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yellow · warm

#bc970b

a dark, electric yellow · warm · closest name: Dark Goldenrod

Token name suggestion: Slate Brass

RGB
188, 151, 11
HSL
48°, 89%, 39%
CMYK
0, 20, 94, 26
Luminance
0.3285

#bc970b is a dark electric yellow, 48° on the wheel and 15/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.57:1). As text it scores 2.77:1 on white — use #8C7008 instead. Nearest name is Dark Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(48 89% 39%)rgb(188 151 11)Base step 700AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bc970b is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bc970b
Hue
48°
yellow
Saturation
89%
electric
Lightness
39%
dark
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
61%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3285
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
15/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
7.57:1
Closest name
Dark Goldenrod
ΔE2000 6.5
Chroma
66.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.691
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 10
Web-safe
#CC9900
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue48° of 360°
Saturation89%
Lightness39%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bc970b.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool15% 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
Red33%
Green67%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#bc970b
HEX (8-digit)#bc970bff
RGBrgb(188, 151, 11)
RGBArgba(188, 151, 11, 1)
HSLhsl(48, 89%, 39%)
HSV / HSBhsv(47, 94%, 74%)
HWBhwb(48 4% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 20%, 94%, 26%)
LABlab(64.0 2.4 66.5)
LCHlch(64.0 66.5 88.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.691 0.139 90.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.87, 32.85, 4.98)
Decimal12359435
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.592 0.043)
Web-safe#CC9900

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bc970b;
background-color: #bc970b;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bc970b;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bc970b] bg-[#bc970b]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bc970b;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.592, blue: 0.043)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.592, blue: 0.043, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BC970B</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBC970B)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBC970B)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(11, 151, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 151, 11)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 151, 11)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 151, 11)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.5922f, 0.0431f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,151,11}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bc970b 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bc970b 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#786107, #EEE8D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bc970b 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: #FDFBF2;
  --brand-100: #FBF6E5;
  --brand-200: #F8EDC4;
  --brand-300: #F9E495;
  --brand-400: #F6D660;
  --brand-500: #F3C92B;
  --brand-600: #E7BA0E;
  --brand-700: #bc970b;
  --brand-800: #9A7C09;
  --brand-900: #6F5A0B;
  --brand-950: #463807;
  --brand: #bc970b;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #EDE3C0;
  --brand-hover: #9A7C09;
  --brand-pressed: #786107;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242114;
    --brand-ink: #EEE8D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDFBF2',
        100: '#FBF6E5',
        200: '#F8EDC4',
        300: '#F9E495',
        400: '#F6D660',
        500: '#F3C92B',
        600: '#E7BA0E',
        700: '#bc970b',
        800: '#9A7C09',
        900: '#6F5A0B',
        950: '#463807',
        DEFAULT: '#bc970b',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDFBF2,
  '100': #FBF6E5,
  '200': #F8EDC4,
  '300': #F9E495,
  '400': #F6D660,
  '500': #F3C92B,
  '600': #E7BA0E,
  '700': #bc970b,
  '800': #9A7C09,
  '900': #6F5A0B,
  '950': #463807,
);
$brand-base: #bc970b;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDFBF2", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FBF6E5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F8EDC4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F9E495", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F6D660", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#F3C92B", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#E7BA0E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#bc970b", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#9A7C09", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6F5A0B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#463807", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bc970b · 7.57:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.77:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.57:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bc970b as text scores 2.77:1 on white and 7.57:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #786107 at 2.16:1.

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
#8C7008 · 4.73:1
AA on white−10% L
#8C7008
The quick fox
#6A5506 · 7.20:1
AAA on white−17% L
#6A5506
The quick fox
#bc970b · 7.57:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bc970b
The quick fox
#bc970b · 7.57:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bc970b

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B28F0A 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
#bc970b on white: 2.77:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bc970b on black: 7.57:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bc970b as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bc970b.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.77:1AaAa
Slate 502.65:1AaAa
Slate 1002.53:1AaAa
Slate 2002.25:1AaAa
Slate 3001.87:1AaAa
Slate 4001.08:1AaAa
Slate 5001.72:1AaAa
Slate 6002.73:1AaAa
Slate 7003.73:1AaAa
Slate 8005.27:1AaAa
Slate 9006.44:1AaAa
Black7.57:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AA9500
deuteranopia · #B3A01A
tritanopia · #CC8980

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. #bc970b 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.

#FDFBF2
#FBF6E5
#F8EDC4
#F9E495
#F6D660
#F3C92B
#E7BA0E
#bc970b
#9A7C09
#6F5A0B
#463807
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #FDFBF2Darkest = 950 · #463807Text 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 90.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.056 90.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.084 90.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.109 90.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.128 90.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.139 90.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.139 90.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.131 90.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.117 90.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.097 90.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.077 90.9);
}

Colors that work with #bc970b

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#EDE3C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B8A4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#075CC0
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#786107
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FEF9E7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242114
Dark-mode background
Hover#9A7C09
One step down in lightness
Pressed#786107
Two steps down
Disabled#B1A886
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DAAD01
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 #bc970b

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 #786107
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B28F0A

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight61/100
  • 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#0B30BC
Analogous left#BC3F0B
Analogous right#88BC0B
Split-complement 1#0B88BC
Split-complement 2#3F0BBC
Triadic 1#0BBC97
Triadic 2#970BBC
Tetradic#0BBC3F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°48°

#bc970b sits at 48°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green59.2%
Blue4.3%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
151
0x97
B · 0–255
11
0x0b

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta19.7%
Yellow94.1%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 140%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bc970b text on a black background

contrast 7.57:1

Card sample

#bc970b text on a white background

contrast 2.77:1

Card sample

#bc970b on grey

2.53:1

#bc970b on its own surface

2.63:1

#bc970b on its dark surface

5.81:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bc970b;
Background color
Panel with #bc970b background
background-color: #bc970b;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bc970b;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 151, 11, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 151, 11, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bc970b;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bc970b, #6BBC0B);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc970b, #3FBC0B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bc970b;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bc970b;
caret-color: #bc970b;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bc970b;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FEF9E7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bc970b;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bc970b 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bc970b 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(188, 151, 11, 0.5)
rgb(188 151 11 / 50%)
#bc970b80
hsl(48 89% 39% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bc970b 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bc970b1a#F8F5E7
20%#bc970b33#F2EACE
40%#bc970b66#E4D59D
60%#bc970b99#D7C16D
80%#bc970bcc#C9AC3C

Gradients from #bc970b

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, #F1C313, #bc970b 45%, #786107);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bc970b, #4E9F09);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bc970b, #0B30BC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3CA30 0%, #bc970b 45%, #786107 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%, #EC3C0E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8CD90D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #786107 0%, transparent 65%), #bc970b;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bc970b

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.

#bc970b 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 7.57:1.

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.

#bc970b, answered

What color is #bc970b?

#bc970b is a dark electric yellow, closest to Dark Goldenrod (ΔE2000 6.5). It sits at 48° on the hue wheel with 89% saturation and 39% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bc970b?

rgb(188, 151, 11) — 188 red, 151 green and 11 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 59.2% / 4.3% by channel.

What is #bc970b in HSL and HSV?

hsl(48, 89%, 39%) and hsv(47, 94%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bc970b a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3285 and perceived brightness is 61%, so black text on it reaches 7.57:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bc970b?

Black. It scores 7.57:1 against #bc970b, versus 2.77:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bc970b accessible on a white background?

#bc970b on white scores 2.77:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8C7008 to reach 4.5:1, or #6A5506 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bc970b?

#0B30BC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #0B88BC and #3F0BBC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bc970b?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #EDE3C0 for borders, #9B8A4B for secondary text, #075CC0 as an accent and #786107 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BC3F0B and #88BC0B stays calm, while #0B30BC is the loudest partner.

What is #bc970b in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 20%, 94%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #bc970b warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 15 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BC720B; nudged cooler, #A1BE09.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bc970b?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 10 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bc970b as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bc970b in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bc970b] or text-[#bc970b], 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 #bc970b with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 151, 11, 0.5), or #bc970b80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DECB85; over black, #5E4C06.

Is #bc970b a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9900, ΔE2000 4.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bc970b 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 #bc970b?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F1C313, #bc970b 45%, #786107). For more colour, a short hue run to #4E9F09 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bc970b in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bc970b at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.