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yellow · warm

#bda340

a balanced, vivid yellow · warm · closest name: Goldenrod

Token name suggestion: True Brass

RGB
189, 163, 64
HSL
48°, 49%, 50%
CMYK
0, 14, 66, 26
Luminance
0.3738

#bda340 is a balanced vivid yellow, 48° on the wheel and 15/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.48:1). As text it scores 2.48:1 on white — use #88752E instead. Nearest name is Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(48 49% 50%)rgb(189 163 64)Base step 600AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bda340 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bda340
Hue
48°
yellow
Saturation
49%
vivid
Lightness
50%
balanced
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
64%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3738
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
15/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.48:1
Closest name
Goldenrod
ΔE2000 7.9
Chroma
53.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.720
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 10.4
Web-safe
#CC9933
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue48° of 360°
Saturation49%
Lightness50%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bda340.

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
Red29%
Green70%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#bda340
HEX (8-digit)#bda340ff
RGBrgb(189, 163, 64)
RGBArgba(189, 163, 64, 1)
HSLhsl(48, 49%, 50%)
HSV / HSBhsv(48, 66%, 74%)
HWBhwb(48 25% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 14%, 66%, 26%)
LABlab(67.6 -1.8 53.2)
LCHlch(67.6 53.2 91.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.720 0.121 94.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.01, 37.39, 10.22)
Decimal12428096
Display P3color(display-p3 0.741 0.639 0.251)
Web-safe#CC9933

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bda340;
background-color: #bda340;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bda340;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bda340] bg-[#bda340]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bda340;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.741, green: 0.639, blue: 0.251)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.741, green: 0.639, blue: 0.251, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BDA340</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBDA340)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBDA340)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(64, 163, 189)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(189, 163, 64)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(189, 163, 64)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 189, 163, 64)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7412f, 0.6392f, 0.2510f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{189,163,64}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bda340 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bda340 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5F5220, #EEE8D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bda340 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: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-100: #F6F3EA;
  --brand-200: #ECE6CF;
  --brand-300: #E3D7AB;
  --brand-400: #D4C381;
  --brand-500: #C6AF57;
  --brand-600: #bda340;
  --brand-700: #988334;
  --brand-800: #7A6929;
  --brand-900: #594D21;
  --brand-950: #383015;
  --brand: #bda340;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #EAE2C2;
  --brand-hover: #A28C37;
  --brand-pressed: #88752E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242114;
    --brand-ink: #EEE8D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF9F4',
        100: '#F6F3EA',
        200: '#ECE6CF',
        300: '#E3D7AB',
        400: '#D4C381',
        500: '#C6AF57',
        600: '#bda340',
        700: '#988334',
        800: '#7A6929',
        900: '#594D21',
        950: '#383015',
        DEFAULT: '#bda340',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF9F4,
  '100': #F6F3EA,
  '200': #ECE6CF,
  '300': #E3D7AB,
  '400': #D4C381,
  '500': #C6AF57,
  '600': #bda340,
  '700': #988334,
  '800': #7A6929,
  '900': #594D21,
  '950': #383015,
);
$brand-base: #bda340;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF9F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F6F3EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#ECE6CF", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E3D7AB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D4C381", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#C6AF57", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#bda340", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#988334", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7A6929", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#594D21", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#383015", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bda340 · 8.48:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.48:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.48:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bda340 as text scores 2.48:1 on white and 8.48:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5F5220 at 3.12:1.

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
#88752E · 4.53:1
AA on white−14% L
#88752E
The quick fox
#655722 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−23% L
#655722
The quick fox
#bda340 · 8.48:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bda340
The quick fox
#bda340 · 8.48:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bda340

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AA933A 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
#bda340 on white: 2.48:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bda340 on black: 8.48:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bda340 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bda340.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.48:1AaAa
Slate 502.37:1AaAa
Slate 1002.26:1AaAa
Slate 2002.01:1AaAa
Slate 3001.67:1AaAa
Slate 4001.03:1AaAa
Slate 5001.92:1AaAa
Slate 6003.06:1AaAa
Slate 7004.18:1AaAa
Slate 8005.90:1AaAa
Slate 9007.21:1AaAa
Black8.48:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B3A034
deuteranopia · #BAA845
tritanopia · #CC978E

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. #bda340 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.

#FAF9F4
#F6F3EA
#ECE6CF
#E3D7AB
#D4C381
#C6AF57
#bda340
#988334
#7A6929
#594D21
#383015
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FAF9F4Darkest = 950 · #383015Text 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 0.030 94.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.048 94.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.072 94.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.094 94.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.111 94.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.121 94.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.121 94.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.114 94.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.101 94.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.085 94.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.066 94.4);
}

Colors that work with #bda340

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#EAE2C2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B8A4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#3B79C2
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5F5220
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F9F6EC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242114
Dark-mode background
Hover#A28C37
One step down in lightness
Pressed#88752E
Two steps down
Disabled#C7C0A7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CFB242
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 #bda340

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 #5F5220
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AA933A

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
  • Weight50/100
  • 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#405ABD
Analogous left#BD6440
Analogous right#99BD40
Split-complement 1#4099BD
Split-complement 2#6440BD
Triadic 1#40BDA3
Triadic 2#A340BD
Tetradic#40BD64
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°48°

#bda340 sits at 48°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red74.1%
Green63.9%
Blue25.1%
R · 0–255
189
0xbd
G · 0–255
163
0xa3
B · 0–255
64
0x40

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta13.8%
Yellow66.1%
Key (black)25.9%

Total ink coverage is 106%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bda340 text on a black background

contrast 8.48:1

Card sample

#bda340 text on a white background

contrast 2.48:1

Card sample

#bda340 on grey

2.26:1

#bda340 on its own surface

2.35:1

#bda340 on its dark surface

6.51:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bda340;
Background color
Panel with #bda340 background
background-color: #bda340;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bda340;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(189, 163, 64, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(189, 163, 64, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bda340;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bda340, #84BD40);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bda340, #64BD40);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bda340;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bda340;
caret-color: #bda340;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bda340;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F9F6EC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bda340;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bda340 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bda340 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(189, 163, 64, 0.5)
rgb(189 163 64 / 50%)
#bda34080
hsl(48 49% 50% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bda340 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bda3401a#F8F6EC
20%#bda34033#F2EDD9
40%#bda34066#E5DAB3
60%#bda34099#D7C88C
80%#bda340cc#CAB566

Gradients from #bda340

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, #CDB96D, #bda340 45%, #5F5220);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bda340, #6BA638);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bda340, #405ABD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D5C484 0%, #bda340 45%, #5F5220 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%, #CB7A65 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9CC656 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5F5220 0%, transparent 65%), #bda340;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bda340

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.

#bda340 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 8.48:1.

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.

#bda340, answered

What color is #bda340?

#bda340 is a balanced vivid yellow, closest to Goldenrod (ΔE2000 7.9). It sits at 48° on the hue wheel with 49% saturation and 50% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bda340?

rgb(189, 163, 64) — 189 red, 163 green and 64 blue out of 255, or 74.1% / 63.9% / 25.1% by channel.

What is #bda340 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(48, 49%, 50%) and hsv(48, 66%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bda340 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3738 and perceived brightness is 64%, so black text on it reaches 8.48:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bda340?

Black. It scores 8.48:1 against #bda340, versus 2.48:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bda340 accessible on a white background?

#bda340 on white scores 2.48:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #88752E to reach 4.5:1, or #655722 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bda340?

#405ABD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #4099BD and #6440BD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bda340?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #EAE2C2 for borders, #9B8A4B for secondary text, #3B79C2 as an accent and #5F5220 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BD6440 and #99BD40 stays calm, while #405ABD is the loudest partner.

What is #bda340 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 14%, 66%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bda340 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 #BD8540; nudged cooler, #ABBF3D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bda340?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 10.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bda340 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bda340 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bda340] or text-[#bda340], 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 #bda340 with 50% opacity?

rgba(189, 163, 64, 0.5), or #bda34080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DED1A0; over black, #5F5220.

Is #bda340 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9933, ΔE2000 7.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bda340 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 #bda340?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CDB96D, #bda340 45%, #5F5220). For more colour, a short hue run to #6BA638 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bda340 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bda340 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.