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yellow · warm

#cab248

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

Token name suggestion: True Honey

RGB
202, 178, 72
HSL
49°, 55%, 54%
CMYK
0, 12, 64, 21
Luminance
0.4487

#cab248 is a balanced vivid yellow, 49° on the wheel and 16/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.97:1). As text it scores 2.11:1 on white — use #857427 instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(49 55% 54%)rgb(202 178 72)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cab248 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cab248
Hue
49°
yellow
Saturation
55%
vivid
Lightness
54%
balanced
Brightness
79%
HSV value
Perceived
69%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4487
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
16/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
9.97:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 6.9
Chroma
55.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.764
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 9
Web-safe
#CC9933
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue49° of 360°
Saturation55%
Lightness54%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cab248.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool16% 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
Red28%
Green71%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#cab248
HEX (8-digit)#cab248ff
RGBrgb(202, 178, 72)
RGBArgba(202, 178, 72, 1)
HSLhsl(49, 55%, 54%)
HSV / HSBhsv(49, 64%, 79%)
HWBhwb(49 28% 21%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 12%, 64%, 21%)
LABlab(72.8 -3.6 55.6)
LCHlch(72.8 55.8 93.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.764 0.127 96.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(41.45, 44.87, 12.61)
Decimal13283912
Display P3color(display-p3 0.792 0.698 0.282)
Web-safe#CC9933

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cab248;
background-color: #cab248;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cab248;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cab248] bg-[#cab248]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cab248;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.792, green: 0.698, blue: 0.282)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.792, green: 0.698, blue: 0.282, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CAB248</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCAB248)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCAB248)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(72, 178, 202)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(202, 178, 72)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(202, 178, 72)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 202, 178, 72)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7922f, 0.6980f, 0.2824f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{202,178,72}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cab248 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cab248 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#63561D, #EEE9D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cab248 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: #FBF9F4;
  --brand-100: #F6F4E9;
  --brand-200: #EEE8CE;
  --brand-300: #E6DAA8;
  --brand-400: #D9C87C;
  --brand-500: #cab248;
  --brand-600: #BEA537;
  --brand-700: #9E892E;
  --brand-800: #7F6E25;
  --brand-900: #5C511E;
  --brand-950: #3A3213;
  --brand: #cab248;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #EDE4C0;
  --brand-hover: #B9A035;
  --brand-pressed: #9D882D;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242114;
    --brand-ink: #EEE9D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF9F4',
        100: '#F6F4E9',
        200: '#EEE8CE',
        300: '#E6DAA8',
        400: '#D9C87C',
        500: '#cab248',
        600: '#BEA537',
        700: '#9E892E',
        800: '#7F6E25',
        900: '#5C511E',
        950: '#3A3213',
        DEFAULT: '#cab248',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF9F4,
  '100': #F6F4E9,
  '200': #EEE8CE,
  '300': #E6DAA8,
  '400': #D9C87C,
  '500': #cab248,
  '600': #BEA537,
  '700': #9E892E,
  '800': #7F6E25,
  '900': #5C511E,
  '950': #3A3213,
);
$brand-base: #cab248;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF9F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F6F4E9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EEE8CE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E6DAA8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D9C87C", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#cab248", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#BEA537", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#9E892E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7F6E25", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5C511E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3A3213", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cab248 · 9.97:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.11:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.97:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cab248 as text scores 2.11:1 on white and 9.97:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #63561D at 3.46:1.

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
#857427 · 4.64:1
AA on white−20% L
#857427
The quick fox
#66581D · 7.05:1
AAA on white−28% L
#66581D
The quick fox
#cab248 · 9.97:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cab248
The quick fox
#cab248 · 9.97:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cab248

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A99331 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
#cab248 on white: 2.11:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cab248 on black: 9.97:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cab248 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cab248.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.11:1AaAa
Slate 502.01:1AaAa
Slate 1001.92:1AaAa
Slate 2001.71:1AaAa
Slate 3001.42:1AaAa
Slate 4001.22:1AaAa
Slate 5002.26:1AaAa
Slate 6003.60:1AaAa
Slate 7004.92:1AaAa
Slate 8006.95:1AaAa
Slate 9008.48:1AaAa
Black9.97:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C3AE3C
deuteranopia · #C9B64D
tritanopia · #D9A59C

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. #cab248 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.

#FBF9F4
#F6F4E9
#EEE8CE
#E6DAA8
#D9C87C
#cab248
#BEA537
#9E892E
#7F6E25
#5C511E
#3A3213
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FBF9F4Darkest = 950 · #3A3213Text 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 0.032 96.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.051 96.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.076 96.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.099 96.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.117 96.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.127 96.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.127 96.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.120 96.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.107 96.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.089 96.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.070 96.5);
}

Colors that work with #cab248

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#EDE4C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B8C4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#4380CF
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#63561D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F9F7EB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242114
Dark-mode background
Hover#B9A035
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9D882D
Two steps down
Disabled#CFCAB3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D9BF4D
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 #cab248

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 #63561D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A99331

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
  • Weight46/100
  • 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#4860CA
Analogous left#CA7148
Analogous right#A1CA48
Split-complement 1#48A1CA
Split-complement 2#7148CA
Triadic 1#48CAB2
Triadic 2#B248CA
Tetradic#48CA71
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°49°

#cab248 sits at 49°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.2%
Green69.8%
Blue28.2%
R · 0–255
202
0xca
G · 0–255
178
0xb2
B · 0–255
72
0x48

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta11.9%
Yellow64.4%
Key (black)20.8%

Total ink coverage is 97%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cab248 text on a black background

contrast 9.97:1

Card sample

#cab248 text on a white background

contrast 2.11:1

Card sample

#cab248 on grey

1.92:1

#cab248 on its own surface

2.00:1

#cab248 on its dark surface

7.66:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cab248;
Background color
Panel with #cab248 background
background-color: #cab248;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cab248;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(202, 178, 72, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(202, 178, 72, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cab248;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cab248, #8BCA48);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cab248, #6BCA48);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cab248;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cab248;
caret-color: #cab248;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cab248;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F9F7EB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cab248;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cab248 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cab248 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(202, 178, 72, 0.5)
rgb(202 178 72 / 50%)
#cab24880
hsl(49 55% 54% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cab248 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cab2481a#FAF7ED
20%#cab24833#F4F0DA
40%#cab24866#EAE0B6
60%#cab24899#DFD191
80%#cab248cc#D5C16D

Gradients from #cab248

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, #D8C677, #cab248 45%, #63561D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cab248, #71BD37);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cab248, #4860CA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DFD08F 0%, #cab248 45%, #63561D 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%, #D5876F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A4D160 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #63561D 0%, transparent 65%), #cab248;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cab248

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.

#cab248 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 9.97:1.

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.

#cab248, answered

What color is #cab248?

#cab248 is a balanced vivid yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 6.9). It sits at 49° on the hue wheel with 55% saturation and 54% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cab248?

rgb(202, 178, 72) — 202 red, 178 green and 72 blue out of 255, or 79.2% / 69.8% / 28.2% by channel.

What is #cab248 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(49, 55%, 54%) and hsv(49, 64%, 79%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cab248 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4487 and perceived brightness is 69%, so black text on it reaches 9.97:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cab248?

Black. It scores 9.97:1 against #cab248, versus 2.11:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cab248 accessible on a white background?

#cab248 on white scores 2.11:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #857427 to reach 4.5:1, or #66581D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cab248?

#4860CA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #48A1CA and #7148CA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cab248?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #EDE4C0 for borders, #9B8C4B for secondary text, #4380CF as an accent and #63561D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CA7148 and #A1CA48 stays calm, while #4860CA is the loudest partner.

What is #cab248 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 12%, 64%, 21%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cab248 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 16 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CA9148; nudged cooler, #B4CC46.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cab248?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cab248 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cab248 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cab248] or text-[#cab248], 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 #cab248 with 50% opacity?

rgba(202, 178, 72, 0.5), or #cab24880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5D9A4; over black, #655924.

Is #cab248 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9933, ΔE2000 9.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cab248 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 #cab248?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D8C677, #cab248 45%, #63561D). For more colour, a short hue run to #71BD37 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cab248 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cab248 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.