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yellow · warm

#c3ba6f

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Honey

RGB
195, 186, 111
HSL
54°, 41%, 60%
CMYK
0, 5, 43, 24
Luminance
0.4787

#c3ba6f is a balanced soft yellow, 54° on the wheel and 20/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.57:1). As text it scores 1.99:1 on white — use #7E7634 instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(54 41% 60%)rgb(195 186 111)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c3ba6f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c3ba6f
Hue
54°
yellow
Saturation
41%
soft
Lightness
60%
balanced
Brightness
76%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4787
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
20/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.57:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 1.3
Chroma
39.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.780
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 14.7
Web-safe
#CCCC66
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue54° of 360°
Saturation41%
Lightness60%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c3ba6f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool20% 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
Red24%
Green73%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#c3ba6f
HEX (8-digit)#c3ba6fff
RGBrgb(195, 186, 111)
RGBArgba(195, 186, 111, 1)
HSLhsl(54, 41%, 60%)
HSV / HSBhsv(54, 43%, 76%)
HWBhwb(54 44% 24%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 5%, 43%, 24%)
LABlab(74.7 -7.5 39.1)
LCHlch(74.7 39.8 100.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.780 0.097 102.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(42.93, 47.87, 22.01)
Decimal12827247
Display P3color(display-p3 0.765 0.729 0.435)
Web-safe#CCCC66

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c3ba6f;
background-color: #c3ba6f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c3ba6f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c3ba6f] bg-[#c3ba6f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c3ba6f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.765, green: 0.729, blue: 0.435)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.765, green: 0.729, blue: 0.435, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C3BA6F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC3BA6F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC3BA6F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(111, 186, 195)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(195, 186, 111)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(195, 186, 111)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 195, 186, 111)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7647f, 0.7294f, 0.4353f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{195,186,111}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c3ba6f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c3ba6f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5A5425, #EDEAD4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c3ba6f 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: #F5F4EB;
  --brand-200: #EAE7D2;
  --brand-300: #DED9B0;
  --brand-400: #CEC688;
  --brand-500: #c3ba6f;
  --brand-600: #ADA248;
  --brand-700: #90873C;
  --brand-800: #736C30;
  --brand-900: #544F26;
  --brand-950: #353218;
  --brand: #c3ba6f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #E7E3C5;
  --brand-hover: #B9AE56;
  --brand-pressed: #A69B45;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242314;
    --brand-ink: #EDEAD4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF9F5',
        100: '#F5F4EB',
        200: '#EAE7D2',
        300: '#DED9B0',
        400: '#CEC688',
        500: '#c3ba6f',
        600: '#ADA248',
        700: '#90873C',
        800: '#736C30',
        900: '#544F26',
        950: '#353218',
        DEFAULT: '#c3ba6f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF9F5,
  '100': #F5F4EB,
  '200': #EAE7D2,
  '300': #DED9B0,
  '400': #CEC688,
  '500': #c3ba6f,
  '600': #ADA248,
  '700': #90873C,
  '800': #736C30,
  '900': #544F26,
  '950': #353218,
);
$brand-base: #c3ba6f;
$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": "#F5F4EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EAE7D2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DED9B0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#CEC688", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#c3ba6f", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#ADA248", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#90873C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#736C30", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#544F26", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#353218", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c3ba6f · 10.57:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.99:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.57:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c3ba6f as text scores 1.99:1 on white and 10.57:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5A5425 at 3.87:1.

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
#7E7634 · 4.64:1
AA on white−25% L
#7E7634
The quick fox
#5E5827 · 7.24:1
AAA on white−34% L
#5E5827
The quick fox
#c3ba6f · 10.57:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c3ba6f
The quick fox
#c3ba6f · 10.57:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c3ba6f

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9E9542 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
#c3ba6f on white: 1.99:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c3ba6f on black: 10.57:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c3ba6f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c3ba6f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.99:1AaAa
Slate 501.90:1AaAa
Slate 1001.81:1AaAa
Slate 2001.61:1AaAa
Slate 3001.34:1AaAa
Slate 4001.29:1AaAa
Slate 5002.40:1AaAa
Slate 6003.82:1AaAa
Slate 7005.21:1AaAa
Slate 8007.37:1AaAa
Slate 9008.99:1AaAa
Black10.57:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C6B569
deuteranopia · #C9BA72
tritanopia · #CEB1A8

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. #c3ba6f 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
#F5F4EB
#EAE7D2
#DED9B0
#CEC688
#c3ba6f
#ADA248
#90873C
#736C30
#544F26
#353218
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FAF9F5Darkest = 950 · #353218Text 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 0.024 102.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.039 102.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.058 102.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.076 102.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.089 102.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.097 102.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.097 102.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.091 102.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.081 102.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.068 102.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.053 102.4);
}

Colors that work with #c3ba6f

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#E7E3C5
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B924B
Captions on the surface
Accent#6B8CC7
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5A5425
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F8F6ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242314
Dark-mode background
Hover#B9AE56
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A69B45
Two steps down
Disabled#DBD9C7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D2C874
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 #c3ba6f

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 #5A5425
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9E9542

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
  • Weight40/100
  • 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#6F78C3
Analogous left#C3906F
Analogous right#A2C36F
Split-complement 1#6FA2C3
Split-complement 2#906FC3
Triadic 1#6FC3BA
Triadic 2#BA6FC3
Tetradic#6FC390
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°54°

#c3ba6f sits at 54°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red76.5%
Green72.9%
Blue43.5%
R · 0–255
195
0xc3
G · 0–255
186
0xba
B · 0–255
111
0x6f

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta4.6%
Yellow43.1%
Key (black)23.5%

Total ink coverage is 71%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c3ba6f text on a black background

contrast 10.57:1

Card sample

#c3ba6f text on a white background

contrast 1.99:1

Card sample

#c3ba6f on grey

1.81:1

#c3ba6f on its own surface

1.90:1

#c3ba6f on its dark surface

7.98:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c3ba6f;
Background color
Panel with #c3ba6f background
background-color: #c3ba6f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c3ba6f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(195, 186, 111, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(195, 186, 111, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c3ba6f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c3ba6f, #94C36F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c3ba6f, #7FC36F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c3ba6f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c3ba6f;
caret-color: #c3ba6f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c3ba6f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F8F6ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c3ba6f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c3ba6f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c3ba6f 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(195, 186, 111, 0.5)
rgb(195 186 111 / 50%)
#c3ba6f80
hsl(54 41% 60% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c3ba6f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c3ba6f1a#F9F8F1
20%#c3ba6f33#F3F1E2
40%#c3ba6f66#E7E3C5
60%#c3ba6f99#DBD6A9
80%#c3ba6fcc#CFC88C

Gradients from #c3ba6f

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, #D5CF9A, #c3ba6f 45%, #5A5425);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c3ba6f, #7CBA59);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c3ba6f, #6F78C3);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DED9B0 0%, #c3ba6f 45%, #5A5425 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%, #D2A793 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #AACC85 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5A5425 0%, transparent 65%), #c3ba6f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c3ba6f

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.

#c3ba6f 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 10.57:1.

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.

#c3ba6f, answered

What color is #c3ba6f?

#c3ba6f is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 1.3). It sits at 54° on the hue wheel with 41% saturation and 60% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #c3ba6f?

rgb(195, 186, 111) — 195 red, 186 green and 111 blue out of 255, or 76.5% / 72.9% / 43.5% by channel.

What is #c3ba6f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(54, 41%, 60%) and hsv(54, 43%, 76%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c3ba6f a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4787 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 10.57:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c3ba6f?

Black. It scores 10.57:1 against #c3ba6f, versus 1.99:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c3ba6f accessible on a white background?

#c3ba6f on white scores 1.99:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7E7634 to reach 4.5:1, or #5E5827 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c3ba6f?

#6F78C3 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #6FA2C3 and #906FC3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c3ba6f?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #E7E3C5 for borders, #9B924B for secondary text, #6B8CC7 as an accent and #5A5425 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C3906F and #A2C36F stays calm, while #6F78C3 is the loudest partner.

What is #c3ba6f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 5%, 43%, 24%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c3ba6f warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 20 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C39D6F; nudged cooler, #AEC56D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c3ba6f?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 14.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c3ba6f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c3ba6f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c3ba6f] or text-[#c3ba6f], 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 #c3ba6f with 50% opacity?

rgba(195, 186, 111, 0.5), or #c3ba6f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E1DDB7; over black, #625D38.

Is #c3ba6f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC66, ΔE2000 6.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c3ba6f 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 #c3ba6f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D5CF9A, #c3ba6f 45%, #5A5425). For more colour, a short hue run to #7CBA59 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c3ba6f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c3ba6f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.