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yellow · warm

#cacb6c

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

Token name suggestion: True Brass

RGB
202, 203, 108
HSL
61°, 48%, 61%
CMYK
1, 0, 47, 20
Luminance
0.5635

#cacb6c is a balanced vivid yellow, 61° on the wheel and 26/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.27:1). As text it scores 1.71:1 on white — use #78792B instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(61 48% 61%)rgb(202 203 108)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cacb6c is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cacb6c
Hue
61°
yellow
Saturation
48%
vivid
Lightness
61%
balanced
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5635
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
26/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.27:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 5.7
Chroma
48.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.821
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 13.7
Web-safe
#CCCC66
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue61° of 360°
Saturation48%
Lightness61%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cacb6c.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool26% 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
Red22%
Green76%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#cacb6c
HEX (8-digit)#cacb6cff
RGBrgb(202, 203, 108)
RGBArgba(202, 203, 108, 1)
HSLhsl(61, 48%, 61%)
HSV / HSBhsv(61, 47%, 80%)
HWBhwb(61 42% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(1%, 0%, 47%, 20%)
LABlab(79.8 -13.7 46.9)
LCHlch(79.8 48.9 106.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.821 0.118 109.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(48.42, 56.35, 22.51)
Decimal13290348
Display P3color(display-p3 0.792 0.796 0.424)
Web-safe#CCCC66

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cacb6c;
background-color: #cacb6c;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cacb6c;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cacb6c] bg-[#cacb6c]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cacb6c;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.792, green: 0.796, blue: 0.424)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.792, green: 0.796, blue: 0.424, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CACB6C</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCACB6C)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCACB6C)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(108, 203, 202)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(202, 203, 108)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(202, 203, 108)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 202, 203, 108)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7922f, 0.7961f, 0.4235f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{202,203,108}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cacb6c 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cacb6c 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5E5E21, #EEEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cacb6c 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: #FAFAF5;
  --brand-100: #F5F5EA;
  --brand-200: #EBECD0;
  --brand-300: #E1E2AC;
  --brand-400: #D2D383;
  --brand-500: #cacb6c;
  --brand-600: #B4B540;
  --brand-700: #969735;
  --brand-800: #78792B;
  --brand-900: #585822;
  --brand-950: #373715;
  --brand: #cacb6c;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #E9EAC3;
  --brand-hover: #C1C252;
  --brand-pressed: #B0B13F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EEEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAFAF5',
        100: '#F5F5EA',
        200: '#EBECD0',
        300: '#E1E2AC',
        400: '#D2D383',
        500: '#cacb6c',
        600: '#B4B540',
        700: '#969735',
        800: '#78792B',
        900: '#585822',
        950: '#373715',
        DEFAULT: '#cacb6c',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAFAF5,
  '100': #F5F5EA,
  '200': #EBECD0,
  '300': #E1E2AC,
  '400': #D2D383,
  '500': #cacb6c,
  '600': #B4B540,
  '700': #969735,
  '800': #78792B,
  '900': #585822,
  '950': #373715,
);
$brand-base: #cacb6c;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAFAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F5F5EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EBECD0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E1E2AC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D2D383", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#cacb6c", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B4B540", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#969735", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#78792B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#585822", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#373715", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cacb6c · 12.27:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.71:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.27:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cacb6c as text scores 1.71:1 on white and 12.27:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5E5E21 at 3.96:1.

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
#78792B · 4.60:1
AA on white−29% L
#78792B
The quick fox
#5A5A20 · 7.20:1
AAA on white−37% L
#5A5A20
The quick fox
#cacb6c · 12.27:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cacb6c
The quick fox
#cacb6c · 12.27:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cacb6c

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #969735 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
#cacb6c on white: 1.71:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cacb6c on black: 12.27:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cacb6c as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cacb6c.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.71:1AaAa
Slate 501.64:1AaAa
Slate 1001.56:1AaAa
Slate 2001.39:1AaAa
Slate 3001.15:1AaAa
Slate 4001.50:1AaAa
Slate 5002.78:1AaAa
Slate 6004.43:1AaAa
Slate 7006.05:1AaAa
Slate 8008.55:1AaAa
Slate 90010.43:1AaAa
Black12.27:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D8C464
deuteranopia · #D9C771
tritanopia · #D5C1B5

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. #cacb6c 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.

#FAFAF5
#F5F5EA
#EBECD0
#E1E2AC
#D2D383
#cacb6c
#B4B540
#969735
#78792B
#585822
#373715
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FAFAF5Darkest = 950 · #373715Text 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 0.030 109.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.047 109.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.071 109.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.092 109.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.109 109.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.118 109.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.118 109.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.111 109.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.100 109.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.083 109.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.065 109.3);
}

Colors that work with #cacb6c

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#E9EAC3
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9A9B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#6881CF
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5E5E21
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F8F8EC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#C1C252
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B0B13F
Two steps down
Disabled#DDDDCA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D8D972
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 #cacb6c

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 #5E5E21
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #969735

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
  • Weight39/100
  • 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#6D6CCB
Analogous left#CB9C6C
Analogous right#9BCB6C
Split-complement 1#6C9BCB
Split-complement 2#9C6CCB
Triadic 1#6CCACB
Triadic 2#CB6CCA
Tetradic#6CCB9C
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°61°

#cacb6c sits at 61°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.2%
Green79.6%
Blue42.4%
R · 0–255
202
0xca
G · 0–255
203
0xcb
B · 0–255
108
0x6c

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.5%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow46.8%
Key (black)20.4%

Total ink coverage is 68%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cacb6c text on a black background

contrast 12.27:1

Card sample

#cacb6c text on a white background

contrast 1.71:1

Card sample

#cacb6c on grey

1.56:1

#cacb6c on its own surface

1.63:1

#cacb6c on its dark surface

9.17:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cacb6c;
Background color
Panel with #cacb6c background
background-color: #cacb6c;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cacb6c;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(202, 203, 108, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(202, 203, 108, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cacb6c;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cacb6c, #8BCB6C);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cacb6c, #73CB6C);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cacb6c;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cacb6c;
caret-color: #cacb6c;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cacb6c;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F8F8EC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cacb6c;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cacb6c 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cacb6c 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, 203, 108, 0.5)
rgb(202 203 108 / 50%)
#cacb6c80
hsl(61 48% 61% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cacb6c 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cacb6c1a#FAFAF0
20%#cacb6c33#F4F5E2
40%#cacb6c66#EAEAC4
60%#cacb6c99#DFE0A7
80%#cacb6ccc#D5D589

Gradients from #cacb6c

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, #DADB99, #cacb6c 45%, #5E5E21);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cacb6c, #70C356);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cacb6c, #6D6CCB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E2E3B0 0%, #cacb6c 45%, #5E5E21 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%, #D8B092 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A3D383 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5E5E21 0%, transparent 65%), #cacb6c;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cacb6c

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.

#cacb6c 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 12.27:1.

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.

#cacb6c, answered

What color is #cacb6c?

#cacb6c is a balanced vivid yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 5.7). It sits at 61° on the hue wheel with 48% saturation and 61% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cacb6c?

rgb(202, 203, 108) — 202 red, 203 green and 108 blue out of 255, or 79.2% / 79.6% / 42.4% by channel.

What is #cacb6c in HSL and HSV?

hsl(61, 48%, 61%) and hsv(61, 47%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cacb6c a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5635 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 12.27:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cacb6c?

Black. It scores 12.27:1 against #cacb6c, versus 1.71:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cacb6c accessible on a white background?

#cacb6c on white scores 1.71:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #78792B to reach 4.5:1, or #5A5A20 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cacb6c?

#6D6CCB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #6C9BCB and #9C6CCB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cacb6c?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #E9EAC3 for borders, #9A9B4B for secondary text, #6881CF as an accent and #5E5E21 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CB9C6C and #9BCB6C stays calm, while #6D6CCB is the loudest partner.

What is #cacb6c in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(1%, 0%, 47%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cacb6c warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 26 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CBA96C; nudged cooler, #A8CD6A.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cacb6c?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 13.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cacb6c as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cacb6c in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cacb6c] or text-[#cacb6c], 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 #cacb6c with 50% opacity?

rgba(202, 203, 108, 0.5), or #cacb6c80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5E5B6; over black, #656636.

Is #cacb6c a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC66, ΔE2000 1.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cacb6c 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 #cacb6c?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DADB99, #cacb6c 45%, #5E5E21). For more colour, a short hue run to #70C356 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cacb6c in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cacb6c at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.