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yellow · warm

#bca864

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

Token name suggestion: True Citron

RGB
188, 168, 100
HSL
46°, 40%, 57%
CMYK
0, 11, 47, 26
Luminance
0.3962

#bca864 is a balanced soft yellow, 46° on the wheel and 14/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.92:1). As text it scores 2.35:1 on white — use #85743A instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(46 40% 57%)rgb(188 168 100)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bca864 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bca864
Hue
46°
yellow
Saturation
40%
soft
Lightness
57%
balanced
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
66%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3962
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
14/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.92:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 5.7
Chroma
37.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.734
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 13.4
Web-safe
#CC9966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue46° of 360°
Saturation40%
Lightness57%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bca864.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool14% 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
Red27%
Green71%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#bca864
HEX (8-digit)#bca864ff
RGBrgb(188, 168, 100)
RGBArgba(188, 168, 100, 1)
HSLhsl(46, 40%, 57%)
HSV / HSBhsv(46, 47%, 74%)
HWBhwb(46 39% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 11%, 47%, 26%)
LABlab(69.2 -2.0 37.6)
LCHlch(69.2 37.7 93.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.734 0.091 93.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(37.04, 39.62, 17.75)
Decimal12363876
Display P3color(display-p3 0.737 0.659 0.392)
Web-safe#CC9966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bca864;
background-color: #bca864;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bca864;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bca864] bg-[#bca864]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bca864;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.737, green: 0.659, blue: 0.392)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.737, green: 0.659, blue: 0.392, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BCA864</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBCA864)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBCA864)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(100, 168, 188)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(188, 168, 100)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(188, 168, 100)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 188, 168, 100)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7373f, 0.6588f, 0.3922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{188,168,100}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bca864 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bca864 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#594E27, #EDE7D4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bca864 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: #F4F2EB;
  --brand-200: #E9E4D2;
  --brand-300: #DDD3B1;
  --brand-400: #CCBD8A;
  --brand-500: #bca864;
  --brand-600: #AB954A;
  --brand-700: #8E7C3E;
  --brand-800: #726331;
  --brand-900: #534927;
  --brand-950: #342E18;
  --brand: #bca864;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #E6DFC6;
  --brand-hover: #B09A4C;
  --brand-pressed: #978441;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242114;
    --brand-ink: #EDE7D4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF9F5',
        100: '#F4F2EB',
        200: '#E9E4D2',
        300: '#DDD3B1',
        400: '#CCBD8A',
        500: '#bca864',
        600: '#AB954A',
        700: '#8E7C3E',
        800: '#726331',
        900: '#534927',
        950: '#342E18',
        DEFAULT: '#bca864',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF9F5,
  '100': #F4F2EB,
  '200': #E9E4D2,
  '300': #DDD3B1,
  '400': #CCBD8A,
  '500': #bca864,
  '600': #AB954A,
  '700': #8E7C3E,
  '800': #726331,
  '900': #534927,
  '950': #342E18,
);
$brand-base: #bca864;
$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": "#F4F2EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E9E4D2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DDD3B1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#CCBD8A", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#bca864", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#AB954A", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8E7C3E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#726331", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#534927", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#342E18", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bca864 · 8.92:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.35:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.92:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bca864 as text scores 2.35:1 on white and 8.92:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #594E27 at 3.51:1.

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
#85743A · 4.61:1
AA on white−19% L
#85743A
The quick fox
#65582C · 7.03:1
AAA on white−28% L
#65582C
The quick fox
#bca864 · 8.92:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bca864
The quick fox
#bca864 · 8.92:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bca864

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A99349 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
#bca864 on white: 2.35:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bca864 on black: 8.92:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bca864 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bca864.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.35:1AaAa
Slate 502.25:1AaAa
Slate 1002.15:1AaAa
Slate 2001.91:1AaAa
Slate 3001.59:1AaAa
Slate 4001.09:1AaAa
Slate 5002.02:1AaAa
Slate 6003.22:1AaAa
Slate 7004.40:1AaAa
Slate 8006.22:1AaAa
Slate 9007.59:1AaAa
Black8.92:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B5A55F
deuteranopia · #BAAC67
tritanopia · #C89E98

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. #bca864 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
#F4F2EB
#E9E4D2
#DDD3B1
#CCBD8A
#bca864
#AB954A
#8E7C3E
#726331
#534927
#342E18
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FAF9F5Darkest = 950 · #342E18Text 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 93.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.036 93.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.055 93.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.071 93.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.084 93.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.091 93.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.091 93.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.085 93.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.076 93.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.064 93.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.050 93.5);
}

Colors that work with #bca864

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#E6DFC6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B894B
Captions on the surface
Accent#608EC0
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#594E27
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7F5ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242114
Dark-mode background
Hover#B09A4C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#978441
Two steps down
Disabled#D4CFBC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CCB668
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 #bca864

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 #594E27
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A99349

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
  • 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#6478BC
Analogous left#BC7C64
Analogous right#A4BC64
Split-complement 1#64A4BC
Split-complement 2#7C64BC
Triadic 1#64BCA8
Triadic 2#A864BC
Tetradic#64BC7C
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°46°

#bca864 sits at 46°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.7%
Green65.9%
Blue39.2%
R · 0–255
188
0xbc
G · 0–255
168
0xa8
B · 0–255
100
0x64

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta10.6%
Yellow46.8%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 84%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bca864 text on a black background

contrast 8.92:1

Card sample

#bca864 text on a white background

contrast 2.35:1

Card sample

#bca864 on grey

2.15:1

#bca864 on its own surface

2.23:1

#bca864 on its dark surface

6.85:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bca864;
Background color
Panel with #bca864 background
background-color: #bca864;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bca864;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(188, 168, 100, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(188, 168, 100, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bca864;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bca864, #95BC64);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bca864, #7FBC64);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bca864;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bca864;
caret-color: #bca864;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bca864;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7F5ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bca864;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bca864 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bca864 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, 168, 100, 0.5)
rgb(188 168 100 / 50%)
#bca86480
hsl(46 40% 57% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bca864 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bca8641a#F8F6F0
20%#bca86433#F2EEE0
40%#bca86466#E4DCC1
60%#bca86499#D7CBA2
80%#bca864cc#C9B983

Gradients from #bca864

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, #CEC08F, #bca864 45%, #594E27);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bca864, #7EB34F);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bca864, #6478BC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D8CCA4 0%, #bca864 45%, #594E27 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%, #CB9588 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #AAC57A 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #594E27 0%, transparent 65%), #bca864;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bca864

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.

#bca864 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 8.92:1.

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.

#bca864, answered

What color is #bca864?

#bca864 is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 5.7). It sits at 46° on the hue wheel with 40% saturation and 57% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bca864?

rgb(188, 168, 100) — 188 red, 168 green and 100 blue out of 255, or 73.7% / 65.9% / 39.2% by channel.

What is #bca864 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(46, 40%, 57%) and hsv(46, 47%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bca864 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3962 and perceived brightness is 66%, so black text on it reaches 8.92:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bca864?

Black. It scores 8.92:1 against #bca864, versus 2.35:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bca864 accessible on a white background?

#bca864 on white scores 2.35:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #85743A to reach 4.5:1, or #65582C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bca864?

#6478BC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #64A4BC and #7C64BC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bca864?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #E6DFC6 for borders, #9B894B for secondary text, #608EC0 as an accent and #594E27 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BC7C64 and #A4BC64 stays calm, while #6478BC is the loudest partner.

What is #bca864 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 11%, 47%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bca864 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 14 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BC9264; nudged cooler, #B1BE62.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bca864?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 13.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bca864 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bca864 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bca864] or text-[#bca864], 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 #bca864 with 50% opacity?

rgba(188, 168, 100, 0.5), or #bca86480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DED4B2; over black, #5E5432.

Is #bca864 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9966, ΔE2000 11.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bca864 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 #bca864?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CEC08F, #bca864 45%, #594E27). For more colour, a short hue run to #7EB34F keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bca864 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bca864 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.