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yellow · warm

#cdd096

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Citron

RGB
205, 208, 150
HSL
63°, 38%, 70%
CMYK
1, 0, 28, 18
Luminance
0.6029

#cdd096 is a light soft yellow, 63° on the wheel and 28/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.06:1). As text it scores 1.61:1 on white — use #757936 instead. Nearest name is Pale Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(63 38% 70%)rgb(205 208 150)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cdd096 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cdd096
Hue
63°
yellow
Saturation
38%
soft
Lightness
70%
light
Brightness
82%
HSV value
Perceived
79%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6029
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
28/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
13.06:1
Closest name
Pale Goldenrod
ΔE2000 6.5
Chroma
30.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.841
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 17.3
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue63° of 360°
Saturation38%
Lightness70%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cdd096.

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
Red22%
Green75%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#cdd096
HEX (8-digit)#cdd096ff
RGBrgb(205, 208, 150)
RGBArgba(205, 208, 150, 1)
HSLhsl(63, 38%, 70%)
HSV / HSBhsv(63, 28%, 82%)
HWBhwb(63 59% 18%)
CMYKcmyk(1%, 0%, 28%, 18%)
LABlab(82.0 -10.2 28.5)
LCHlch(82.0 30.3 109.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.841 0.076 110.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(53.24, 60.29, 37.68)
Decimal13488278
Display P3color(display-p3 0.804 0.816 0.588)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cdd096;
background-color: #cdd096;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cdd096;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cdd096] bg-[#cdd096]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cdd096;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.804, green: 0.816, blue: 0.588)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.804, green: 0.816, blue: 0.588, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CDD096</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCDD096)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCDD096)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(150, 208, 205)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(205, 208, 150)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(205, 208, 150)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 205, 208, 150)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8039f, 0.8157f, 0.5882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{205,208,150}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cdd096 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cdd096 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#565827, #EBECD5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cdd096 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: #F9FAF5;
  --brand-100: #F4F4EB;
  --brand-200: #E8E9D3;
  --brand-300: #DADCB1;
  --brand-400: #cdd096;
  --brand-500: #B5BA64;
  --brand-600: #A4A94C;
  --brand-700: #898D3F;
  --brand-800: #6E7132;
  --brand-900: #505328;
  --brand-950: #323419;
  --brand: #cdd096;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #E4E6C7;
  --brand-hover: #C1C57D;
  --brand-pressed: #B6BA65;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EBECD5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9FAF5',
        100: '#F4F4EB',
        200: '#E8E9D3',
        300: '#DADCB1',
        400: '#cdd096',
        500: '#B5BA64',
        600: '#A4A94C',
        700: '#898D3F',
        800: '#6E7132',
        900: '#505328',
        950: '#323419',
        DEFAULT: '#cdd096',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9FAF5,
  '100': #F4F4EB,
  '200': #E8E9D3,
  '300': #DADCB1,
  '400': #cdd096,
  '500': #B5BA64,
  '600': #A4A94C,
  '700': #898D3F,
  '800': #6E7132,
  '900': #505328,
  '950': #323419,
);
$brand-base: #cdd096;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9FAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4F4EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E8E9D3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DADCB1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#cdd096", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#B5BA64", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A4A94C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#898D3F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6E7132", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#505328", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#323419", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cdd096 · 13.06:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.61:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.06:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cdd096 as text scores 1.61:1 on white and 13.06:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #565827 at 4.63:1.

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
#757936 · 4.62:1
AA on white−36% L
#757936
The quick fox
#5A5C29 · 7.01:1
AAA on white−44% L
#5A5C29
The quick fox
#cdd096 · 13.06:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cdd096
The quick fox
#cdd096 · 13.06:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cdd096

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #949844 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
#cdd096 on white: 1.61:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cdd096 on black: 13.06:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cdd096 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cdd096.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.61:1AaAa
Slate 501.54:1AaAa
Slate 1001.47:1AaAa
Slate 2001.30:1AaAa
Slate 3001.08:1AaAa
Slate 4001.59:1AaAa
Slate 5002.96:1AaAa
Slate 6004.71:1AaAa
Slate 7006.44:1AaAa
Slate 8009.10:1AaAa
Slate 90011.10:1AaAa
Black13.06:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D9CB92
deuteranopia · #DACD98
tritanopia · #D5C9C1

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. #cdd096 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.

#F9FAF5
#F4F4EB
#E8E9D3
#DADCB1
#cdd096
#B5BA64
#A4A94C
#898D3F
#6E7132
#505328
#323419
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F9FAF5Darkest = 950 · #323419Text 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 0.019 110.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.031 110.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.046 110.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.060 110.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.070 110.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.076 110.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.076 110.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.072 110.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.064 110.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.053 110.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.042 110.4);
}

Colors that work with #cdd096

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#E4E6C7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#979B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#3B4D91
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#565827
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7F7ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#C1C57D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B6BA65
Two steps down
Disabled#EFEFE7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DADD9D
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 #cdd096

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 #565827
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #949844

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
  • Weight30/100
  • 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#9996D0
Analogous left#D0B696
Analogous right#B0D096
Split-complement 1#96B0D0
Split-complement 2#B696D0
Triadic 1#96CDD0
Triadic 2#D096CD
Tetradic#96D0B6
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°63°

#cdd096 sits at 63°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.4%
Green81.6%
Blue58.8%
R · 0–255
205
0xcd
G · 0–255
208
0xd0
B · 0–255
150
0x96

CMYK percentages

Cyan1.4%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow27.9%
Key (black)18.4%

Total ink coverage is 48%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cdd096 text on a black background

contrast 13.06:1

Card sample

#cdd096 text on a white background

contrast 1.61:1

Card sample

#cdd096 on grey

1.47:1

#cdd096 on its own surface

1.54:1

#cdd096 on its dark surface

9.76:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cdd096;
Background color
Panel with #cdd096 background
background-color: #cdd096;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cdd096;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(205, 208, 150, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(205, 208, 150, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cdd096;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cdd096, #A6D096);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cdd096, #98D096);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cdd096;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cdd096;
caret-color: #cdd096;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cdd096;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7F7ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cdd096;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cdd096 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cdd096 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, 208, 150, 0.5)
rgb(205 208 150 / 50%)
#cdd09680
hsl(63 38% 70% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cdd096 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cdd0961a#FAFAF5
20%#cdd09633#F5F6EA
40%#cdd09666#EBECD5
60%#cdd09699#E1E3C0
80%#cdd096cc#D7D9AB

Gradients from #cdd096

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, #E1E3C0, #cdd096 45%, #565827);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cdd096, #8FC781);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cdd096, #9996D0);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EBECD5 0%, #cdd096 45%, #565827 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%, #E0CBB9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BCD9AB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #565827 0%, transparent 65%), #cdd096;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cdd096

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.

#cdd096 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 13.06:1.

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.

#cdd096, answered

What color is #cdd096?

#cdd096 is a light soft yellow, closest to Pale Goldenrod (ΔE2000 6.5). It sits at 63° on the hue wheel with 38% saturation and 70% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cdd096?

rgb(205, 208, 150) — 205 red, 208 green and 150 blue out of 255, or 80.4% / 81.6% / 58.8% by channel.

What is #cdd096 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(63, 38%, 70%) and hsv(63, 28%, 82%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cdd096 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6029 and perceived brightness is 79%, so black text on it reaches 13.06:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cdd096?

Black. It scores 13.06:1 against #cdd096, versus 1.61:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cdd096 accessible on a white background?

#cdd096 on white scores 1.61:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #757936 to reach 4.5:1, or #5A5C29 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cdd096?

#9996D0 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #96B0D0 and #B696D0, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cdd096?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #E4E6C7 for borders, #979B4B for secondary text, #3B4D91 as an accent and #565827 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #D0B696 and #B0D096 stays calm, while #9996D0 is the loudest partner.

What is #cdd096 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(1%, 0%, 28%, 18%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cdd096 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 #D0BE96; nudged cooler, #B8D294.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cdd096?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 17.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cdd096 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cdd096 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cdd096] or text-[#cdd096], 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 #cdd096 with 50% opacity?

rgba(205, 208, 150, 0.5), or #cdd09680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E6E8CB; over black, #67684B.

Is #cdd096 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 1.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cdd096 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 #cdd096?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E1E3C0, #cdd096 45%, #565827). For more colour, a short hue run to #8FC781 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cdd096 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cdd096 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.