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yellow · warm

#c4a864

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

Token name suggestion: True Citron

RGB
196, 168, 100
HSL
43°, 45%, 58%
CMYK
0, 14, 49, 23
Luminance
0.4066

#c4a864 is a balanced soft yellow, 43° on the wheel and 10/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.13:1). As text it scores 2.30:1 on white — use #8C7335 instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(43 45% 58%)rgb(196 168 100)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c4a864 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c4a864
Hue
43°
yellow
Saturation
45%
soft
Lightness
58%
balanced
Brightness
77%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4066
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
10/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.13:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 7.7
Chroma
38.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.741
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 11.9
Web-safe
#CC9966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue43° of 360°
Saturation45%
Lightness58%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c4a864.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool10% 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%
Green69%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#c4a864
HEX (8-digit)#c4a864ff
RGBrgb(196, 168, 100)
RGBArgba(196, 168, 100, 1)
HSLhsl(43, 45%, 58%)
HSV / HSBhsv(43, 49%, 77%)
HWBhwb(43 39% 23%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 14%, 49%, 23%)
LABlab(69.9 1.3 38.7)
LCHlch(69.9 38.7 88.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.741 0.093 87.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.07, 40.66, 17.84)
Decimal12888164
Display P3color(display-p3 0.769 0.659 0.392)
Web-safe#CC9966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c4a864;
background-color: #c4a864;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c4a864;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c4a864] bg-[#c4a864]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c4a864;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.769, green: 0.659, blue: 0.392)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.769, green: 0.659, blue: 0.392, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C4A864</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC4A864)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC4A864)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(100, 168, 196)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(196, 168, 100)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(196, 168, 100)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 196, 168, 100)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7686f, 0.6588f, 0.3922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{196,168,100}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c4a864 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c4a864 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5C4C23, #EEE6D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c4a864 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: #FAF8F5;
  --brand-100: #F5F2EA;
  --brand-200: #EBE3D1;
  --brand-300: #E0D1AE;
  --brand-400: #D1BB85;
  --brand-500: #c4a864;
  --brand-600: #B19143;
  --brand-700: #947938;
  --brand-800: #76612D;
  --brand-900: #564824;
  --brand-950: #362D16;
  --brand: #c4a864;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #E9DEC4;
  --brand-hover: #BA994A;
  --brand-pressed: #A3853E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242014;
    --brand-ink: #EEE6D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF8F5',
        100: '#F5F2EA',
        200: '#EBE3D1',
        300: '#E0D1AE',
        400: '#D1BB85',
        500: '#c4a864',
        600: '#B19143',
        700: '#947938',
        800: '#76612D',
        900: '#564824',
        950: '#362D16',
        DEFAULT: '#c4a864',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF8F5,
  '100': #F5F2EA,
  '200': #EBE3D1,
  '300': #E0D1AE,
  '400': #D1BB85,
  '500': #c4a864,
  '600': #B19143,
  '700': #947938,
  '800': #76612D,
  '900': #564824,
  '950': #362D16,
);
$brand-base: #c4a864;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF8F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F5F2EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EBE3D1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E0D1AE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D1BB85", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#c4a864", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B19143", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#947938", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#76612D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#564824", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#362D16", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c4a864 · 9.13:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.30:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.13:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c4a864 as text scores 2.30:1 on white and 9.13:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5C4C23 at 3.63:1.

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
#8C7335 · 4.55:1
AA on white−20% L
#8C7335
The quick fox
#675527 · 7.23:1
AAA on white−30% L
#675527
The quick fox
#c4a864 · 9.13:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c4a864
The quick fox
#c4a864 · 9.13:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c4a864

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B19143 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
#c4a864 on white: 2.30:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c4a864 on black: 9.13:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c4a864 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c4a864.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.30:1AaAa
Slate 502.20:1AaAa
Slate 1002.10:1AaAa
Slate 2001.87:1AaAa
Slate 3001.55:1AaAa
Slate 4001.12:1AaAa
Slate 5002.07:1AaAa
Slate 6003.30:1AaAa
Slate 7004.50:1AaAa
Slate 8006.36:1AaAa
Slate 9007.76:1AaAa
Black9.13:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B6A65E
deuteranopia · #BDAE66
tritanopia · #D19E98

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. #c4a864 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.

#FAF8F5
#F5F2EA
#EBE3D1
#E0D1AE
#D1BB85
#c4a864
#B19143
#947938
#76612D
#564824
#362D16
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FAF8F5Darkest = 950 · #362D16Text 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 87.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.037 87.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.056 87.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.073 87.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.086 87.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.093 87.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.093 87.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.088 87.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.078 87.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.065 87.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.051 87.7);
}

Colors that work with #c4a864

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#E9DEC4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B834B
Captions on the surface
Accent#346A98
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5C4C23
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F8F5ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242014
Dark-mode background
Hover#BA994A
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A3853E
Two steps down
Disabled#D7D1C1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D3B469
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 #c4a864

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 #5C4C23
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B19143

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
  • Weight42/100
  • 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#6480C4
Analogous left#C47864
Analogous right#B0C464
Split-complement 1#64B0C4
Split-complement 2#7864C4
Triadic 1#64C4A8
Triadic 2#A864C4
Tetradic#64C478
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°43°

#c4a864 sits at 43°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red76.9%
Green65.9%
Blue39.2%
R · 0–255
196
0xc4
G · 0–255
168
0xa8
B · 0–255
100
0x64

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta14.3%
Yellow49.0%
Key (black)23.1%

Total ink coverage is 86%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c4a864 text on a black background

contrast 9.13:1

Card sample

#c4a864 text on a white background

contrast 2.30:1

Card sample

#c4a864 on grey

2.10:1

#c4a864 on its own surface

2.18:1

#c4a864 on its dark surface

7.07:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c4a864;
Background color
Panel with #c4a864 background
background-color: #c4a864;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c4a864;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(196, 168, 100, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(196, 168, 100, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c4a864;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c4a864, #A0C464);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4a864, #88C464);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c4a864;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c4a864;
caret-color: #c4a864;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c4a864;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F8F5ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c4a864;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c4a864 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c4a864 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(196, 168, 100, 0.5)
rgb(196 168 100 / 50%)
#c4a86480
hsl(43 45% 58% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c4a864 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c4a8641a#F9F6F0
20%#c4a86433#F3EEE0
40%#c4a86466#E7DCC1
60%#c4a86499#DCCBA2
80%#c4a864cc#D0B983

Gradients from #c4a864

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, #D5C190, #c4a864 45%, #5C4C23);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c4a864, #89BC4E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4a864, #6480C4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DDCDA6 0%, #c4a864 45%, #5C4C23 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%, #D29289 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B4CC7A 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5C4C23 0%, transparent 65%), #c4a864;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c4a864

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.

#c4a864 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 9.13:1.

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.

#c4a864, answered

What color is #c4a864?

#c4a864 is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 7.7). It sits at 43° on the hue wheel with 45% saturation and 58% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #c4a864?

rgb(196, 168, 100) — 196 red, 168 green and 100 blue out of 255, or 76.9% / 65.9% / 39.2% by channel.

What is #c4a864 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(43, 45%, 58%) and hsv(43, 49%, 77%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c4a864 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4066 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 9.13:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c4a864?

Black. It scores 9.13:1 against #c4a864, versus 2.30:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c4a864 accessible on a white background?

#c4a864 on white scores 2.30:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8C7335 to reach 4.5:1, or #675527 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c4a864?

#6480C4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #64B0C4 and #7864C4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c4a864?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #E9DEC4 for borders, #9B834B for secondary text, #346A98 as an accent and #5C4C23 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C47864 and #B0C464 stays calm, while #6480C4 is the loudest partner.

What is #c4a864 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 14%, 49%, 23%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c4a864 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 10 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C49564; nudged cooler, #BFC662.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c4a864?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 11.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c4a864 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c4a864 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c4a864] or text-[#c4a864], 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 #c4a864 with 50% opacity?

rgba(196, 168, 100, 0.5), or #c4a86480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E2D4B2; over black, #625432.

Is #c4a864 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9966, ΔE2000 9.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c4a864 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 #c4a864?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D5C190, #c4a864 45%, #5C4C23). For more colour, a short hue run to #89BC4E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c4a864 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c4a864 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.