Skip to content
yellow · warm

#dfb646

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Honey

RGB
223, 182, 70
HSL
44°, 71%, 58%
CMYK
0, 18, 69, 13
Luminance
0.4959

#dfb646 is a balanced vivid yellow, 44° on the wheel and 12/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.92:1). As text it scores 1.92:1 on white — use #927119 instead. Nearest name is Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(44 71% 58%)rgb(223 182 70)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dfb646 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dfb646
Hue
44°
yellow
Saturation
71%
vivid
Lightness
58%
balanced
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
73%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4959
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
12/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
10.92:1
Closest name
Goldenrod
ΔE2000 5.3
Chroma
60.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.793
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 4.7
Web-safe
#CCCC33
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue44° of 360°
Saturation71%
Lightness58%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dfb646.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool12% 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
Red32%
Green67%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#dfb646
HEX (8-digit)#dfb646ff
RGBrgb(223, 182, 70)
RGBArgba(223, 182, 70, 1)
HSLhsl(44, 71%, 58%)
HSV / HSBhsv(44, 69%, 87%)
HWBhwb(44 27% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 18%, 69%, 13%)
LABlab(75.8 3.1 60.3)
LCHlch(75.8 60.4 87.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.793 0.135 88.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(48.27, 49.59, 12.82)
Decimal14661190
Display P3color(display-p3 0.875 0.714 0.275)
Web-safe#CCCC33

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dfb646;
background-color: #dfb646;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dfb646;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dfb646] bg-[#dfb646]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dfb646;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.875, green: 0.714, blue: 0.275)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.875, green: 0.714, blue: 0.275, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DFB646</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDFB646)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDFB646)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(70, 182, 223)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(223, 182, 70)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(223, 182, 70)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 223, 182, 70)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8745f, 0.7137f, 0.2745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{223,182,70}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dfb646 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dfb646 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#6D5513, #EEE7D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dfb646 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: #FCF9F3;
  --brand-100: #F8F4E7;
  --brand-200: #F2E7C9;
  --brand-300: #EED99F;
  --brand-400: #E6C670;
  --brand-500: #dfb646;
  --brand-600: #D1A224;
  --brand-700: #AE871E;
  --brand-800: #8B6C18;
  --brand-900: #655016;
  --brand-950: #3F320D;
  --brand: #dfb646;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #EDE1C0;
  --brand-hover: #DAAA28;
  --brand-pressed: #BD9321;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242014;
    --brand-ink: #EEE7D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF9F3',
        100: '#F8F4E7',
        200: '#F2E7C9',
        300: '#EED99F',
        400: '#E6C670',
        500: '#dfb646',
        600: '#D1A224',
        700: '#AE871E',
        800: '#8B6C18',
        900: '#655016',
        950: '#3F320D',
        DEFAULT: '#dfb646',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF9F3,
  '100': #F8F4E7,
  '200': #F2E7C9,
  '300': #EED99F,
  '400': #E6C670,
  '500': #dfb646,
  '600': #D1A224,
  '700': #AE871E,
  '800': #8B6C18,
  '900': #655016,
  '950': #3F320D,
);
$brand-base: #dfb646;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF9F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F8F4E7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F2E7C9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#EED99F", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E6C670", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#dfb646", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#D1A224", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#AE871E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#8B6C18", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#655016", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3F320D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dfb646 · 10.92:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.92:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.92:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dfb646 as text scores 1.92:1 on white and 10.92:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #6D5513 at 3.69:1.

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
#927119 · 4.57:1
AA on white−24% L
#927119
The quick fox
#6B5312 · 7.31:1
AAA on white−33% L
#6B5312
The quick fox
#dfb646 · 10.92:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dfb646
The quick fox
#dfb646 · 10.92:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dfb646

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B48C1F 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
#dfb646 on white: 1.92:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dfb646 on black: 10.92:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dfb646 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dfb646.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.92:1AaAa
Slate 501.84:1AaAa
Slate 1001.76:1AaAa
Slate 2001.56:1AaAa
Slate 3001.30:1AaAa
Slate 4001.33:1AaAa
Slate 5002.47:1AaAa
Slate 6003.94:1AaAa
Slate 7005.38:1AaAa
Slate 8007.60:1AaAa
Slate 9009.28:1AaAa
Black10.92:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CAB438
deuteranopia · #D4C04B
tritanopia · #F1A79F

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. #dfb646 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.

#FCF9F3
#F8F4E7
#F2E7C9
#EED99F
#E6C670
#dfb646
#D1A224
#AE871E
#8B6C18
#655016
#3F320D
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FCF9F3Darkest = 950 · #3F320DText 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 0.034 88.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.054 88.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.081 88.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.106 88.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.125 88.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.135 88.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.135 88.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.127 88.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.114 88.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.095 88.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.074 88.5);
}

Colors that work with #dfb646

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#FAF9F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDE1C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B854B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1A69B2
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#6D5513
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FBF6E9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242014
Dark-mode background
Hover#DAAA28
One step down in lightness
Pressed#BD9321
Two steps down
Disabled#D6D0BF
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#ECC14E
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 #dfb646

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 #6D5513
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B48C1F

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
  • Weight43/100
  • 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#466FDF
Analogous left#DF6A46
Analogous right#BCDF46
Split-complement 1#46BCDF
Split-complement 2#6A46DF
Triadic 1#46DFB6
Triadic 2#B646DF
Tetradic#46DF6A
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°44°

#dfb646 sits at 44°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.5%
Green71.4%
Blue27.5%
R · 0–255
223
0xdf
G · 0–255
182
0xb6
B · 0–255
70
0x46

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta18.4%
Yellow68.6%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 100%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dfb646 text on a black background

contrast 10.92:1

Card sample

#dfb646 text on a white background

contrast 1.92:1

Card sample

#dfb646 on grey

1.76:1

#dfb646 on its own surface

1.82:1

#dfb646 on its dark surface

8.45:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dfb646;
Background color
Panel with #dfb646 background
background-color: #dfb646;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dfb646;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(223, 182, 70, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(223, 182, 70, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dfb646;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dfb646, #A2DF46);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfb646, #7CDF46);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dfb646;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dfb646;
caret-color: #dfb646;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dfb646;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FBF6E9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dfb646;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dfb646 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dfb646 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(223, 182, 70, 0.5)
rgb(223 182 70 / 50%)
#dfb64680
hsl(44 71% 58% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dfb646 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dfb6461a#FCF8ED
20%#dfb64633#F9F0DA
40%#dfb64666#F2E2B5
60%#dfb64699#ECD390
80%#dfb646cc#E5C56B

Gradients from #dfb646

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, #E8CB7A, #dfb646 45%, #6D5513);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dfb646, #87DB2C);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfb646, #466FDF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EDD594 0%, #dfb646 45%, #6D5513 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF9F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E78372 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BAE460 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #6D5513 0%, transparent 65%), #dfb646;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dfb646

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.

#dfb646 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 10.92:1.

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.

#dfb646, answered

What color is #dfb646?

#dfb646 is a balanced vivid yellow, closest to Goldenrod (ΔE2000 5.3). It sits at 44° on the hue wheel with 71% saturation and 58% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dfb646?

rgb(223, 182, 70) — 223 red, 182 green and 70 blue out of 255, or 87.5% / 71.4% / 27.5% by channel.

What is #dfb646 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(44, 71%, 58%) and hsv(44, 69%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dfb646 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4959 and perceived brightness is 73%, so black text on it reaches 10.92:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dfb646?

Black. It scores 10.92:1 against #dfb646, versus 1.92:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dfb646 accessible on a white background?

#dfb646 on white scores 1.92:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #927119 to reach 4.5:1, or #6B5312 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dfb646?

#466FDF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #46BCDF and #6A46DF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dfb646?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #EDE1C0 for borders, #9B854B for secondary text, #1A69B2 as an accent and #6D5513 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DF6A46 and #BCDF46 stays calm, while #466FDF is the loudest partner.

What is #dfb646 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 18%, 69%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dfb646 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 12 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DF9A46; nudged cooler, #D2E144.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dfb646?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 4.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dfb646 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dfb646 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dfb646] or text-[#dfb646], 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 #dfb646 with 50% opacity?

rgba(223, 182, 70, 0.5), or #dfb64680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFDBA3; over black, #705B23.

Is #dfb646 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC33, ΔE2000 12.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dfb646 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 #dfb646?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E8CB7A, #dfb646 45%, #6D5513). For more colour, a short hue run to #87DB2C keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dfb646 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dfb646 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.