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yellow · warm

#dce4ae

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Citron

RGB
220, 228, 174
HSL
69°, 50%, 79%
CMYK
4, 0, 24, 11
Luminance
0.7376

#dce4ae is a light vivid yellow, 69° on the wheel and 32/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.75:1). As text it scores 1.33:1 on white — use #717D2A instead. Nearest name is Pale Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(69 50% 79%)rgb(220 228 174)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dce4ae is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dce4ae
Hue
69°
yellow
Saturation
50%
vivid
Lightness
79%
light
Brightness
89%
HSV value
Perceived
86%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7376
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
32/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
15.75:1
Closest name
Pale Goldenrod
ΔE2000 4.7
Chroma
28.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.899
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 19.2
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue69° of 360°
Saturation50%
Lightness79%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dce4ae.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool32% 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%
Green75%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#dce4ae
HEX (8-digit)#dce4aeff
RGBrgb(220, 228, 174)
RGBArgba(220, 228, 174, 1)
HSLhsl(69, 50%, 79%)
HSV / HSBhsv(69, 24%, 89%)
HWBhwb(69 68% 11%)
CMYKcmyk(4%, 0%, 24%, 11%)
LABlab(88.8 -11.5 25.5)
LCHlch(88.8 28.0 114.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.899 0.071 114.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(64.90, 73.76, 50.85)
Decimal14476462
Display P3color(display-p3 0.863 0.894 0.682)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dce4ae;
background-color: #dce4ae;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dce4ae;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dce4ae] bg-[#dce4ae]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dce4ae;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.863, green: 0.894, blue: 0.682)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.863, green: 0.894, blue: 0.682, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DCE4AE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDCE4AE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDCE4AE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(174, 228, 220)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(220, 228, 174)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(220, 228, 174)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 220, 228, 174)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8627f, 0.8941f, 0.6824f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{220,228,174}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dce4ae 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dce4ae 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#566020, #EAEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dce4ae 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: #F9FAF4;
  --brand-100: #F4F6EA;
  --brand-200: #E8ECCF;
  --brand-300: #dce4ae;
  --brand-400: #C8D581;
  --brand-500: #B6C757;
  --brand-600: #A5B83D;
  --brand-700: #8A9933;
  --brand-800: #6E7A29;
  --brand-900: #515921;
  --brand-950: #333815;
  --brand: #dce4ae;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #E5EBC2;
  --brand-hover: #D0DB93;
  --brand-pressed: #C5D278;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #222414;
    --brand-ink: #EAEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9FAF4',
        100: '#F4F6EA',
        200: '#E8ECCF',
        300: '#dce4ae',
        400: '#C8D581',
        500: '#B6C757',
        600: '#A5B83D',
        700: '#8A9933',
        800: '#6E7A29',
        900: '#515921',
        950: '#333815',
        DEFAULT: '#dce4ae',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9FAF4,
  '100': #F4F6EA,
  '200': #E8ECCF,
  '300': #dce4ae,
  '400': #C8D581,
  '500': #B6C757,
  '600': #A5B83D,
  '700': #8A9933,
  '800': #6E7A29,
  '900': #515921,
  '950': #333815,
);
$brand-base: #dce4ae;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9FAF4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4F6EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E8ECCF", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#dce4ae", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C8D581", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#B6C757", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A5B83D", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#8A9933", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6E7A29", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#515921", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#333815", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dce4ae · 15.75:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.33:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.75:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dce4ae as text scores 1.33:1 on white and 15.75:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #566020 at 5.10:1.

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
#717D2A · 4.50:1
AA on white−46% L
#717D2A
The quick fox
#525B1E · 7.31:1
AAA on white−55% L
#525B1E
The quick fox
#dce4ae · 15.75:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dce4ae
The quick fox
#dce4ae · 15.75:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dce4ae

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8D9C34 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
#dce4ae on white: 1.33:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dce4ae on black: 15.75:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dce4ae as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dce4ae.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.33:1AaAa
Slate 501.27:1AaAa
Slate 1001.22:1AaAa
Slate 2001.08:1AaAa
Slate 3001.11:1AaAa
Slate 4001.92:1AaAa
Slate 5003.57:1AaAa
Slate 6005.68:1AaAa
Slate 7007.77:1AaAa
Slate 80010.97:1AaAa
Slate 90013.39:1AaAa
Black15.75:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ECDEAB
deuteranopia · #EBE0B0
tritanopia · #E2DED5

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. #dce4ae 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.

#F9FAF4
#F4F6EA
#E8ECCF
#dce4ae
#C8D581
#B6C757
#A5B83D
#8A9933
#6E7A29
#515921
#333815
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9FAF4Darkest = 950 · #333815Text 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 0.018 114.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.028 114.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.043 114.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.056 114.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.066 114.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.071 114.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.071 114.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.067 114.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.060 114.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.050 114.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.039 114.7);
}

Colors that work with #dce4ae

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#E5EBC2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8F9B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#2F3B9D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#566020
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F7F9EC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#222414
Dark-mode background
Hover#D0DB93
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C5D278
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F7F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E6EDB9
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 #dce4ae

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
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • 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
  • 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 #566020
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8D9C34

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 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-high
  • Weight21/100
  • 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#B6AEE4
Analogous left#E4D1AE
Analogous right#C1E4AE
Split-complement 1#AEC1E4
Split-complement 2#D1AEE4
Triadic 1#AEDCE4
Triadic 2#E4AEDC
Tetradic#AEE4D1
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°69°

#dce4ae sits at 69°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red86.3%
Green89.4%
Blue68.2%
R · 0–255
220
0xdc
G · 0–255
228
0xe4
B · 0–255
174
0xae

CMYK percentages

Cyan3.5%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow23.7%
Key (black)10.6%

Total ink coverage is 38%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dce4ae text on a black background

contrast 15.75:1

Card sample

#dce4ae text on a white background

contrast 1.33:1

Card sample

#dce4ae on grey

1.22:1

#dce4ae on its own surface

1.27:1

#dce4ae on its dark surface

11.84:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dce4ae;
Background color
Panel with #dce4ae background
background-color: #dce4ae;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dce4ae;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(220, 228, 174, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(220, 228, 174, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dce4ae;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dce4ae, #B8E4AE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dce4ae, #AEE4B1);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dce4ae;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dce4ae;
caret-color: #dce4ae;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dce4ae;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F7F9EC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dce4ae;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dce4ae 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dce4ae 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, 228, 174, 0.5)
rgb(220 228 174 / 50%)
#dce4ae80
hsl(69 50% 79% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dce4ae 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dce4ae1a#FCFCF7
20%#dce4ae33#F8FAEF
40%#dce4ae66#F1F4DF
60%#dce4ae99#EAEFCE
80%#dce4aecc#E3E9BE

Gradients from #dce4ae

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, #F0F3DC, #dce4ae 45%, #566020);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dce4ae, #9EDC97);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dce4ae, #B6AEE4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FAFBF3 0%, #dce4ae 45%, #566020 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%, #F1E4D4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CFECC5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #566020 0%, transparent 65%), #dce4ae;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dce4ae

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.

#dce4ae 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 15.75:1.

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.

#dce4ae, answered

What color is #dce4ae?

#dce4ae is a light vivid yellow, closest to Pale Goldenrod (ΔE2000 4.7). It sits at 69° on the hue wheel with 50% saturation and 79% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dce4ae?

rgb(220, 228, 174) — 220 red, 228 green and 174 blue out of 255, or 86.3% / 89.4% / 68.2% by channel.

What is #dce4ae in HSL and HSV?

hsl(69, 50%, 79%) and hsv(69, 24%, 89%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dce4ae a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7376 and perceived brightness is 86%, so black text on it reaches 15.75:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dce4ae?

Black. It scores 15.75:1 against #dce4ae, versus 1.33:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dce4ae accessible on a white background?

#dce4ae on white scores 1.33:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #717D2A to reach 4.5:1, or #525B1E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dce4ae?

#B6AEE4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AEC1E4 and #D1AEE4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dce4ae?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #E5EBC2 for borders, #8F9B4B for secondary text, #2F3B9D as an accent and #566020 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #E4D1AE and #C1E4AE stays calm, while #B6AEE4 is the loudest partner.

What is #dce4ae in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(4%, 0%, 24%, 11%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dce4ae warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 32 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E4D8AE; nudged cooler, #C8E5AD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dce4ae?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 19.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dce4ae as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dce4ae in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dce4ae] or text-[#dce4ae], 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 #dce4ae with 50% opacity?

rgba(220, 228, 174, 0.5), or #dce4ae80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EEF2D7; over black, #6E7257.

Is #dce4ae a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 5.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dce4ae 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 #dce4ae?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F0F3DC, #dce4ae 45%, #566020). For more colour, a short hue run to #9EDC97 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dce4ae in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dce4ae at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.