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yellow · warm

#ccc20d

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

Token name suggestion: Shadow Honey

RGB
204, 194, 13
HSL
57°, 88%, 43%
CMYK
0, 5, 94, 20
Luminance
0.5145

#ccc20d is a dark electric yellow, 57° on the wheel and 22/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.29:1). As text it scores 1.86:1 on white — use #7F7908 instead. Nearest name is Gold, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(57 88% 43%)rgb(204 194 13)Base step 700AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ccc20d is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ccc20d
Hue
57°
yellow
Saturation
88%
electric
Lightness
43%
dark
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
73%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5145
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
22/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.29:1
Closest name
Gold
ΔE2000 9.7
Chroma
77.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.797
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 12
Web-safe
#CCCC00
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue57° of 360°
Saturation88%
Lightness43%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ccc20d.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool22% 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
Red25%
Green75%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#ccc20d
HEX (8-digit)#ccc20dff
RGBrgb(204, 194, 13)
RGBArgba(204, 194, 13, 1)
HSLhsl(57, 88%, 43%)
HSV / HSBhsv(57, 94%, 80%)
HWBhwb(57 5% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 5%, 94%, 20%)
LABlab(77.0 -13.1 76.6)
LCHlch(77.0 77.7 99.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.797 0.168 105.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(44.27, 51.45, 7.98)
Decimal13419021
Display P3color(display-p3 0.800 0.761 0.051)
Web-safe#CCCC00

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ccc20d;
background-color: #ccc20d;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ccc20d;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ccc20d] bg-[#ccc20d]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ccc20d;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.800, green: 0.761, blue: 0.051)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.800, green: 0.761, blue: 0.051, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CCC20D</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCCC20D)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCCC20D)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(13, 194, 204)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(204, 194, 13)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(204, 194, 13)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 204, 194, 13)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8000f, 0.7608f, 0.0510f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{204,194,13}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ccc20d 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ccc20d 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#787208, #EEEDD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ccc20d 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: #FDFCF2;
  --brand-100: #FAF9E5;
  --brand-200: #F8F5C4;
  --brand-300: #F8F396;
  --brand-400: #F5ED61;
  --brand-500: #F2E72C;
  --brand-600: #E6DB0F;
  --brand-700: #ccc20d;
  --brand-800: #99920A;
  --brand-900: #6F6A0C;
  --brand-950: #454207;
  --brand: #ccc20d;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EDEAC0;
  --brand-hover: #AAA20B;
  --brand-pressed: #898209;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EEEDD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDFCF2',
        100: '#FAF9E5',
        200: '#F8F5C4',
        300: '#F8F396',
        400: '#F5ED61',
        500: '#F2E72C',
        600: '#E6DB0F',
        700: '#ccc20d',
        800: '#99920A',
        900: '#6F6A0C',
        950: '#454207',
        DEFAULT: '#ccc20d',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDFCF2,
  '100': #FAF9E5,
  '200': #F8F5C4,
  '300': #F8F396,
  '400': #F5ED61,
  '500': #F2E72C,
  '600': #E6DB0F,
  '700': #ccc20d,
  '800': #99920A,
  '900': #6F6A0C,
  '950': #454207,
);
$brand-base: #ccc20d;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDFCF2", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FAF9E5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F8F5C4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F8F396", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F5ED61", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#F2E72C", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#E6DB0F", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#ccc20d", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#99920A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6F6A0C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#454207", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ccc20d · 11.29:1
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 · 11.29:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ccc20d as text scores 1.86:1 on white and 11.29:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #787208 at 2.68:1.

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
#7F7908 · 4.53:1
AA on white−16% L
#7F7908
The quick fox
#5D5906 · 7.25:1
AAA on white−23% L
#5D5906
The quick fox
#ccc20d · 11.29:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ccc20d
The quick fox
#ccc20d · 11.29:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ccc20d

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9C940A 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
#ccc20d on white: 1.86:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ccc20d on black: 11.29:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ccc20d as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ccc20d.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.86:1AaAa
Slate 501.78:1AaAa
Slate 1001.70:1AaAa
Slate 2001.51:1AaAa
Slate 3001.25:1AaAa
Slate 4001.38:1AaAa
Slate 5002.56:1AaAa
Slate 6004.07:1AaAa
Slate 7005.57:1AaAa
Slate 8007.86:1AaAa
Slate 9009.60:1AaAa
Black11.29:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D4BA00
deuteranopia · #D8C127
tritanopia · #DCB4A5

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. #ccc20d is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FDFCF2
#FAF9E5
#F8F5C4
#F8F396
#F5ED61
#F2E72C
#E6DB0F
#ccc20d
#99920A
#6F6A0C
#454207
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #FDFCF2Darkest = 950 · #454207Text 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 0.042 105.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.067 105.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.101 105.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.131 105.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.154 105.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.168 105.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.168 105.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.158 105.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.141 105.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.118 105.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.092 105.8);
}

Colors that work with #ccc20d

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#EDEAC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B974B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0945D0
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#787208
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDFCE7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#AAA20B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#898209
Two steps down
Disabled#B8B691
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#EBDF02
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 #ccc20d

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 #787208
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9C940A

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
  • Weight58/100
  • 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#0D17CC
Analogous left#CC630D
Analogous right#76CC0D
Split-complement 1#0D76CC
Split-complement 2#630DCC
Triadic 1#0DCCC2
Triadic 2#C20DCC
Tetradic#0DCC63
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°57°

#ccc20d sits at 57°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.0%
Green76.1%
Blue5.1%
R · 0–255
204
0xcc
G · 0–255
194
0xc2
B · 0–255
13
0x0d

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta4.9%
Yellow93.6%
Key (black)20.0%

Total ink coverage is 119%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ccc20d text on a black background

contrast 11.29:1

Card sample

#ccc20d text on a white background

contrast 1.86:1

Card sample

#ccc20d on grey

1.70:1

#ccc20d on its own surface

1.78:1

#ccc20d on its dark surface

8.44:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ccc20d;
Background color
Panel with #ccc20d background
background-color: #ccc20d;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ccc20d;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(204, 194, 13, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(204, 194, 13, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ccc20d;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ccc20d, #56CC0D);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ccc20d, #27CC0D);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ccc20d;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ccc20d;
caret-color: #ccc20d;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ccc20d;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FDFCE7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ccc20d;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ccc20d 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ccc20d 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(204, 194, 13, 0.5)
rgb(204 194 13 / 50%)
#ccc20d80
hsl(57 88% 43% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ccc20d 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ccc20d1a#FAF9E7
20%#ccc20d33#F5F3CF
40%#ccc20d66#EBE79E
60%#ccc20d99#E0DA6E
80%#ccc20dcc#D6CE3D

Gradients from #ccc20d

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, #F1E725, #ccc20d 45%, #787208);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ccc20d, #3DAF0B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ccc20d, #0D17CC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3EA42 0%, #ccc20d 45%, #787208 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%, #F0691B 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #75E90F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #787208 0%, transparent 65%), #ccc20d;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ccc20d

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.

#ccc20d 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 11.29:1.

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.

#ccc20d, answered

What color is #ccc20d?

#ccc20d is a dark electric yellow, closest to Gold (ΔE2000 9.7). It sits at 57° on the hue wheel with 88% saturation and 43% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ccc20d?

rgb(204, 194, 13) — 204 red, 194 green and 13 blue out of 255, or 80% / 76.1% / 5.1% by channel.

What is #ccc20d in HSL and HSV?

hsl(57, 88%, 43%) and hsv(57, 94%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ccc20d a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5145 and perceived brightness is 73%, so black text on it reaches 11.29:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ccc20d?

Black. It scores 11.29:1 against #ccc20d, versus 1.86:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ccc20d accessible on a white background?

#ccc20d on white scores 1.86:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7F7908 to reach 4.5:1, or #5D5906 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ccc20d?

#0D17CC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #0D76CC and #630DCC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ccc20d?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EDEAC0 for borders, #9B974B for secondary text, #0945D0 as an accent and #787208 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CC630D and #76CC0D stays calm, while #0D17CC is the loudest partner.

What is #ccc20d in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 5%, 94%, 20%). 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 #ccc20d warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 22 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CC8B0D; nudged cooler, #90CE0B.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ccc20d?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 12 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ccc20d as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ccc20d in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ccc20d] or text-[#ccc20d], 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 #ccc20d with 50% opacity?

rgba(204, 194, 13, 0.5), or #ccc20d80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E6E186; over black, #666107.

Is #ccc20d a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC00, ΔE2000 3.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ccc20d 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 #ccc20d?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F1E725, #ccc20d 45%, #787208). For more colour, a short hue run to #3DAF0B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ccc20d in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ccc20d at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.