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yellow · warm

#cdcfbd

a light, soft yellow · warm · closest name: Light Gray

Token name suggestion: Linen Brass

RGB
205, 207, 189
HSL
67°, 16%, 78%
CMYK
1, 0, 9, 19
Luminance
0.6128

#cdcfbd is a light soft yellow, 67° on the wheel and 41/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.26:1). As text it scores 1.58:1 on white — use #747857 instead. Nearest name is Light Gray, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(67 16% 78%)rgb(205 207 189)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

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

Hex
#cdcfbd
Hue
67°
yellow
Saturation
16%
soft
Lightness
78%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
80%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6128
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
41/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
13.26:1
Closest name
Light Gray
ΔE2000 8.6
Chroma
9.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.848
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 24.7
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue67° of 360°
Saturation16%
Lightness78%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool41% 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
Red21%
Green73%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#cdcfbd
HEX (8-digit)#cdcfbdff
RGBrgb(205, 207, 189)
RGBArgba(205, 207, 189, 1)
HSLhsl(67, 16%, 78%)
HSV / HSBhsv(67, 9%, 81%)
HWBhwb(67 74% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(1%, 0%, 9%, 19%)
LABlab(82.5 -3.9 8.7)
LCHlch(82.5 9.5 113.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.848 0.025 112.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(56.67, 61.28, 56.98)
Decimal13488061
Display P3color(display-p3 0.804 0.812 0.741)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cdcfbd;
background-color: #cdcfbd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cdcfbd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cdcfbd] bg-[#cdcfbd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cdcfbd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.804, green: 0.812, blue: 0.741)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.804, green: 0.812, blue: 0.741, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CDCFBD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCDCFBD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCDCFBD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(189, 207, 205)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(205, 207, 189)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(205, 207, 189)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 205, 207, 189)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8039f, 0.8118f, 0.7412f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{205,207,189}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cdcfbd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cdcfbd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#484A36, #E4E5DC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cdcfbd 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: #F8F8F6;
  --brand-100: #F1F2EE;
  --brand-200: #E1E2D9;
  --brand-300: #cdcfbd;
  --brand-400: #B5B89E;
  --brand-500: #9DA17D;
  --brand-600: #898E67;
  --brand-700: #737656;
  --brand-800: #5C5E45;
  --brand-900: #444634;
  --brand-950: #2B2C21;
  --brand: #cdcfbd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F9F6;
  --brand-border: #DBDDD0;
  --brand-hover: #BDC0A8;
  --brand-pressed: #AEB194;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F2018;
    --brand-ink: #E4E5DC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F8F6',
        100: '#F1F2EE',
        200: '#E1E2D9',
        300: '#cdcfbd',
        400: '#B5B89E',
        500: '#9DA17D',
        600: '#898E67',
        700: '#737656',
        800: '#5C5E45',
        900: '#444634',
        950: '#2B2C21',
        DEFAULT: '#cdcfbd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F8F6,
  '100': #F1F2EE,
  '200': #E1E2D9,
  '300': #cdcfbd,
  '400': #B5B89E,
  '500': #9DA17D,
  '600': #898E67,
  '700': #737656,
  '800': #5C5E45,
  '900': #444634,
  '950': #2B2C21,
);
$brand-base: #cdcfbd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F8F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1F2EE", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E1E2D9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cdcfbd", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B5B89E", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9DA17D", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#898E67", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#737656", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5C5E45", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#444634", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2B2C21", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cdcfbd · 13.26:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.58:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.26:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cdcfbd as text scores 1.58:1 on white and 13.26:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #484A36 at 5.74:1.

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
#747857 · 4.60:1
AA on white−37% L
#747857
The quick fox
#585A42 · 7.10:1
AAA on white−47% L
#585A42
The quick fox
#cdcfbd · 13.26:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cdcfbd
The quick fox
#cdcfbd · 13.26:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cdcfbd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #939770 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
#cdcfbd on white: 1.58:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cdcfbd on black: 13.26:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.58:1AaAa
Slate 501.51:1AaAa
Slate 1001.45:1AaAa
Slate 2001.29:1AaAa
Slate 3001.07:1AaAa
Slate 4001.62:1AaAa
Slate 5003.00:1AaAa
Slate 6004.78:1AaAa
Slate 7006.54:1AaAa
Slate 8009.23:1AaAa
Slate 90011.27:1AaAa
Black13.26:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D2CDBC
deuteranopia · #D2CEBE
tritanopia · #D0CDCA

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. #cdcfbd 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.

#F8F8F6
#F1F2EE
#E1E2D9
#cdcfbd
#B5B89E
#9DA17D
#898E67
#737656
#5C5E45
#444634
#2B2C21
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F8F8F6Darkest = 950 · #2B2C21Text step on white = 700
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 0.006 112.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.010 112.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.015 112.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.019 112.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.023 112.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.025 112.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.025 112.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.023 112.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.021 112.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.017 112.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.013 112.1);
}

Colors that work with #cdcfbd

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#F8F9F6
Tinted page background
Border#DBDDD0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#818561
Captions on the surface
Accent#52587A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#484A36
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F4F0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F2018
Dark-mode background
Hover#BDC0A8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#AEB194
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F6F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D9DCC4
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 #cdcfbd

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 #484A36
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #939770

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
  • Weight22/100
  • 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#BFBDCF
Analogous left#CFC8BD
Analogous right#C4CFBD
Split-complement 1#BDC4CF
Split-complement 2#C8BDCF
Triadic 1#BDCDCF
Triadic 2#CFBDCD
Tetradic#BDCFC8
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°67°

#cdcfbd sits at 67°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.4%
Green81.2%
Blue74.1%
R · 0–255
205
0xcd
G · 0–255
207
0xcf
B · 0–255
189
0xbd

CMYK percentages

Cyan1.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow8.7%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 29%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cdcfbd text on a black background

contrast 13.26:1

Card sample

#cdcfbd text on a white background

contrast 1.58:1

Card sample

#cdcfbd on grey

1.45:1

#cdcfbd on its own surface

1.50:1

#cdcfbd on its dark surface

10.37:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(205, 207, 189, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(205, 207, 189, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cdcfbd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cdcfbd, #C1CFBD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

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

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cdcfbd;
caret-color: #cdcfbd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cdcfbd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F4F0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cdcfbd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cdcfbd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cdcfbd 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, 207, 189, 0.5)
rgb(205 207 189 / 50%)
#cdcfbd80
hsl(67 16% 78% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cdcfbd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cdcfbd1a#FAFAF8
20%#cdcfbd33#F5F5F2
40%#cdcfbd66#EBECE5
60%#cdcfbd99#E1E2D7
80%#cdcfbdcc#D7D9CA

Gradients from #cdcfbd

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, #E8E9E0, #cdcfbd 45%, #484A36);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cdcfbd, #AEC2AB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cdcfbd, #BFBDCF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F5F6F2 0%, #cdcfbd 45%, #484A36 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F9F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E4E0DA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D3DCCF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #484A36 0%, transparent 65%), #cdcfbd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cdcfbd

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.

#cdcfbd 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 13.26:1.

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.

#cdcfbd, answered

What color is #cdcfbd?

#cdcfbd is a light soft yellow, closest to Light Gray (ΔE2000 8.6). It sits at 67° on the hue wheel with 16% saturation and 78% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cdcfbd?

rgb(205, 207, 189) — 205 red, 207 green and 189 blue out of 255, or 80.4% / 81.2% / 74.1% by channel.

What is #cdcfbd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(67, 16%, 78%) and hsv(67, 9%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cdcfbd a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6128 and perceived brightness is 80%, so black text on it reaches 13.26:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cdcfbd?

Black. It scores 13.26:1 against #cdcfbd, versus 1.58:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cdcfbd accessible on a white background?

#cdcfbd on white scores 1.58:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #747857 to reach 4.5:1, or #585A42 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cdcfbd?

#BFBDCF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BDC4CF and #C8BDCF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cdcfbd?

For interface work: #F8F9F6 as the surface, #DBDDD0 for borders, #818561 for secondary text, #52587A as an accent and #484A36 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CFC8BD and #C4CFBD stays calm, while #BFBDCF is the loudest partner.

What is #cdcfbd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(1%, 0%, 9%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cdcfbd warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 41 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CFCABD; nudged cooler, #C6D0BC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cdcfbd?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 24.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cdcfbd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cdcfbd in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(205, 207, 189, 0.5), or #cdcfbd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E6E7DE; over black, #67685F.

Is #cdcfbd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 8.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cdcfbd 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 #cdcfbd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E8E9E0, #cdcfbd 45%, #484A36). For more colour, a short hue run to #AEC2AB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cdcfbd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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