0F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bbc427 · 11.04:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.90:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.04:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bbc427 as text scores 1.90:1 on white and 11.04:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #666A15 at 3.03:1.

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
#767C19 · 4.50:1
AA on white−17% L
#767C19
The quick fox
#565A12 · 7.33:1
AAA on white−25% L
#565A12
The quick fox
#bbc427 · 11.04:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bbc427
The quick fox
#bbc427 · 11.04:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bbc427

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #939A1F 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
#bbc427 on white: 1.90:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bbc427 on black: 11.04:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bbc427 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bbc427.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.90:1AaAa
Slate 501.82:1AaAa
Slate 1001.74:1AaAa
Slate 2001.54:1AaAa
Slate 3001.28:1AaAa
Slate 4001.35:1AaAa
Slate 5002.50:1AaAa
Slate 6003.98:1AaAa
Slate 7005.44:1AaAa
Slate 8007.69:1AaAa
Slate 9009.38:1AaAa
Black11.04:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D3BA00
deuteranopia · #D3BD36
tritanopia · #C8B8A8

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. #bbc427 is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FBFBF3
#F7F8E8
#EFF1CA
#E8ECA1
#DDE373
#D1DA44
#bbc427
#A2AA22
#82881B
#5F6318
#3B3E0F
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FBFBF3Darkest = 950 · #3B3E0FText 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 0.041 113.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.066 113.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.099 113.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.129 113.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.153 113.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.166 113.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.166 113.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.156 113.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.139 113.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.116 113.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.091 113.1);
}

Colors that work with #bbc427

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#EAEDC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#969B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#2243C9
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#666A15
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FAFBEA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#9FA621
One step down in lightness
Pressed#82891B
Two steps down
Disabled#BEC09C
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D6E11E
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 #bbc427

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 #666A15
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #939A1F

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
  • Weight54/100
  • 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#3027C4
Analogous left#C47E27
Analogous right#6DC427
Split-complement 1#276DC4
Split-complement 2#7E27C4
Triadic 1#27BBC4
Triadic 2#C427BB
Tetradic#27C47E
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°63°

#bbc427 sits at 63°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green76.9%
Blue15.3%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
196
0xc4
B · 0–255
39
0x27

CMYK percentages

Cyan4.6%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow80.1%
Key (black)23.1%

Total ink coverage is 108%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bbc427 text on a black background

contrast 11.04:1

Card sample

#bbc427 text on a white background

contrast 1.90:1

Card sample

#bbc427 on grey

1.74:1

#bbc427 on its own surface

1.82:1

#bbc427 on its dark surface

8.25:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bbc427;
Background color
Panel with #bbc427 background
background-color: #bbc427;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bbc427;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 196, 39, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 196, 39, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bbc427;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bbc427, #52C427);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbc427, #2BC427);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bbc427;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bbc427;
caret-color: #bbc427;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bbc427;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FAFBEA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bbc427;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bbc427 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bbc427 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, 196, 39, 0.5)
rgb(187 196 39 / 50%)
#bbc42780
hsl(63 67% 46% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bbc427 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bbc4271a#F8F9E9
20%#bbc42733#F1F3D4
40%#bbc42766#E4E7A9
60%#bbc42799#D6DC7D
80%#bbc427cc#C9D052

Gradients from #bbc427

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, #D3DC4D, #bbc427 45%, #666A15);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bbc427, #3CAB22);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbc427, #3027C4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DAE166 0%, #bbc427 45%, #666A15 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%, #DA8B44 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #6ED633 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #666A15 0%, transparent 65%), #bbc427;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bbc427

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.

#bbc427 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 11.04:1.

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.

#bbc427, answered

What color is #bbc427?

#bbc427 is a balanced vivid yellow, closest to Yellow Green (ΔE2000 8.4). It sits at 63° on the hue wheel with 67% saturation and 46% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bbc427?

rgb(187, 196, 39) — 187 red, 196 green and 39 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 76.9% / 15.3% by channel.

What is #bbc427 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(63, 67%, 46%) and hsv(63, 80%, 77%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bbc427 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5019 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 11.04:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bbc427?

Black. It scores 11.04:1 against #bbc427, versus 1.90:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bbc427 accessible on a white background?

#bbc427 on white scores 1.90:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #767C19 to reach 4.5:1, or #565A12 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bbc427?

#3027C4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #276DC4 and #7E27C4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bbc427?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EAEDC0 for borders, #969B4B for secondary text, #2243C9 as an accent and #666A15 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C47E27 and #6DC427 stays calm, while #3027C4 is the loudest partner.

What is #bbc427 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(5%, 0%, 80%, 23%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bbc427 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 #C49327; nudged cooler, #82C625.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bbc427?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 11 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bbc427 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bbc427 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bbc427] or text-[#bbc427], 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 #bbc427 with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 196, 39, 0.5), or #bbc42780 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDE293; over black, #5E6214.

Is #bbc427 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC33, ΔE2000 3.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bbc427 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 #bbc427?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D3DC4D, #bbc427 45%, #666A15). For more colour, a short hue run to #3CAB22 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bbc427 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bbc427 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.