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yellow · warm

#dcd554

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

Token name suggestion: True Straw

RGB
220, 213, 84
HSL
57°, 66%, 60%
CMYK
0, 3, 62, 14
Luminance
0.6344

#dcd554 is a balanced vivid yellow, 57° on the wheel and 22/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.69:1). As text it scores 1.53:1 on white — use #7D781A instead. Nearest name is Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(57 66% 60%)rgb(220 213 84)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dcd554 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dcd554
Hue
57°
yellow
Saturation
66%
vivid
Lightness
60%
balanced
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
80%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6344
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
22/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
13.69:1
Closest name
Khaki
ΔE2000 6.8
Chroma
64.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.855
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 14.3
Web-safe
#CCCC66
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue57° of 360°
Saturation66%
Lightness60%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dcd554.

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
Red24%
Green75%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#dcd554
HEX (8-digit)#dcd554ff
RGBrgb(220, 213, 84)
RGBArgba(220, 213, 84, 1)
HSLhsl(57, 66%, 60%)
HSV / HSBhsv(57, 62%, 86%)
HWBhwb(57 33% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 3%, 62%, 14%)
LABlab(83.7 -13.2 62.6)
LCHlch(83.7 64.0 101.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.855 0.148 106.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(54.91, 63.45, 17.74)
Decimal14472532
Display P3color(display-p3 0.863 0.835 0.329)
Web-safe#CCCC66

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dcd554;
background-color: #dcd554;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dcd554;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dcd554] bg-[#dcd554]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dcd554;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.863, green: 0.835, blue: 0.329)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.863, green: 0.835, blue: 0.329, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DCD554</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDCD554)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDCD554)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(84, 213, 220)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(220, 213, 84)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(220, 213, 84)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 220, 213, 84)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8627f, 0.8353f, 0.3294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{220,213,84}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dcd554 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dcd554 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#6A6516, #EEEDD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dcd554 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: #FBFBF3;
  --brand-100: #F8F7E8;
  --brand-200: #F1EFCB;
  --brand-300: #ECE8A2;
  --brand-400: #E2DD73;
  --brand-500: #dcd554;
  --brand-600: #CBC32A;
  --brand-700: #A9A223;
  --brand-800: #87821C;
  --brand-900: #625F18;
  --brand-950: #3D3B0F;
  --brand: #dcd554;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EDEAC0;
  --brand-hover: #D6CE36;
  --brand-pressed: #C1B928;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EEEDD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBFBF3',
        100: '#F8F7E8',
        200: '#F1EFCB',
        300: '#ECE8A2',
        400: '#E2DD73',
        500: '#dcd554',
        600: '#CBC32A',
        700: '#A9A223',
        800: '#87821C',
        900: '#625F18',
        950: '#3D3B0F',
        DEFAULT: '#dcd554',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBFBF3,
  '100': #F8F7E8,
  '200': #F1EFCB,
  '300': #ECE8A2,
  '400': #E2DD73,
  '500': #dcd554,
  '600': #CBC32A,
  '700': #A9A223,
  '800': #87821C,
  '900': #625F18,
  '950': #3D3B0F,
);
$brand-base: #dcd554;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBFBF3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F8F7E8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F1EFCB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ECE8A2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E2DD73", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#dcd554", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#CBC32A", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#A9A223", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#87821C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#625F18", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3D3B0F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dcd554 · 13.69:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.53:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.69:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dcd554 as text scores 1.53:1 on white and 13.69:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #6A6516 at 3.93:1.

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
#7D781A · 4.59:1
AA on white−30% L
#7D781A
The quick fox
#5B5813 · 7.37:1
AAA on white−38% L
#5B5813
The quick fox
#dcd554 · 13.69:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dcd554
The quick fox
#dcd554 · 13.69:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dcd554

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9B9520 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
#dcd554 on white: 1.53:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dcd554 on black: 13.69:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dcd554 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dcd554.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.53:1AaAa
Slate 501.47:1AaAa
Slate 1001.40:1AaAa
Slate 2001.24:1AaAa
Slate 3001.03:1AaAa
Slate 4001.67:1AaAa
Slate 5003.10:1AaAa
Slate 6004.94:1AaAa
Slate 7006.75:1AaAa
Slate 8009.54:1AaAa
Slate 90011.64:1AaAa
Black13.69:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E6CE44
deuteranopia · #E9D35C
tritanopia · #EBC8BA

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. #dcd554 is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FBFBF3
#F8F7E8
#F1EFCB
#ECE8A2
#E2DD73
#dcd554
#CBC32A
#A9A223
#87821C
#625F18
#3D3B0F
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FBFBF3Darkest = 950 · #3D3B0FText 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 0.037 106.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.059 106.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.089 106.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.116 106.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.137 106.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.148 106.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.148 106.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.140 106.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.125 106.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.104 106.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.082 106.2);
}

Colors that work with #dcd554

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#EDEAC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B974B
Captions on the surface
Accent#507BE0
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#6A6516
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FBFAEA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#D6CE36
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C1B928
Two steps down
Disabled#DAD9C6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E9E15C
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 #dcd554

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 #6A6516
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9B9520

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
  • Weight40/100
  • 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#545BDC
Analogous left#DC9154
Analogous right#9FDC54
Split-complement 1#549FDC
Split-complement 2#9154DC
Triadic 1#54DCD5
Triadic 2#D554DC
Tetradic#54DC91
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°57°

#dcd554 sits at 57°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red86.3%
Green83.5%
Blue32.9%
R · 0–255
220
0xdc
G · 0–255
213
0xd5
B · 0–255
84
0x54

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta3.2%
Yellow61.8%
Key (black)13.7%

Total ink coverage is 79%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dcd554 text on a black background

contrast 13.69:1

Card sample

#dcd554 text on a white background

contrast 1.53:1

Card sample

#dcd554 on grey

1.40:1

#dcd554 on its own surface

1.46:1

#dcd554 on its dark surface

10.23:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dcd554;
Background color
Panel with #dcd554 background
background-color: #dcd554;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dcd554;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(220, 213, 84, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(220, 213, 84, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dcd554;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dcd554, #88DC54);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dcd554, #66DC54);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dcd554;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dcd554;
caret-color: #dcd554;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dcd554;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FBFAEA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dcd554;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dcd554 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dcd554 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(220, 213, 84, 0.5)
rgb(220 213 84 / 50%)
#dcd55480
hsl(57 66% 60% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dcd554 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dcd5541a#FCFBEE
20%#dcd55433#F8F7DD
40%#dcd55466#F1EEBB
60%#dcd55499#EAE698
80%#dcd554cc#E3DD76

Gradients from #dcd554

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, #E6E187, #dcd554 45%, #6A6516);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dcd554, #6AD73B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dcd554, #545BDC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #ECE8A0 0%, #dcd554 45%, #6A6516 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%, #E5A47E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A4E16D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #6A6516 0%, transparent 65%), #dcd554;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dcd554

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.

#dcd554 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 13.69:1.

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.

#dcd554, answered

What color is #dcd554?

#dcd554 is a balanced vivid yellow, closest to Khaki (ΔE2000 6.8). It sits at 57° on the hue wheel with 66% saturation and 60% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dcd554?

rgb(220, 213, 84) — 220 red, 213 green and 84 blue out of 255, or 86.3% / 83.5% / 32.9% by channel.

What is #dcd554 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(57, 66%, 60%) and hsv(57, 62%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dcd554 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6344 and perceived brightness is 80%, so black text on it reaches 13.69:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dcd554?

Black. It scores 13.69:1 against #dcd554, versus 1.53:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dcd554 accessible on a white background?

#dcd554 on white scores 1.53:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7D781A to reach 4.5:1, or #5B5813 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dcd554?

#545BDC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #549FDC and #9154DC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dcd554?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EDEAC0 for borders, #9B974B for secondary text, #507BE0 as an accent and #6A6516 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DC9154 and #9FDC54 stays calm, while #545BDC is the loudest partner.

What is #dcd554 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 3%, 62%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dcd554 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 #DCA854; nudged cooler, #B2DE52.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dcd554?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 14.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dcd554 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dcd554 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dcd554] or text-[#dcd554], 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 #dcd554 with 50% opacity?

rgba(220, 213, 84, 0.5), or #dcd55480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EEEAAA; over black, #6E6B2A.

Is #dcd554 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC66, ΔE2000 4.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dcd554 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 #dcd554?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E6E187, #dcd554 45%, #6A6516). For more colour, a short hue run to #6AD73B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dcd554 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dcd554 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.