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yellow · warm

#ccc8aa

a light, soft yellow · warm · closest name: Wheat

Token name suggestion: Drift Citron

RGB
204, 200, 170
HSL
53°, 25%, 73%
CMYK
0, 2, 17, 20
Luminance
0.5705

#ccc8aa is a light soft yellow, 53° on the wheel and 28/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.41:1). As text it scores 1.69:1 on white — use #7D774B instead. Nearest name is Wheat, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(53 25% 73%)rgb(204 200 170)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ccc8aa is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ccc8aa
Hue
53°
yellow
Saturation
25%
soft
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5705
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
28/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
12.41:1
Closest name
Wheat
ΔE2000 9.5
Chroma
15.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.828
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 21.7
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue53° of 360°
Saturation25%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ccc8aa.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool28% 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
Red23%
Green72%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#ccc8aa
HEX (8-digit)#ccc8aaff
RGBrgb(204, 200, 170)
RGBArgba(204, 200, 170, 1)
HSLhsl(53, 25%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(53, 17%, 80%)
HWBhwb(53 67% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 2%, 17%, 20%)
LABlab(80.2 -3.6 15.5)
LCHlch(80.2 15.9 103.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.828 0.041 101.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(52.81, 57.05, 46.25)
Decimal13420714
Display P3color(display-p3 0.800 0.784 0.667)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ccc8aa;
background-color: #ccc8aa;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ccc8aa;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ccc8aa] bg-[#ccc8aa]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ccc8aa;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.800, green: 0.784, blue: 0.667)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.800, green: 0.784, blue: 0.667, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CCC8AA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCCC8AA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCCC8AA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(170, 200, 204)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(204, 200, 170)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(204, 200, 170)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 204, 200, 170)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8000f, 0.7843f, 0.6667f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{204,200,170}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ccc8aa 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ccc8aa 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#504C30, #E8E6D9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ccc8aa 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: #F9F8F6;
  --brand-100: #F3F2ED;
  --brand-200: #E5E3D7;
  --brand-300: #ccc8aa;
  --brand-400: #C0BB96;
  --brand-500: #ABA473;
  --brand-600: #99925C;
  --brand-700: #80794D;
  --brand-800: #66613D;
  --brand-900: #4B482F;
  --brand-950: #2F2D1D;
  --brand: #ccc8aa;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F9F5;
  --brand-border: #E0DECC;
  --brand-hover: #BFB994;
  --brand-pressed: #B1AB7D;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #232115;
    --brand-ink: #E8E6D9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F8F6',
        100: '#F3F2ED',
        200: '#E5E3D7',
        300: '#ccc8aa',
        400: '#C0BB96',
        500: '#ABA473',
        600: '#99925C',
        700: '#80794D',
        800: '#66613D',
        900: '#4B482F',
        950: '#2F2D1D',
        DEFAULT: '#ccc8aa',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F8F6,
  '100': #F3F2ED,
  '200': #E5E3D7,
  '300': #ccc8aa,
  '400': #C0BB96,
  '500': #ABA473,
  '600': #99925C,
  '700': #80794D,
  '800': #66613D,
  '900': #4B482F,
  '950': #2F2D1D,
);
$brand-base: #ccc8aa;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F8F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3F2ED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E5E3D7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ccc8aa", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C0BB96", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#ABA473", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#99925C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#80794D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#66613D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4B482F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2F2D1D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ccc8aa · 12.41:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.69:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.41:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ccc8aa as text scores 1.69:1 on white and 12.41:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #504C30 at 5.13:1.

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
#7D774B · 4.55:1
AA on white−34% L
#7D774B
The quick fox
#5D5938 · 7.12:1
AAA on white−44% L
#5D5938
The quick fox
#ccc8aa · 12.41:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ccc8aa
The quick fox
#ccc8aa · 12.41:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ccc8aa

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9D965E 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
#ccc8aa on white: 1.69:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ccc8aa on black: 12.41:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ccc8aa as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ccc8aa.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.69:1AaAa
Slate 501.62:1AaAa
Slate 1001.54:1AaAa
Slate 2001.37:1AaAa
Slate 3001.14:1AaAa
Slate 4001.52:1AaAa
Slate 5002.81:1AaAa
Slate 6004.48:1AaAa
Slate 7006.12:1AaAa
Slate 8008.64:1AaAa
Slate 90010.55:1AaAa
Black12.41:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CEC6A8
deuteranopia · #CFC8AB
tritanopia · #D2C4C0

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. #ccc8aa is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F8F6
#F3F2ED
#E5E3D7
#ccc8aa
#C0BB96
#ABA473
#99925C
#80794D
#66613D
#4B482F
#2F2D1D
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F8F6Darkest = 950 · #2F2D1DText 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 0.010 101.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.016 101.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.024 101.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.032 101.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.038 101.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.041 101.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.041 101.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.038 101.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.034 101.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.029 101.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.022 101.0);
}

Colors that work with #ccc8aa

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#F9F9F5
Tinted page background
Border#E0DECC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8F8956
Captions on the surface
Accent#485F84
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#504C30
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5F5EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#232115
Dark-mode background
Hover#BFB994
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B1AB7D
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F5F0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D9D5B1
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 #ccc8aa

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • White 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 #504C30
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9D965E

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 lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight27/100
  • 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#AAAECC
Analogous left#CCB7AA
Analogous right#BFCCAA
Split-complement 1#AABFCC
Split-complement 2#B7AACC
Triadic 1#AACCC8
Triadic 2#C8AACC
Tetradic#AACCB7
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°53°

#ccc8aa sits at 53°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.0%
Green78.4%
Blue66.7%
R · 0–255
204
0xcc
G · 0–255
200
0xc8
B · 0–255
170
0xaa

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta2.0%
Yellow16.7%
Key (black)20.0%

Total ink coverage is 39%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ccc8aa text on a black background

contrast 12.41:1

Card sample

#ccc8aa text on a white background

contrast 1.69:1

Card sample

#ccc8aa on grey

1.54:1

#ccc8aa on its own surface

1.60:1

#ccc8aa on its dark surface

9.55:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ccc8aa;
Background color
Panel with #ccc8aa background
background-color: #ccc8aa;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ccc8aa;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(204, 200, 170, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(204, 200, 170, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ccc8aa;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ccc8aa, #B9CCAA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ccc8aa, #B1CCAA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ccc8aa;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ccc8aa;
caret-color: #ccc8aa;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ccc8aa;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5F5EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ccc8aa;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ccc8aa 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ccc8aa 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, 200, 170, 0.5)
rgb(204 200 170 / 50%)
#ccc8aa80
hsl(53 25% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ccc8aa 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ccc8aa1a#FAFAF7
20%#ccc8aa33#F5F4EE
40%#ccc8aa66#EBE9DD
60%#ccc8aa99#E0DECC
80%#ccc8aacc#D6D3BB

Gradients from #ccc8aa

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, #E3E1D0, #ccc8aa 45%, #504C30);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ccc8aa, #A6C097);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ccc8aa, #AAAECC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EEEDE3 0%, #ccc8aa 45%, #504C30 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F9F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DFD0CA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CBD7BD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #504C30 0%, transparent 65%), #ccc8aa;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ccc8aa

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.

#ccc8aa 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
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
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 12.41:1.

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.

#ccc8aa, answered

What color is #ccc8aa?

#ccc8aa is a light soft yellow, closest to Wheat (ΔE2000 9.5). It sits at 53° on the hue wheel with 25% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ccc8aa?

rgb(204, 200, 170) — 204 red, 200 green and 170 blue out of 255, or 80% / 78.4% / 66.7% by channel.

What is #ccc8aa in HSL and HSV?

hsl(53, 25%, 73%) and hsv(53, 17%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ccc8aa a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5705 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 12.41:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ccc8aa?

Black. It scores 12.41:1 against #ccc8aa, versus 1.69:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ccc8aa accessible on a white background?

#ccc8aa on white scores 1.69:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7D774B to reach 4.5:1, or #5D5938 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ccc8aa?

#AAAECC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AABFCC and #B7AACC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ccc8aa?

For interface work: #F9F9F5 as the surface, #E0DECC for borders, #8F8956 for secondary text, #485F84 as an accent and #504C30 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CCB7AA and #BFCCAA stays calm, while #AAAECC is the loudest partner.

What is #ccc8aa in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 2%, 17%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ccc8aa warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 28 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CCBBAA; nudged cooler, #C4CDA9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ccc8aa?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 21.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ccc8aa as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ccc8aa in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ccc8aa] or text-[#ccc8aa], 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 #ccc8aa with 50% opacity?

rgba(204, 200, 170, 0.5), or #ccc8aa80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E6E4D5; over black, #666455.

Is #ccc8aa a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 5.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ccc8aa 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 #ccc8aa?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E3E1D0, #ccc8aa 45%, #504C30). For more colour, a short hue run to #A6C097 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ccc8aa in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ccc8aa at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.