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yellow · warm

#cdcda6

a light, soft yellow · warm · closest name: Pale Goldenrod

Token name suggestion: Drift Straw

RGB
205, 205, 166
HSL
60°, 28%, 73%
CMYK
0, 0, 19, 20
Luminance
0.5939

#cdcda6 is a light soft yellow, 60° on the wheel and 30/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.88:1). As text it scores 1.63:1 on white — use #787843 instead. Nearest name is Pale Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(60 28% 73%)rgb(205 205 166)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cdcda6 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cdcda6
Hue
60°
yellow
Saturation
28%
soft
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
79%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5939
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
30/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
12.88:1
Closest name
Pale Goldenrod
ΔE2000 8.3
Chroma
20.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.838
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 20.7
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue60° of 360°
Saturation28%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cdcda6.

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
Red22%
Green74%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#cdcda6
HEX (8-digit)#cdcda6ff
RGBrgb(205, 205, 166)
RGBArgba(205, 205, 166, 1)
HSLhsl(60, 28%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(60, 19%, 80%)
HWBhwb(60 65% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 0%, 19%, 20%)
LABlab(81.5 -6.5 19.5)
LCHlch(81.5 20.5 108.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.838 0.052 107.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(53.89, 59.40, 44.69)
Decimal13487526
Display P3color(display-p3 0.804 0.804 0.651)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cdcda6;
background-color: #cdcda6;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cdcda6;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cdcda6] bg-[#cdcda6]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cdcda6;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.804, green: 0.804, blue: 0.651)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.804, green: 0.804, blue: 0.651, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CDCDA6</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCDCDA6)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCDCDA6)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(166, 205, 205)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(205, 205, 166)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(205, 205, 166)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 205, 205, 166)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8039f, 0.8039f, 0.6510f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{205,205,166}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cdcda6 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cdcda6 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#52522E, #E9E9D8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cdcda6 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: #F9F9F6;
  --brand-100: #F3F3EC;
  --brand-200: #E6E6D6;
  --brand-300: #cdcda6;
  --brand-400: #C2C293;
  --brand-500: #AEAE6F;
  --brand-600: #9D9D58;
  --brand-700: #838349;
  --brand-800: #69693B;
  --brand-900: #4D4D2D;
  --brand-950: #30301C;
  --brand: #cdcda6;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F9F5;
  --brand-border: #E2E2CB;
  --brand-hover: #C0C08F;
  --brand-pressed: #B3B378;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #E9E9D8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F9F6',
        100: '#F3F3EC',
        200: '#E6E6D6',
        300: '#cdcda6',
        400: '#C2C293',
        500: '#AEAE6F',
        600: '#9D9D58',
        700: '#838349',
        800: '#69693B',
        900: '#4D4D2D',
        950: '#30301C',
        DEFAULT: '#cdcda6',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F9F6,
  '100': #F3F3EC,
  '200': #E6E6D6,
  '300': #cdcda6,
  '400': #C2C293,
  '500': #AEAE6F,
  '600': #9D9D58,
  '700': #838349,
  '800': #69693B,
  '900': #4D4D2D,
  '950': #30301C,
);
$brand-base: #cdcda6;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3F3EC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E6E6D6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cdcda6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C2C293", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AEAE6F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9D9D58", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#838349", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#69693B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4D4D2D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#30301C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cdcda6 · 12.88:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.63:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.88:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cdcda6 as text scores 1.63:1 on white and 12.88:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #52522E at 4.94:1.

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
#787843 · 4.60:1
AA on white−36% L
#787843
The quick fox
#5A5A33 · 7.13:1
AAA on white−45% L
#5A5A33
The quick fox
#cdcda6 · 12.88:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cdcda6
The quick fox
#cdcda6 · 12.88:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cdcda6

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #959554 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
#cdcda6 on white: 1.63:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cdcda6 on black: 12.88:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cdcda6 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cdcda6.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.63:1AaAa
Slate 501.56:1AaAa
Slate 1001.49:1AaAa
Slate 2001.32:1AaAa
Slate 3001.10:1AaAa
Slate 4001.57:1AaAa
Slate 5002.92:1AaAa
Slate 6004.65:1AaAa
Slate 7006.35:1AaAa
Slate 8008.97:1AaAa
Slate 90010.95:1AaAa
Black12.88:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D4CAA4
deuteranopia · #D5CBA7
tritanopia · #D3C8C2

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. #cdcda6 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.

#F9F9F6
#F3F3EC
#E6E6D6
#cdcda6
#C2C293
#AEAE6F
#9D9D58
#838349
#69693B
#4D4D2D
#30301C
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F9F6Darkest = 950 · #30301CText 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 0.013 107.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.021 107.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.031 107.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.041 107.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.048 107.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.052 107.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.052 107.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.049 107.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.044 107.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.037 107.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.029 107.5);
}

Colors that work with #cdcda6

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#E2E2CB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#939353
Captions on the surface
Accent#455587
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#52522E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6F6EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#C0C08F
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B3B378
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F4EF
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DADAAD
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 #cdcda6

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 #52522E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #959554

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#A6A6CD
Analogous left#CDB9A6
Analogous right#B9CDA6
Split-complement 1#A6B9CD
Split-complement 2#B9A6CD
Triadic 1#A6CDCD
Triadic 2#CDA6CD
Tetradic#A6CDB9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°60°

#cdcda6 sits at 60°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.4%
Green80.4%
Blue65.1%
R · 0–255
205
0xcd
G · 0–255
205
0xcd
B · 0–255
166
0xa6

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow19.0%
Key (black)19.6%

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

Color previews

#cdcda6 text on a black background

contrast 12.88:1

Card sample

#cdcda6 text on a white background

contrast 1.63:1

Card sample

#cdcda6 on grey

1.49:1

#cdcda6 on its own surface

1.54:1

#cdcda6 on its dark surface

9.63:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cdcda6;
Background color
Panel with #cdcda6 background
background-color: #cdcda6;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cdcda6;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(205, 205, 166, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(205, 205, 166, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cdcda6;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cdcda6, #B3CDA6);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cdcda6, #A9CDA6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cdcda6;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cdcda6;
caret-color: #cdcda6;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cdcda6;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6F6EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cdcda6;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cdcda6 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cdcda6 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, 205, 166, 0.5)
rgb(205 205 166 / 50%)
#cdcda680
hsl(60 28% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cdcda6 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cdcda61a#FAFAF6
20%#cdcda633#F5F5ED
40%#cdcda666#EBEBDB
60%#cdcda699#E1E1CA
80%#cdcda6cc#D7D7B8

Gradients from #cdcda6

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, #E3E3CD, #cdcda6 45%, #52522E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cdcda6, #9EC292);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cdcda6, #A6A6CD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EEEEE1 0%, #cdcda6 45%, #52522E 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%, #DFD1C6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C6D8B9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #52522E 0%, transparent 65%), #cdcda6;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cdcda6

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.

#cdcda6 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 12.88:1.

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.

#cdcda6, answered

What color is #cdcda6?

#cdcda6 is a light soft yellow, closest to Pale Goldenrod (ΔE2000 8.3). It sits at 60° on the hue wheel with 28% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cdcda6?

rgb(205, 205, 166) — 205 red, 205 green and 166 blue out of 255, or 80.4% / 80.4% / 65.1% by channel.

What is #cdcda6 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(60, 28%, 73%) and hsv(60, 19%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cdcda6 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5939 and perceived brightness is 79%, so black text on it reaches 12.88:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cdcda6?

Black. It scores 12.88:1 against #cdcda6, versus 1.63:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cdcda6 accessible on a white background?

#cdcda6 on white scores 1.63:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #787843 to reach 4.5:1, or #5A5A33 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cdcda6?

#A6A6CD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #A6B9CD and #B9A6CD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cdcda6?

For interface work: #F9F9F5 as the surface, #E2E2CB for borders, #939353 for secondary text, #455587 as an accent and #52522E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CDB9A6 and #B9CDA6 stays calm, while #A6A6CD is the loudest partner.

What is #cdcda6 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 0%, 19%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cdcda6 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 #CDBFA6; nudged cooler, #BFCEA4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cdcda6?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 20.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cdcda6 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cdcda6 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cdcda6] or text-[#cdcda6], 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 #cdcda6 with 50% opacity?

rgba(205, 205, 166, 0.5), or #cdcda680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E6E6D3; over black, #676753.

Is #cdcda6 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 3.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cdcda6 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 #cdcda6?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E3E3CD, #cdcda6 45%, #52522E). For more colour, a short hue run to #9EC292 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cdcda6 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cdcda6 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.