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yellow · warm

#bbc559

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Straw

RGB
187, 197, 89
HSL
66°, 48%, 56%
CMYK
5, 0, 55, 23
Luminance
0.5122

#bbc559 is a balanced vivid yellow, 66° on the wheel and 30/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.24:1). As text it scores 1.87:1 on white — use #72792A instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(66 48% 56%)rgb(187 197 89)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bbc559 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bbc559
Hue
66°
yellow
Saturation
48%
vivid
Lightness
56%
balanced
Brightness
77%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5122
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
30/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.24:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 6.5
Chroma
55.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.794
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 10.8
Web-safe
#CCCC66
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue66° of 360°
Saturation48%
Lightness56%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bbc559.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool30% 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%
Green78%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#bbc559
HEX (8-digit)#bbc559ff
RGBrgb(187, 197, 89)
RGBArgba(187, 197, 89, 1)
HSLhsl(66, 48%, 56%)
HSV / HSBhsv(66, 55%, 77%)
HWBhwb(66 35% 23%)
CMYKcmyk(5%, 0%, 55%, 23%)
LABlab(76.8 -18.4 52.1)
LCHlch(76.8 55.3 109.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.794 0.133 113.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(42.26, 51.22, 17.11)
Decimal12305753
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.773 0.349)
Web-safe#CCCC66

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bbc559;
background-color: #bbc559;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bbc559;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bbc559] bg-[#bbc559]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bbc559;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.773, blue: 0.349)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.773, blue: 0.349, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBC559</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBC559)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBC559)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(89, 197, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 197, 89)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 197, 89)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 197, 89)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.7725f, 0.3490f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,197,89}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bbc559 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bbc559 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#595E21, #ECEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bbc559 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: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-100: #F4F5EA;
  --brand-200: #E9ECD0;
  --brand-300: #DDE2AC;
  --brand-400: #CCD382;
  --brand-500: #bbc559;
  --brand-600: #AAB53F;
  --brand-700: #8E9735;
  --brand-800: #72792A;
  --brand-900: #535822;
  --brand-950: #343715;
  --brand: #bbc559;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #E6EAC3;
  --brand-hover: #AEBA41;
  --brand-pressed: #959F38;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #232414;
    --brand-ink: #ECEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAFAF4',
        100: '#F4F5EA',
        200: '#E9ECD0',
        300: '#DDE2AC',
        400: '#CCD382',
        500: '#bbc559',
        600: '#AAB53F',
        700: '#8E9735',
        800: '#72792A',
        900: '#535822',
        950: '#343715',
        DEFAULT: '#bbc559',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAFAF4,
  '100': #F4F5EA,
  '200': #E9ECD0,
  '300': #DDE2AC,
  '400': #CCD382,
  '500': #bbc559,
  '600': #AAB53F,
  '700': #8E9735,
  '800': #72792A,
  '900': #535822,
  '950': #343715,
);
$brand-base: #bbc559;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAFAF4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4F5EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E9ECD0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DDE2AC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#CCD382", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#bbc559", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#AAB53F", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8E9735", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#72792A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#535822", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#343715", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bbc559 · 11.24:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.87:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.24:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bbc559 as text scores 1.87:1 on white and 11.24:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #595E21 at 3.69:1.

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
#72792A · 4.68:1
AA on white−24% L
#72792A
The quick fox
#565B20 · 7.21:1
AAA on white−32% L
#565B20
The quick fox
#bbc559 · 11.24:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bbc559
The quick fox
#bbc559 · 11.24:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bbc559

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #929B36 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
#bbc559 on white: 1.87:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bbc559 on black: 11.24:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bbc559 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bbc559.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.87:1AaAa
Slate 501.79:1AaAa
Slate 1001.70:1AaAa
Slate 2001.52:1AaAa
Slate 3001.26:1AaAa
Slate 4001.37:1AaAa
Slate 5002.55:1AaAa
Slate 6004.06:1AaAa
Slate 7005.54:1AaAa
Slate 8007.83:1AaAa
Slate 9009.56:1AaAa
Black11.24:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D2BC4E
deuteranopia · #D1BF5F
tritanopia · #C6BBAD

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. #bbc559 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.

#FAFAF4
#F4F5EA
#E9ECD0
#DDE2AC
#CCD382
#bbc559
#AAB53F
#8E9735
#72792A
#535822
#343715
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FAFAF4Darkest = 950 · #343715Text 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 0.033 113.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.053 113.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.080 113.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.104 113.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.122 113.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.133 113.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.133 113.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.125 113.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.112 113.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.093 113.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.073 113.8);
}

Colors that work with #bbc559

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#E6EAC3
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#939B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#5567C9
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#595E21
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7F8EC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#232414
Dark-mode background
Hover#AEBA41
One step down in lightness
Pressed#959F38
Two steps down
Disabled#D1D3BB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C9D45E
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 #bbc559

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 #595E21
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #929B36

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
  • Weight44/100
  • 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#6359C5
Analogous left#C59959
Analogous right#85C559
Split-complement 1#5985C5
Split-complement 2#9959C5
Triadic 1#59BBC5
Triadic 2#C559BB
Tetradic#59C599
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°66°

#bbc559 sits at 66°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green77.3%
Blue34.9%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
197
0xc5
B · 0–255
89
0x59

CMYK percentages

Cyan5.1%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow54.8%
Key (black)22.7%

Total ink coverage is 83%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bbc559 text on a black background

contrast 11.24:1

Card sample

#bbc559 text on a white background

contrast 1.87:1

Card sample

#bbc559 on grey

1.70:1

#bbc559 on its own surface

1.78:1

#bbc559 on its dark surface

8.43:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bbc559;
Background color
Panel with #bbc559 background
background-color: #bbc559;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bbc559;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 197, 89, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 197, 89, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bbc559;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bbc559, #73C559);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbc559, #59C55A);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bbc559;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bbc559;
caret-color: #bbc559;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bbc559;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7F8EC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bbc559;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bbc559 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bbc559 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, 197, 89, 0.5)
rgb(187 197 89 / 50%)
#bbc55980
hsl(66 48% 56% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bbc559 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bbc5591a#F8F9EE
20%#bbc55933#F1F3DE
40%#bbc55966#E4E8BD
60%#bbc55999#D6DC9B
80%#bbc559cc#C9D17A

Gradients from #bbc559

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, #CED586, #bbc559 45%, #595E21);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bbc559, #56BD42);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbc559, #6359C5);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D7DD9D 0%, #bbc559 45%, #595E21 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%, #D2A97F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8ECD70 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #595E21 0%, transparent 65%), #bbc559;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bbc559

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.

#bbc559 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 11.24:1.

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.

#bbc559, answered

What color is #bbc559?

#bbc559 is a balanced vivid yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 6.5). It sits at 66° on the hue wheel with 48% saturation and 56% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bbc559?

rgb(187, 197, 89) — 187 red, 197 green and 89 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 77.3% / 34.9% by channel.

What is #bbc559 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(66, 48%, 56%) and hsv(66, 55%, 77%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bbc559 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5122 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 11.24:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bbc559?

Black. It scores 11.24:1 against #bbc559, versus 1.87:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bbc559 accessible on a white background?

#bbc559 on white scores 1.87:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #72792A to reach 4.5:1, or #565B20 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bbc559?

#6359C5 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #5985C5 and #9959C5, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bbc559?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #E6EAC3 for borders, #939B4B for secondary text, #5567C9 as an accent and #595E21 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C59959 and #85C559 stays calm, while #6359C5 is the loudest partner.

What is #bbc559 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(5%, 0%, 55%, 23%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bbc559 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 30 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C5A859; nudged cooler, #94C757.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bbc559?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 10.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bbc559 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bbc559 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bbc559] or text-[#bbc559], 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 #bbc559 with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 197, 89, 0.5), or #bbc55980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDE2AC; over black, #5E632D.

Is #bbc559 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC66, ΔE2000 3.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bbc559 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 #bbc559?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CED586, #bbc559 45%, #595E21). For more colour, a short hue run to #56BD42 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bbc559 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bbc559 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.