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yellow · warm

#cdb98f

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Straw

RGB
205, 185, 143
HSL
41°, 38%, 68%
CMYK
0, 10, 30, 20
Luminance
0.4966

#cdb98f is a light soft yellow, 41° on the wheel and 9/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.93:1). As text it scores 1.92:1 on white — use #8A713E instead. Nearest name is Tan, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(41 38% 68%)rgb(205 185 143)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cdb98f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cdb98f
Hue
41°
yellow
Saturation
38%
soft
Lightness
68%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
73%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4966
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
9/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.93:1
Closest name
Tan
ΔE2000 4
Chroma
24.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.792
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 16.5
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue41° of 360°
Saturation38%
Lightness68%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cdb98f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool9% 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
Red26%
Green70%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#cdb98f
HEX (8-digit)#cdb98fff
RGBrgb(205, 185, 143)
RGBArgba(205, 185, 143, 1)
HSLhsl(41, 38%, 68%)
HSV / HSBhsv(41, 30%, 80%)
HWBhwb(41 56% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 10%, 30%, 20%)
LABlab(75.9 0.8 23.9)
LCHlch(75.9 24.0 88.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.792 0.061 85.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(47.48, 49.66, 33.07)
Decimal13482383
Display P3color(display-p3 0.804 0.725 0.561)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cdb98f;
background-color: #cdb98f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cdb98f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cdb98f] bg-[#cdb98f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cdb98f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.804, green: 0.725, blue: 0.561)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.804, green: 0.725, blue: 0.561, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CDB98F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCDB98F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCDB98F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(143, 185, 205)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(205, 185, 143)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(205, 185, 143)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 205, 185, 143)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8039f, 0.7255f, 0.5608f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{205,185,143}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cdb98f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cdb98f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#584827, #ECE5D5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cdb98f 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: #FAF8F5;
  --brand-100: #F4F1EB;
  --brand-200: #E9E2D3;
  --brand-300: #DCCEB1;
  --brand-400: #cdb98f;
  --brand-500: #BA9E64;
  --brand-600: #A98B4C;
  --brand-700: #8D743F;
  --brand-800: #715D32;
  --brand-900: #534528;
  --brand-950: #342B19;
  --brand: #cdb98f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #E6DCC7;
  --brand-hover: #C2A976;
  --brand-pressed: #B79A5D;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241F14;
    --brand-ink: #ECE5D5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF8F5',
        100: '#F4F1EB',
        200: '#E9E2D3',
        300: '#DCCEB1',
        400: '#cdb98f',
        500: '#BA9E64',
        600: '#A98B4C',
        700: '#8D743F',
        800: '#715D32',
        900: '#534528',
        950: '#342B19',
        DEFAULT: '#cdb98f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF8F5,
  '100': #F4F1EB,
  '200': #E9E2D3,
  '300': #DCCEB1,
  '400': #cdb98f,
  '500': #BA9E64,
  '600': #A98B4C,
  '700': #8D743F,
  '800': #715D32,
  '900': #534528,
  '950': #342B19,
);
$brand-base: #cdb98f;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF8F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4F1EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E9E2D3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DCCEB1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#cdb98f", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#BA9E64", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A98B4C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8D743F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#715D32", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#534528", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#342B19", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cdb98f · 10.93:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.92:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.93:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cdb98f as text scores 1.92:1 on white and 10.93:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #584827 at 4.61:1.

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
#8A713E · 4.65:1
AA on white−29% L
#8A713E
The quick fox
#67552E · 7.20:1
AAA on white−39% L
#67552E
The quick fox
#cdb98f · 10.93:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cdb98f
The quick fox
#cdb98f · 10.93:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cdb98f

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AE8E4D 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
#cdb98f on white: 1.92:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cdb98f on black: 10.93:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cdb98f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cdb98f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.92:1AaAa
Slate 501.84:1AaAa
Slate 1001.75:1AaAa
Slate 2001.56:1AaAa
Slate 3001.29:1AaAa
Slate 4001.33:1AaAa
Slate 5002.48:1AaAa
Slate 6003.94:1AaAa
Slate 7005.39:1AaAa
Slate 8007.62:1AaAa
Slate 9009.29:1AaAa
Black10.93:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C3B88C
deuteranopia · #C8BD90
tritanopia · #D7B2AE

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. #cdb98f 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.

#FAF8F5
#F4F1EB
#E9E2D3
#DCCEB1
#cdb98f
#BA9E64
#A98B4C
#8D743F
#715D32
#534528
#342B19
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FAF8F5Darkest = 950 · #342B19Text 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 0.015 85.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 85.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.036 85.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.047 85.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.056 85.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.061 85.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.061 85.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.057 85.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.051 85.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.042 85.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 85.4);
}

Colors that work with #cdb98f

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#FAF8F4
Tinted page background
Border#E6DCC7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B814B
Captions on the surface
Accent#3B6C91
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#584827
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7F4ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241F14
Dark-mode background
Hover#C2A976
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B79A5D
Two steps down
Disabled#ECE8E1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DAC496
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 #cdb98f

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 #584827
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AE8E4D

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
  • Weight32/100
  • 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#8FA3CD
Analogous left#CD9A8F
Analogous right#C2CD8F
Split-complement 1#8FC2CD
Split-complement 2#9A8FCD
Triadic 1#8FCDB9
Triadic 2#B98FCD
Tetradic#8FCD9A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°41°

#cdb98f sits at 41°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.4%
Green72.5%
Blue56.1%
R · 0–255
205
0xcd
G · 0–255
185
0xb9
B · 0–255
143
0x8f

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta9.8%
Yellow30.2%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 60%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cdb98f text on a black background

contrast 10.93:1

Card sample

#cdb98f text on a white background

contrast 1.92:1

Card sample

#cdb98f on grey

1.75:1

#cdb98f on its own surface

1.81:1

#cdb98f on its dark surface

8.53:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cdb98f;
Background color
Panel with #cdb98f background
background-color: #cdb98f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cdb98f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(205, 185, 143, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(205, 185, 143, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cdb98f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cdb98f, #B8CD8F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cdb98f, #A8CD8F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cdb98f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cdb98f;
caret-color: #cdb98f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cdb98f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7F4ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cdb98f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cdb98f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cdb98f 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(205, 185, 143, 0.5)
rgb(205 185 143 / 50%)
#cdb98f80
hsl(41 38% 68% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cdb98f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cdb98f1a#FAF8F4
20%#cdb98f33#F5F1E9
40%#cdb98f66#EBE3D2
60%#cdb98f99#E1D5BC
80%#cdb98fcc#D7C7A5

Gradients from #cdb98f

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, #E0D3B9, #cdb98f 45%, #584827);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cdb98f, #A4C47A);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cdb98f, #8FA3CD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E9E1CE 0%, #cdb98f 45%, #584827 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF8F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DDB6B2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C9D6A4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #584827 0%, transparent 65%), #cdb98f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cdb98f

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.

#cdb98f 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 10.93:1.

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.

#cdb98f, answered

What color is #cdb98f?

#cdb98f is a light soft yellow, closest to Tan (ΔE2000 4). It sits at 41° on the hue wheel with 38% saturation and 68% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cdb98f?

rgb(205, 185, 143) — 205 red, 185 green and 143 blue out of 255, or 80.4% / 72.5% / 56.1% by channel.

What is #cdb98f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(41, 38%, 68%) and hsv(41, 30%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cdb98f a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4966 and perceived brightness is 73%, so black text on it reaches 10.93:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cdb98f?

Black. It scores 10.93:1 against #cdb98f, versus 1.92:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cdb98f accessible on a white background?

#cdb98f on white scores 1.92:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8A713E to reach 4.5:1, or #67552E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cdb98f?

#8FA3CD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #8FC2CD and #9A8FCD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cdb98f?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #E6DCC7 for borders, #9B814B for secondary text, #3B6C91 as an accent and #584827 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CD9A8F and #C2CD8F stays calm, while #8FA3CD is the loudest partner.

What is #cdb98f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 10%, 30%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cdb98f warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 9 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CDAD8F; nudged cooler, #CCCF8D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cdb98f?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 16.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cdb98f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cdb98f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cdb98f] or text-[#cdb98f], 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 #cdb98f with 50% opacity?

rgba(205, 185, 143, 0.5), or #cdb98f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E6DCC7; over black, #675D48.

Is #cdb98f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 8.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cdb98f 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 #cdb98f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E0D3B9, #cdb98f 45%, #584827). For more colour, a short hue run to #A4C47A keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cdb98f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cdb98f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.