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yellow · warm

#cac077

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Citron

RGB
202, 192, 119
HSL
53°, 44%, 63%
CMYK
0, 5, 41, 21
Luminance
0.5159

#cac077 is a balanced soft yellow, 53° on the wheel and 19/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.32:1). As text it scores 1.86:1 on white — use #807732 instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(53 44% 63%)rgb(202 192 119)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cac077 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cac077
Hue
53°
yellow
Saturation
44%
soft
Lightness
63%
balanced
Brightness
79%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5159
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
19/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.32:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 2.9
Chroma
38.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.800
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 14.7
Web-safe
#CCCC66
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue53° of 360°
Saturation44%
Lightness63%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cac077.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool19% 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%
Blue3%

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

Every format

HEX#cac077
HEX (8-digit)#cac077ff
RGBrgb(202, 192, 119)
RGBArgba(202, 192, 119, 1)
HSLhsl(53, 44%, 63%)
HSV / HSBhsv(53, 41%, 79%)
HWBhwb(53 47% 21%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 5%, 41%, 21%)
LABlab(77.0 -6.9 38.0)
LCHlch(77.0 38.6 100.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.800 0.095 101.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(46.54, 51.59, 24.96)
Decimal13287543
Display P3color(display-p3 0.792 0.753 0.467)
Web-safe#CCCC66

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cac077;
background-color: #cac077;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cac077;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cac077] bg-[#cac077]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cac077;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.792, green: 0.753, blue: 0.467)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.792, green: 0.753, blue: 0.467, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CAC077</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCAC077)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCAC077)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(119, 192, 202)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(202, 192, 119)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(202, 192, 119)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 202, 192, 119)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7922f, 0.7529f, 0.4667f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{202,192,119}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cac077 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cac077 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5C5524, #EEEBD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cac077 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: #F5F4EA;
  --brand-200: #EBE8D1;
  --brand-300: #E0DAAE;
  --brand-400: #cac077;
  --brand-500: #C0B45E;
  --brand-600: #B0A345;
  --brand-700: #938839;
  --brand-800: #756D2E;
  --brand-900: #565024;
  --brand-950: #363217;
  --brand: #cac077;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #E8E4C4;
  --brand-hover: #C0B45D;
  --brand-pressed: #B3A646;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242214;
    --brand-ink: #EEEBD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF9F5',
        100: '#F5F4EA',
        200: '#EBE8D1',
        300: '#E0DAAE',
        400: '#cac077',
        500: '#C0B45E',
        600: '#B0A345',
        700: '#938839',
        800: '#756D2E',
        900: '#565024',
        950: '#363217',
        DEFAULT: '#cac077',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF9F5,
  '100': #F5F4EA,
  '200': #EBE8D1,
  '300': #E0DAAE,
  '400': #cac077,
  '500': #C0B45E,
  '600': #B0A345,
  '700': #938839,
  '800': #756D2E,
  '900': #565024,
  '950': #363217,
);
$brand-base: #cac077;
$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": "#F5F4EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EBE8D1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E0DAAE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#cac077", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#C0B45E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B0A345", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#938839", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#756D2E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#565024", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#363217", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cac077 · 11.32:1
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 · 11.32:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cac077 as text scores 1.86:1 on white and 11.32:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5C5524 at 4.07:1.

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
#807732 · 4.56:1
AA on white−28% L
#807732
The quick fox
#5F5825 · 7.22:1
AAA on white−37% L
#5F5825
The quick fox
#cac077 · 11.32:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cac077
The quick fox
#cac077 · 11.32:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cac077

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A1953F 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
#cac077 on white: 1.86:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cac077 on black: 11.32:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cac077 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cac077.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.86:1AaAa
Slate 501.77:1AaAa
Slate 1001.69:1AaAa
Slate 2001.51:1AaAa
Slate 3001.25:1AaAa
Slate 4001.38:1AaAa
Slate 5002.56:1AaAa
Slate 6004.08:1AaAa
Slate 7005.58:1AaAa
Slate 8007.88:1AaAa
Slate 9009.62:1AaAa
Black11.32:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CCBC71
deuteranopia · #D0C07A
tritanopia · #D5B7AE

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. #cac077 is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FAF9F5
#F5F4EA
#EBE8D1
#E0DAAE
#cac077
#C0B45E
#B0A345
#938839
#756D2E
#565024
#363217
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FAF9F5Darkest = 950 · #363217Text 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 0.024 101.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.038 101.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.057 101.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.074 101.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.087 101.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.095 101.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.095 101.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.089 101.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.079 101.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.066 101.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.052 101.5);
}

Colors that work with #cac077

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#E8E4C4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B914B
Captions on the surface
Accent#355A97
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5C5524
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F8F7ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242214
Dark-mode background
Hover#C0B45D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B3A646
Two steps down
Disabled#E1DFD0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D8CD7D
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 #cac077

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 #5C5524
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A1953F

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
  • Weight37/100
  • 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#7781CA
Analogous left#CA9677
Analogous right#AACA77
Split-complement 1#77AACA
Split-complement 2#9677CA
Triadic 1#77CAC0
Triadic 2#C077CA
Tetradic#77CA96
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°53°

#cac077 sits at 53°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.2%
Green75.3%
Blue46.7%
R · 0–255
202
0xca
G · 0–255
192
0xc0
B · 0–255
119
0x77

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta5.0%
Yellow41.1%
Key (black)20.8%

Total ink coverage is 67%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cac077 text on a black background

contrast 11.32:1

Card sample

#cac077 text on a white background

contrast 1.86:1

Card sample

#cac077 on grey

1.69:1

#cac077 on its own surface

1.77:1

#cac077 on its dark surface

8.61:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cac077;
Background color
Panel with #cac077 background
background-color: #cac077;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cac077;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(202, 192, 119, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(202, 192, 119, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cac077;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cac077, #9DCA77);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cac077, #88CA77);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cac077;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cac077;
caret-color: #cac077;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cac077;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F8F7ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cac077;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cac077 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cac077 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, 192, 119, 0.5)
rgb(202 192 119 / 50%)
#cac07780
hsl(53 44% 63% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cac077 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cac0771a#FAF9F1
20%#cac07733#F4F2E4
40%#cac07766#EAE6C9
60%#cac07799#DFD9AD
80%#cac077cc#D5CD92

Gradients from #cac077

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, #DBD4A3, #cac077 45%, #5C5524);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cac077, #85C161);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cac077, #7781CA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E4DFB9 0%, #cac077 45%, #5C5524 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%, #D8AE9C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B2D38D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5C5524 0%, transparent 65%), #cac077;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cac077

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.

#cac077 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 11.32:1.

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.

#cac077, answered

What color is #cac077?

#cac077 is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 2.9). It sits at 53° on the hue wheel with 44% saturation and 63% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cac077?

rgb(202, 192, 119) — 202 red, 192 green and 119 blue out of 255, or 79.2% / 75.3% / 46.7% by channel.

What is #cac077 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(53, 44%, 63%) and hsv(53, 41%, 79%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cac077 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5159 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 11.32:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cac077?

Black. It scores 11.32:1 against #cac077, versus 1.86:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cac077 accessible on a white background?

#cac077 on white scores 1.86:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #807732 to reach 4.5:1, or #5F5825 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cac077?

#7781CA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #77AACA and #9677CA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cac077?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #E8E4C4 for borders, #9B914B for secondary text, #355A97 as an accent and #5C5524 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CA9677 and #AACA77 stays calm, while #7781CA is the loudest partner.

What is #cac077 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 5%, 41%, 21%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cac077 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 19 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CAA477; nudged cooler, #B6CC75.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cac077?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 14.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cac077 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cac077 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cac077] or text-[#cac077], 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 #cac077 with 50% opacity?

rgba(202, 192, 119, 0.5), or #cac07780 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5E0BB; over black, #65603C.

Is #cac077 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC66, ΔE2000 5.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cac077 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 #cac077?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DBD4A3, #cac077 45%, #5C5524). For more colour, a short hue run to #85C161 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cac077 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cac077 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.