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yellow · warm

#cec970

a balanced, vivid yellow · warm · closest name: Dark Khaki

Token name suggestion: True Straw

RGB
206, 201, 112
HSL
57°, 49%, 62%
CMYK
0, 2, 46, 19
Luminance
0.5606

#cec970 is a balanced vivid yellow, 57° on the wheel and 22/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.21:1). As text it scores 1.72:1 on white — use #7B772A instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(57 49% 62%)rgb(206 201 112)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cec970 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cec970
Hue
57°
yellow
Saturation
49%
vivid
Lightness
62%
balanced
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5606
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
22/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.21:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 4.9
Chroma
46.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.821
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 15.2
Web-safe
#CCCC66
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue57° of 360°
Saturation49%
Lightness62%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cec970.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool22% 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
Red23%
Green75%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#cec970
HEX (8-digit)#cec970ff
RGBrgb(206, 201, 112)
RGBArgba(206, 201, 112, 1)
HSLhsl(57, 49%, 62%)
HSV / HSBhsv(57, 46%, 81%)
HWBhwb(57 44% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 2%, 46%, 19%)
LABlab(79.7 -10.7 44.9)
LCHlch(79.7 46.1 103.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.821 0.112 105.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(49.27, 56.07, 23.55)
Decimal13551984
Display P3color(display-p3 0.808 0.788 0.439)
Web-safe#CCCC66

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cec970;
background-color: #cec970;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cec970;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cec970] bg-[#cec970]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cec970;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.808, green: 0.788, blue: 0.439)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.808, green: 0.788, blue: 0.439, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CEC970</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCEC970)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCEC970)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(112, 201, 206)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(206, 201, 112)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(206, 201, 112)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 206, 201, 112)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8078f, 0.7882f, 0.4392f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{206,201,112}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cec970 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cec970 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5F5C21, #EEEDD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cec970 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: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-100: #F6F5EA;
  --brand-200: #ECEBD0;
  --brand-300: #E2DFAB;
  --brand-400: #cec970;
  --brand-500: #C6C058;
  --brand-600: #B6B03E;
  --brand-700: #989334;
  --brand-800: #7A752A;
  --brand-900: #595622;
  --brand-950: #373615;
  --brand: #cec970;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EAE8C2;
  --brand-hover: #C5BF56;
  --brand-pressed: #B8B13F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EEEDD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAFAF4',
        100: '#F6F5EA',
        200: '#ECEBD0',
        300: '#E2DFAB',
        400: '#cec970',
        500: '#C6C058',
        600: '#B6B03E',
        700: '#989334',
        800: '#7A752A',
        900: '#595622',
        950: '#373615',
        DEFAULT: '#cec970',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAFAF4,
  '100': #F6F5EA,
  '200': #ECEBD0,
  '300': #E2DFAB,
  '400': #cec970,
  '500': #C6C058,
  '600': #B6B03E,
  '700': #989334,
  '800': #7A752A,
  '900': #595622,
  '950': #373615,
);
$brand-base: #cec970;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAFAF4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F6F5EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#ECEBD0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E2DFAB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#cec970", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#C6C058", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B6B03E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#989334", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7A752A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#595622", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#373615", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cec970 · 12.21:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.72:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.21:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cec970 as text scores 1.72:1 on white and 12.21:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5F5C21 at 4.02:1.

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
#7B772A · 4.65:1
AA on white−30% L
#7B772A
The quick fox
#5D5920 · 7.20:1
AAA on white−38% L
#5D5920
The quick fox
#cec970 · 12.21:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cec970
The quick fox
#cec970 · 12.21:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cec970

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9D9836 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
#cec970 on white: 1.72:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cec970 on black: 12.21:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cec970 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cec970.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.72:1AaAa
Slate 501.64:1AaAa
Slate 1001.57:1AaAa
Slate 2001.39:1AaAa
Slate 3001.16:1AaAa
Slate 4001.49:1AaAa
Slate 5002.77:1AaAa
Slate 6004.41:1AaAa
Slate 7006.02:1AaAa
Slate 8008.51:1AaAa
Slate 90010.38:1AaAa
Black12.21:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D6C369
deuteranopia · #D9C774
tritanopia · #DABFB4

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. #cec970 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.

#FAFAF4
#F6F5EA
#ECEBD0
#E2DFAB
#cec970
#C6C058
#B6B03E
#989334
#7A752A
#595622
#373615
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FAFAF4Darkest = 950 · #373615Text 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 0.028 105.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.045 105.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.067 105.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.087 105.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.103 105.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.112 105.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.112 105.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.105 105.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.094 105.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.078 105.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.061 105.8);
}

Colors that work with #cec970

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#EAE8C2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B974B
Captions on the surface
Accent#6C8BD2
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5F5C21
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F8F8EC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#C5BF56
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B8B13F
Two steps down
Disabled#E0DFCE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DCD677
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 #cec970

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
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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 #5F5C21
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9D9836

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. The mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight38/100
  • 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#7075CE
Analogous left#CE9A70
Analogous right#A4CE70
Split-complement 1#70A4CE
Split-complement 2#9A70CE
Triadic 1#70CEC9
Triadic 2#C970CE
Tetradic#70CE9A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°57°

#cec970 sits at 57°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.8%
Green78.8%
Blue43.9%
R · 0–255
206
0xce
G · 0–255
201
0xc9
B · 0–255
112
0x70

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta2.4%
Yellow45.6%
Key (black)19.2%

Total ink coverage is 67%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cec970 text on a black background

contrast 12.21:1

Card sample

#cec970 text on a white background

contrast 1.72:1

Card sample

#cec970 on grey

1.57:1

#cec970 on its own surface

1.64:1

#cec970 on its dark surface

9.13:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cec970;
Background color
Panel with #cec970 background
background-color: #cec970;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cec970;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(206, 201, 112, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(206, 201, 112, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cec970;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cec970, #94CE70);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cec970, #7DCE70);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cec970;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cec970;
caret-color: #cec970;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cec970;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F8F8EC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cec970;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cec970 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cec970 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, 201, 112, 0.5)
rgb(206 201 112 / 50%)
#cec97080
hsl(57 49% 62% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cec970 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cec9701a#FAFAF1
20%#cec97033#F5F4E2
40%#cec97066#EBE9C6
60%#cec97099#E2DFA9
80%#cec970cc#D8D48D

Gradients from #cec970

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, #DEDA9E, #cec970 45%, #5F5C21);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cec970, #7AC659);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cec970, #7075CE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E6E3B5 0%, #cec970 45%, #5F5C21 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%, #DBAF96 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #ACD687 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5F5C21 0%, transparent 65%), #cec970;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cec970

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.

#cec970 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

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 12.21:1.

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.

#cec970, answered

What color is #cec970?

#cec970 is a balanced vivid yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 4.9). It sits at 57° on the hue wheel with 49% saturation and 62% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cec970?

rgb(206, 201, 112) — 206 red, 201 green and 112 blue out of 255, or 80.8% / 78.8% / 43.9% by channel.

What is #cec970 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(57, 49%, 62%) and hsv(57, 46%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cec970 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5606 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 12.21:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cec970?

Black. It scores 12.21:1 against #cec970, versus 1.72:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cec970 accessible on a white background?

#cec970 on white scores 1.72:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7B772A to reach 4.5:1, or #5D5920 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cec970?

#7075CE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #70A4CE and #9A70CE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cec970?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EAE8C2 for borders, #9B974B for secondary text, #6C8BD2 as an accent and #5F5C21 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CE9A70 and #A4CE70 stays calm, while #7075CE is the loudest partner.

What is #cec970 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 2%, 46%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cec970 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 22 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CEA770; nudged cooler, #B1D06E.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cec970?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 15.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cec970 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cec970 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cec970] or text-[#cec970], 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 #cec970 with 50% opacity?

rgba(206, 201, 112, 0.5), or #cec97080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E7E4B8; over black, #676538.

Is #cec970 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC66, ΔE2000 2.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cec970 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 #cec970?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DEDA9E, #cec970 45%, #5F5C21). For more colour, a short hue run to #7AC659 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cec970 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cec970 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.