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yellow · warm

#c3beaf

a light, muted yellow · warm · closest name: Silver

Token name suggestion: Meadow Honey

RGB
195, 190, 175
HSL
45°, 14%, 73%
CMYK
0, 3, 10, 24
Luminance
0.5152

#c3beaf is a light muted yellow, 45° on the wheel and 35/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.30:1). As text it scores 1.86:1 on white — use #7C745D instead. Nearest name is Silver, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(45 14% 73%)rgb(195 190 175)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c3beaf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c3beaf
Hue
45°
yellow
Saturation
14%
muted
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
76%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5152
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
35/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
11.30:1
Closest name
Silver
ΔE2000 7
Chroma
8.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.801
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 24
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue45° of 360°
Saturation14%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c3beaf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool35% 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
Red23%
Green71%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#c3beaf
HEX (8-digit)#c3beafff
RGBrgb(195, 190, 175)
RGBArgba(195, 190, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(45, 14%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(45, 10%, 76%)
HWBhwb(45 69% 24%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 3%, 10%, 24%)
LABlab(77.0 -0.9 8.2)
LCHlch(77.0 8.3 96.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.801 0.021 91.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(48.66, 51.52, 47.93)
Decimal12828335
Display P3color(display-p3 0.765 0.745 0.686)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c3beaf;
background-color: #c3beaf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c3beaf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c3beaf] bg-[#c3beaf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c3beaf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.765, green: 0.745, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.765, green: 0.745, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C3BEAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC3BEAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC3BEAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 190, 195)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(195, 190, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(195, 190, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 195, 190, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7647f, 0.7451f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{195,190,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c3beaf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c3beaf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#494437, #E5E3DC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c3beaf 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: #F8F8F6;
  --brand-100: #F1F1EE;
  --brand-200: #E2E0DA;
  --brand-300: #c3beaf;
  --brand-400: #B7B19F;
  --brand-500: #9F977F;
  --brand-600: #8C8369;
  --brand-700: #756D57;
  --brand-800: #5D5746;
  --brand-900: #454135;
  --brand-950: #2B2921;
  --brand: #c3beaf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F8F6;
  --brand-border: #DCD9D0;
  --brand-hover: #B4AD9A;
  --brand-pressed: #A49D86;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201E18;
    --brand-ink: #E5E3DC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F8F6',
        100: '#F1F1EE',
        200: '#E2E0DA',
        300: '#c3beaf',
        400: '#B7B19F',
        500: '#9F977F',
        600: '#8C8369',
        700: '#756D57',
        800: '#5D5746',
        900: '#454135',
        950: '#2B2921',
        DEFAULT: '#c3beaf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F8F6,
  '100': #F1F1EE,
  '200': #E2E0DA,
  '300': #c3beaf,
  '400': #B7B19F,
  '500': #9F977F,
  '600': #8C8369,
  '700': #756D57,
  '800': #5D5746,
  '900': #454135,
  '950': #2B2921,
);
$brand-base: #c3beaf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F8F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1F1EE", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E2E0DA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#c3beaf", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B7B19F", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9F977F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8C8369", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#756D57", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5D5746", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#454135", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2B2921", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c3beaf · 11.30:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.86:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.30:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c3beaf as text scores 1.86:1 on white and 11.30:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #494437 at 5.22:1.

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
#7C745D · 4.65:1
AA on white−30% L
#7C745D
The quick fox
#5C5645 · 7.31:1
AAA on white−41% L
#5C5645
The quick fox
#c3beaf · 11.30:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c3beaf
The quick fox
#c3beaf · 11.30:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c3beaf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9C937A 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
#c3beaf on white: 1.86:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c3beaf on black: 11.30:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c3beaf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c3beaf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.86:1AaAa
Slate 501.78:1AaAa
Slate 1001.70:1AaAa
Slate 2001.51:1AaAa
Slate 3001.25:1AaAa
Slate 4001.38:1AaAa
Slate 5002.56:1AaAa
Slate 6004.08:1AaAa
Slate 7005.57:1AaAa
Slate 8007.88:1AaAa
Slate 9009.61:1AaAa
Black11.30:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C2BDAE
deuteranopia · #C3BFAF
tritanopia · #C7BBBA

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. #c3beaf is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F8F6
#F1F1EE
#E2E0DA
#c3beaf
#B7B19F
#9F977F
#8C8369
#756D57
#5D5746
#454135
#2B2921
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F8F8F6Darkest = 950 · #2B2921Text step on white = 700
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 0.005 91.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.009 91.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.013 91.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.017 91.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.020 91.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.021 91.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.021 91.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.020 91.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.018 91.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.015 91.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.012 91.6);
}

Colors that work with #c3beaf

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#F8F8F6
Tinted page background
Border#DCD9D0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#837B62
Captions on the surface
Accent#536679
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#494437
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F3F0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201E18
Dark-mode background
Hover#B4AD9A
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A49D86
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F2EF
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D2CAB5
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 #c3beaf

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • White 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 #494437
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9C937A

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

Almost never passes contrast against white. Treat it as a surface or a marker, not as text.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight28/100
  • TemperatureWarm
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#AFB4C3
Analogous left#C3B4AF
Analogous right#BEC3AF
Split-complement 1#AFBEC3
Split-complement 2#B4AFC3
Triadic 1#AFC3BE
Triadic 2#BEAFC3
Tetradic#AFC3B4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°45°

#c3beaf sits at 45°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red76.5%
Green74.5%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
195
0xc3
G · 0–255
190
0xbe
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta2.6%
Yellow10.3%
Key (black)23.5%

Total ink coverage is 36%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c3beaf text on a black background

contrast 11.30:1

Card sample

#c3beaf text on a white background

contrast 1.86:1

Card sample

#c3beaf on grey

1.70:1

#c3beaf on its own surface

1.75:1

#c3beaf on its dark surface

8.97:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c3beaf;
Background color
Panel with #c3beaf background
background-color: #c3beaf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c3beaf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(195, 190, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(195, 190, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c3beaf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c3beaf, #BBC3AF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c3beaf, #B6C3AF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c3beaf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c3beaf;
caret-color: #c3beaf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c3beaf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F3F0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c3beaf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c3beaf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c3beaf 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, 190, 175, 0.5)
rgb(195 190 175 / 50%)
#c3beaf80
hsl(45 14% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c3beaf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c3beaf1a#F9F9F7
20%#c3beaf33#F3F2EF
40%#c3beaf66#E7E5DF
60%#c3beaf99#DBD8CF
80%#c3beafcc#CFCBBF

Gradients from #c3beaf

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, #DDDAD2, #c3beaf 45%, #494437);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c3beaf, #AAB69D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c3beaf, #AFB4C3);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EAE9E3 0%, #c3beaf 45%, #494437 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F8F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D9CECC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CBD0C0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #494437 0%, transparent 65%), #c3beaf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c3beaf

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.

#c3beaf 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 11.30:1.

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.

#c3beaf, answered

What color is #c3beaf?

#c3beaf is a light muted yellow, closest to Silver (ΔE2000 7). It sits at 45° on the hue wheel with 14% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #c3beaf?

rgb(195, 190, 175) — 195 red, 190 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 76.5% / 74.5% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #c3beaf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(45, 14%, 73%) and hsv(45, 10%, 76%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c3beaf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5152 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 11.30:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c3beaf?

Black. It scores 11.30:1 against #c3beaf, versus 1.86:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c3beaf accessible on a white background?

#c3beaf on white scores 1.86:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7C745D to reach 4.5:1, or #5C5645 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c3beaf?

#AFB4C3 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AFBEC3 and #B4AFC3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c3beaf?

For interface work: #F8F8F6 as the surface, #DCD9D0 for borders, #837B62 for secondary text, #536679 as an accent and #494437 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C3B4AF and #BEC3AF stays calm, while #AFB4C3 is the loudest partner.

What is #c3beaf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 3%, 10%, 24%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c3beaf warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 35 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C3B8AF; nudged cooler, #C2C4AD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c3beaf?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 24 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c3beaf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c3beaf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c3beaf] or text-[#c3beaf], 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 #c3beaf with 50% opacity?

rgba(195, 190, 175, 0.5), or #c3beaf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E1DFD7; over black, #625F58.

Is #c3beaf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 11.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c3beaf 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #c3beaf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DDDAD2, #c3beaf 45%, #494437). For more colour, a short hue run to #AAB69D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c3beaf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c3beaf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.