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yellow · warm

#cec00f

a dark, electric yellow · warm · closest name: Gold

Token name suggestion: Slate Citron

RGB
206, 192, 15
HSL
56°, 86%, 43%
CMYK
0, 7, 93, 19
Luminance
0.5086

#cec00f is a dark electric yellow, 56° on the wheel and 21/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.17:1). As text it scores 1.88:1 on white — use #7D7509 instead. Nearest name is Gold, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(56 86% 43%)rgb(206 192 15)Base step 700AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cec00f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cec00f
Hue
56°
yellow
Saturation
86%
electric
Lightness
43%
dark
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
73%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5086
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
21/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.17:1
Closest name
Gold
ΔE2000 9.2
Chroma
76.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.794
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 10.9
Web-safe
#CCCC00
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue56° of 360°
Saturation86%
Lightness43%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cec00f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool21% 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%
Green74%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#cec00f
HEX (8-digit)#cec00fff
RGBrgb(206, 192, 15)
RGBArgba(206, 192, 15, 1)
HSLhsl(56, 86%, 43%)
HSV / HSBhsv(56, 93%, 81%)
HWBhwb(56 6% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 7%, 93%, 19%)
LABlab(76.6 -11.2 76.1)
LCHlch(76.6 76.9 98.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.794 0.166 104.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(44.39, 50.86, 7.93)
Decimal13549583
Display P3color(display-p3 0.808 0.753 0.059)
Web-safe#CCCC00

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cec00f;
background-color: #cec00f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cec00f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cec00f] bg-[#cec00f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cec00f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.808, green: 0.753, blue: 0.059)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.808, green: 0.753, blue: 0.059, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CEC00F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCEC00F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCEC00F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(15, 192, 206)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(206, 192, 15)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(206, 192, 15)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 206, 192, 15)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8078f, 0.7529f, 0.0588f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{206,192,15}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cec00f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cec00f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#776F09, #EEECD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cec00f 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: #FDFCF2;
  --brand-100: #FAF9E5;
  --brand-200: #F7F3C5;
  --brand-300: #F7F096;
  --brand-400: #F4E962;
  --brand-500: #F0E22E;
  --brand-600: #E4D511;
  --brand-700: #cec00f;
  --brand-800: #988E0B;
  --brand-900: #6E670D;
  --brand-950: #454008;
  --brand: #cec00f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EDE9C0;
  --brand-hover: #ADA10D;
  --brand-pressed: #8B820A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242314;
    --brand-ink: #EEECD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDFCF2',
        100: '#FAF9E5',
        200: '#F7F3C5',
        300: '#F7F096',
        400: '#F4E962',
        500: '#F0E22E',
        600: '#E4D511',
        700: '#cec00f',
        800: '#988E0B',
        900: '#6E670D',
        950: '#454008',
        DEFAULT: '#cec00f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDFCF2,
  '100': #FAF9E5,
  '200': #F7F3C5,
  '300': #F7F096,
  '400': #F4E962,
  '500': #F0E22E,
  '600': #E4D511,
  '700': #cec00f,
  '800': #988E0B,
  '900': #6E670D,
  '950': #454008,
);
$brand-base: #cec00f;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDFCF2", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FAF9E5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F7F3C5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F7F096", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F4E962", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#F0E22E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#E4D511", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#cec00f", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#988E0B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6E670D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#454008", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cec00f · 11.17:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.88:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.17:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cec00f as text scores 1.88:1 on white and 11.17:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #776F09 at 2.75:1.

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
#7D7509 · 4.75:1
AA on white−17% L
#7D7509
The quick fox
#605A07 · 7.09:1
AAA on white−23% L
#605A07
The quick fox
#cec00f · 11.17:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cec00f
The quick fox
#cec00f · 11.17:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cec00f

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9E940C 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
#cec00f on white: 1.88:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cec00f on black: 11.17:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cec00f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cec00f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.88:1AaAa
Slate 501.80:1AaAa
Slate 1001.72:1AaAa
Slate 2001.52:1AaAa
Slate 3001.27:1AaAa
Slate 4001.36:1AaAa
Slate 5002.53:1AaAa
Slate 6004.03:1AaAa
Slate 7005.51:1AaAa
Slate 8007.78:1AaAa
Slate 9009.50:1AaAa
Black11.17:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D2B900
deuteranopia · #D7C027
tritanopia · #DEB2A4

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. #cec00f is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FDFCF2
#FAF9E5
#F7F3C5
#F7F096
#F4E962
#F0E22E
#E4D511
#cec00f
#988E0B
#6E670D
#454008
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #FDFCF2Darkest = 950 · #454008Text step on white = 900
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 0.041 104.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.066 104.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.099 104.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.129 104.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.152 104.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.166 104.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.166 104.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.156 104.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.139 104.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.116 104.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.091 104.2);
}

Colors that work with #cec00f

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#EDE9C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B954B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0B4BD2
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#776F09
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDFCE7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242314
Dark-mode background
Hover#ADA10D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#8B820A
Two steps down
Disabled#BAB793
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#EDDC04
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 #cec00f

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Black 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 #776F09
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9E940C

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight57/100
  • 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#0F1DCE
Analogous left#CE600F
Analogous right#7CCE0F
Split-complement 1#0F7CCE
Split-complement 2#600FCE
Triadic 1#0FCEC0
Triadic 2#C00FCE
Tetradic#0FCE60
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°56°

#cec00f sits at 56°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.8%
Green75.3%
Blue5.9%
R · 0–255
206
0xce
G · 0–255
192
0xc0
B · 0–255
15
0x0f

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta6.8%
Yellow92.7%
Key (black)19.2%

Total ink coverage is 119%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cec00f text on a black background

contrast 11.17:1

Card sample

#cec00f text on a white background

contrast 1.88:1

Card sample

#cec00f on grey

1.72:1

#cec00f on its own surface

1.79:1

#cec00f on its dark surface

8.43:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cec00f;
Background color
Panel with #cec00f background
background-color: #cec00f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cec00f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(206, 192, 15, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(206, 192, 15, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cec00f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cec00f, #5DCE0F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cec00f, #2DCE0F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cec00f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cec00f;
caret-color: #cec00f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cec00f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FDFCE7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cec00f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cec00f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cec00f 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(206, 192, 15, 0.5)
rgb(206 192 15 / 50%)
#cec00f80
hsl(56 86% 43% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cec00f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cec00f1a#FAF9E7
20%#cec00f33#F5F2CF
40%#cec00f66#EBE69F
60%#cec00f99#E2D96F
80%#cec00fcc#D8CD3F

Gradients from #cec00f

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, #EFE12B, #cec00f 45%, #776F09);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cec00f, #42B10D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cec00f, #0F1DCE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F2E547 0%, #cec00f 45%, #776F09 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%, #EF6821 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #7CEA11 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #776F09 0%, transparent 65%), #cec00f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cec00f

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.

#cec00f 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
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 11.17:1.

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.

#cec00f, answered

What color is #cec00f?

#cec00f is a dark electric yellow, closest to Gold (ΔE2000 9.2). It sits at 56° on the hue wheel with 86% saturation and 43% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cec00f?

rgb(206, 192, 15) — 206 red, 192 green and 15 blue out of 255, or 80.8% / 75.3% / 5.9% by channel.

What is #cec00f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(56, 86%, 43%) and hsv(56, 93%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cec00f a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5086 and perceived brightness is 73%, so black text on it reaches 11.17:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cec00f?

Black. It scores 11.17:1 against #cec00f, versus 1.88:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cec00f accessible on a white background?

#cec00f on white scores 1.88:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7D7509 to reach 4.5:1, or #605A07 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cec00f?

#0F1DCE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #0F7CCE and #600FCE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cec00f?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EDE9C0 for borders, #9B954B for secondary text, #0B4BD2 as an accent and #776F09 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CE600F and #7CCE0F stays calm, while #0F1DCE is the loudest partner.

What is #cec00f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 7%, 93%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #cec00f warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 21 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CE8B0F; nudged cooler, #97D00D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cec00f?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 10.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cec00f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cec00f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cec00f] or text-[#cec00f], 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 #cec00f with 50% opacity?

rgba(206, 192, 15, 0.5), or #cec00f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E7E087; over black, #676008.

Is #cec00f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC00, ΔE2000 4.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cec00f 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 chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #cec00f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EFE12B, #cec00f 45%, #776F09). For more colour, a short hue run to #42B10D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cec00f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cec00f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.