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yellow · warm

#cbdf03

a dark, electric yellow · warm · closest name: Yellow

Token name suggestion: Slate Brass

RGB
203, 223, 3
HSL
66°, 97%, 44%
CMYK
9, 0, 99, 13
Luminance
0.6548

#cbdf03 is a dark electric yellow, 66° on the wheel and 30/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.10:1). As text it scores 1.49:1 on white — use #6F7A02 instead. Nearest name is Yellow, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(66 97% 44%)rgb(203 223 3)Base step 600AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cbdf03 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cbdf03
Hue
66°
yellow
Saturation
97%
electric
Lightness
44%
dark
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
80%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6548
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
30/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
14.10:1
Closest name
Yellow
ΔE2000 9
Chroma
87.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.859
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 11.8
Web-safe
#CCCC00
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue66° of 360°
Saturation97%
Lightness44%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cbdf03.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool30% 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
Red19%
Green81%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#cbdf03
HEX (8-digit)#cbdf03ff
RGBrgb(203, 223, 3)
RGBArgba(203, 223, 3, 1)
HSLhsl(66, 97%, 44%)
HSV / HSBhsv(65, 99%, 87%)
HWBhwb(66 1% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(9%, 0%, 99%, 13%)
LABlab(84.7 -27.8 83.3)
LCHlch(84.7 87.8 108.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.859 0.196 116.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(51.03, 65.48, 10.04)
Decimal13360899
Display P3color(display-p3 0.796 0.875 0.012)
Web-safe#CCCC00

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cbdf03;
background-color: #cbdf03;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cbdf03;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cbdf03] bg-[#cbdf03]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cbdf03;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.796, green: 0.875, blue: 0.012)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.796, green: 0.875, blue: 0.012, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CBDF03</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCBDF03)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCBDF03)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(3, 223, 203)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(203, 223, 3)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(203, 223, 3)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 203, 223, 3)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7961f, 0.8745f, 0.0118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{203,223,3}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cbdf03 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cbdf03 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#727E02, #ECEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cbdf03 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: #FCFDF1;
  --brand-100: #FAFCE4;
  --brand-200: #F5FBC1;
  --brand-300: #F3FD90;
  --brand-400: #EEFD59;
  --brand-500: #E8FC22;
  --brand-600: #cbdf03;
  --brand-700: #B7C903;
  --brand-800: #92A102;
  --brand-900: #6A7406;
  --brand-950: #424804;
  --brand: #cbdf03;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #E9EDC0;
  --brand-hover: #ABBC03;
  --brand-pressed: #8B9802;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #232414;
    --brand-ink: #ECEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCFDF1',
        100: '#FAFCE4',
        200: '#F5FBC1',
        300: '#F3FD90',
        400: '#EEFD59',
        500: '#E8FC22',
        600: '#cbdf03',
        700: '#B7C903',
        800: '#92A102',
        900: '#6A7406',
        950: '#424804',
        DEFAULT: '#cbdf03',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCFDF1,
  '100': #FAFCE4,
  '200': #F5FBC1,
  '300': #F3FD90,
  '400': #EEFD59,
  '500': #E8FC22,
  '600': #cbdf03,
  '700': #B7C903,
  '800': #92A102,
  '900': #6A7406,
  '950': #424804,
);
$brand-base: #cbdf03;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCFDF1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FAFCE4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F5FBC1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F3FD90", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#EEFD59", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E8FC22", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#cbdf03", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B7C903", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#92A102", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6A7406", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#424804", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cbdf03 · 14.10:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.49:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.10:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cbdf03 as text scores 1.49:1 on white and 14.10:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #727E02 at 3.00:1.

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
#6F7A02 · 4.71:1
AA on white−20% L
#6F7A02
The quick fox
#545C01 · 7.22:1
AAA on white−26% L
#545C01
The quick fox
#cbdf03 · 14.10:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cbdf03
The quick fox
#cbdf03 · 14.10:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cbdf03

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8F9D02 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
#cbdf03 on white: 1.49:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cbdf03 on black: 14.10:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cbdf03 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cbdf03.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.49:1AaAa
Slate 501.42:1AaAa
Slate 1001.36:1AaAa
Slate 2001.21:1AaAa
Slate 3001.00:1AaAa
Slate 4001.72:1AaAa
Slate 5003.19:1AaAa
Slate 6005.09:1AaAa
Slate 7006.95:1AaAa
Slate 8009.82:1AaAa
Slate 90011.98:1AaAa
Black14.10:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #F0D300
deuteranopia · #EED52C
tritanopia · #D9D1BE

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. #cbdf03 is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FCFDF1
#FAFCE4
#F5FBC1
#F3FD90
#EEFD59
#E8FC22
#cbdf03
#B7C903
#92A102
#6A7406
#424804
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FCFDF1Darkest = 950 · #424804Text step on white = 900
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 0.049 116.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.078 116.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.118 116.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.153 116.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.180 116.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.196 116.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.196 116.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.184 116.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.165 116.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.137 116.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.108 116.1);
}

Colors that work with #cbdf03

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#E9EDC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#949B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0024E2
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#727E02
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FCFFE6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#232414
Dark-mode background
Hover#ABBC03
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8B9802
Two steps down
Disabled#B9BC96
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E0F600
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 #cbdf03

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
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Black 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 #727E02
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8F9D02

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight56/100
  • 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#1703DF
Analogous left#DF8503
Analogous right#5DDF03
Split-complement 1#035DDF
Split-complement 2#8503DF
Triadic 1#03CBDF
Triadic 2#DF03CB
Tetradic#03DF85
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°66°

#cbdf03 sits at 66°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.6%
Green87.5%
Blue1.2%
R · 0–255
203
0xcb
G · 0–255
223
0xdf
B · 0–255
3
0x03

CMYK percentages

Cyan9.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow98.7%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 120%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cbdf03 text on a black background

contrast 14.10:1

Card sample

#cbdf03 text on a white background

contrast 1.49:1

Card sample

#cbdf03 on grey

1.36:1

#cbdf03 on its own surface

1.42:1

#cbdf03 on its dark surface

10.57:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cbdf03;
Background color
Panel with #cbdf03 background
background-color: #cbdf03;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cbdf03;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(203, 223, 3, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(203, 223, 3, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cbdf03;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cbdf03, #38DF03);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cbdf03, #03DF05);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cbdf03;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cbdf03;
caret-color: #cbdf03;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cbdf03;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FCFFE6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cbdf03;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cbdf03 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cbdf03 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(203, 223, 3, 0.5)
rgb(203 223 3 / 50%)
#cbdf0380
hsl(66 97% 44% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cbdf03 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cbdf031a#FAFCE6
20%#cbdf0333#F5F9CD
40%#cbdf0366#EAF29A
60%#cbdf0399#E0EC68
80%#cbdf03cc#D5E535

Gradients from #cbdf03

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, #E8FC23, #cbdf03 45%, #727E02);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cbdf03, #21C103);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cbdf03, #1703DF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EBFC41 0%, #cbdf03 45%, #727E02 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%, #FC8C19 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #55FC05 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #727E02 0%, transparent 65%), #cbdf03;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cbdf03

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.

#cbdf03 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 14.10:1.

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.

#cbdf03, answered

What color is #cbdf03?

#cbdf03 is a dark electric yellow, closest to Yellow (ΔE2000 9). It sits at 66° on the hue wheel with 97% saturation and 44% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cbdf03?

rgb(203, 223, 3) — 203 red, 223 green and 3 blue out of 255, or 79.6% / 87.5% / 1.2% by channel.

What is #cbdf03 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(66, 97%, 44%) and hsv(65, 99%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cbdf03 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6548 and perceived brightness is 80%, so black text on it reaches 14.10:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cbdf03?

Black. It scores 14.10:1 against #cbdf03, versus 1.49:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cbdf03 accessible on a white background?

#cbdf03 on white scores 1.49:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6F7A02 to reach 4.5:1, or #545C01 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cbdf03?

#1703DF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #035DDF and #8503DF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cbdf03?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #E9EDC0 for borders, #949B4B for secondary text, #0024E2 as an accent and #727E02 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DF8503 and #5DDF03 stays calm, while #1703DF is the loudest partner.

What is #cbdf03 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(9%, 0%, 99%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #cbdf03 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 30 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DFA503; nudged cooler, #7AE101.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cbdf03?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 11.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cbdf03 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cbdf03 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cbdf03] or text-[#cbdf03], 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 #cbdf03 with 50% opacity?

rgba(203, 223, 3, 0.5), or #cbdf0380 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5EF81; over black, #667002.

Is #cbdf03 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC00, ΔE2000 5.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cbdf03 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 #cbdf03?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E8FC23, #cbdf03 45%, #727E02). For more colour, a short hue run to #21C103 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cbdf03 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cbdf03 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.