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yellow · warm

#e3df9c

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Brass

RGB
227, 223, 156
HSL
57°, 56%, 75%
CMYK
0, 2, 31, 11
Luminance
0.7151

#e3df9c is a light vivid yellow, 57° on the wheel and 22/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.30:1). As text it scores 1.37:1 on white — use #7C7723 instead. Nearest name is Pale Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(57 56% 75%)rgb(227 223 156)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #e3df9c is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#e3df9c
Hue
57°
yellow
Saturation
56%
vivid
Lightness
75%
light
Brightness
89%
HSV value
Perceived
85%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7151
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
22/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
15.30:1
Closest name
Pale Goldenrod
ΔE2000 2.5
Chroma
34.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.891
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 18.8
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue57° of 360°
Saturation56%
Lightness75%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #e3df9c.

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%
Green74%
Blue3%

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

Every format

HEX#e3df9c
HEX (8-digit)#e3df9cff
RGBrgb(227, 223, 156)
RGBArgba(227, 223, 156, 1)
HSLhsl(57, 56%, 75%)
HSV / HSBhsv(57, 31%, 89%)
HWBhwb(57 61% 11%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 2%, 31%, 11%)
LABlab(87.7 -8.7 33.4)
LCHlch(87.7 34.5 104.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.891 0.086 105.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(64.07, 71.51, 41.87)
Decimal14933916
Display P3color(display-p3 0.890 0.875 0.612)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #e3df9c;
background-color: #e3df9c;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #e3df9c;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#e3df9c] bg-[#e3df9c]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #e3df9c;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.890, green: 0.875, blue: 0.612)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.890, green: 0.875, blue: 0.612, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#E3DF9C</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFE3DF9C)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFE3DF9C)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(156, 223, 227)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(227, 223, 156)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(227, 223, 156)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 227, 223, 156)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8902f, 0.8745f, 0.6118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{227,223,156}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #e3df9c 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #e3df9c 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#635F1C, #EEEDD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #e3df9c 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: #FBFAF4;
  --brand-100: #F6F6E9;
  --brand-200: #EEECCE;
  --brand-300: #e3df9c;
  --brand-400: #DAD57C;
  --brand-500: #CEC650;
  --brand-600: #BFB736;
  --brand-700: #9F992D;
  --brand-800: #7F7A24;
  --brand-900: #5D591E;
  --brand-950: #3A3813;
  --brand: #e3df9c;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EDEAC0;
  --brand-hover: #DBD680;
  --brand-pressed: #D3CD64;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EEEDD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBFAF4',
        100: '#F6F6E9',
        200: '#EEECCE',
        300: '#e3df9c',
        400: '#DAD57C',
        500: '#CEC650',
        600: '#BFB736',
        700: '#9F992D',
        800: '#7F7A24',
        900: '#5D591E',
        950: '#3A3813',
        DEFAULT: '#e3df9c',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBFAF4,
  '100': #F6F6E9,
  '200': #EEECCE,
  '300': #e3df9c,
  '400': #DAD57C,
  '500': #CEC650,
  '600': #BFB736,
  '700': #9F992D,
  '800': #7F7A24,
  '900': #5D591E,
  '950': #3A3813,
);
$brand-base: #e3df9c;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBFAF4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F6F6E9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EEECCE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#e3df9c", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#DAD57C", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#CEC650", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#BFB736", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#9F992D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#7F7A24", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5D591E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3A3813", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #e3df9c · 15.30:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.37:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.30:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #e3df9c as text scores 1.37:1 on white and 15.30:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #635F1C at 4.81:1.

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
#7C7723 · 4.65:1
AA on white−44% L
#7C7723
The quick fox
#5C581A · 7.33:1
AAA on white−52% L
#5C581A
The quick fox
#e3df9c · 15.30:1
AA on blackalready passes
#e3df9c
The quick fox
#e3df9c · 15.30:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#e3df9c

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9B952C 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
#e3df9c on white: 1.37:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#e3df9c on black: 15.30:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #e3df9c as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #e3df9c.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.37:1AaAa
Slate 501.31:1AaAa
Slate 1001.25:1AaAa
Slate 2001.11:1AaAa
Slate 3001.08:1AaAa
Slate 4001.87:1AaAa
Slate 5003.47:1AaAa
Slate 6005.52:1AaAa
Slate 7007.54:1AaAa
Slate 80010.66:1AaAa
Slate 90013.01:1AaAa
Black15.30:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #EADA97
deuteranopia · #ECDE9F
tritanopia · #EDD6CE

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. #e3df9c 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.

#FBFAF4
#F6F6E9
#EEECCE
#e3df9c
#DAD57C
#CEC650
#BFB736
#9F992D
#7F7A24
#5D591E
#3A3813
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FBFAF4Darkest = 950 · #3A3813Text 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 0.022 105.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.034 105.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.052 105.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.067 105.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.079 105.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.086 105.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.086 105.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.081 105.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.072 105.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.060 105.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.047 105.1);
}

Colors that work with #e3df9c

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#9B964B
Captions on the surface
Accent#284FA4
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#635F1C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F9F9EB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#DBD680
One step down in lightness
Pressed#D3CD64
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F7F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#EDE9A7
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 #e3df9c

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 #635F1C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9B952C

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
  • Weight25/100
  • 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#9CA0E3
Analogous left#E3BB9C
Analogous right#C4E39C
Split-complement 1#9CC4E3
Split-complement 2#BB9CE3
Triadic 1#9CE3DF
Triadic 2#DF9CE3
Tetradic#9CE3BB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°57°

#e3df9c sits at 57°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red89.0%
Green87.5%
Blue61.2%
R · 0–255
227
0xe3
G · 0–255
223
0xdf
B · 0–255
156
0x9c

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta1.8%
Yellow31.3%
Key (black)11.0%

Total ink coverage is 44%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#e3df9c text on a black background

contrast 15.30:1

Card sample

#e3df9c text on a white background

contrast 1.37:1

Card sample

#e3df9c on grey

1.25:1

#e3df9c on its own surface

1.31:1

#e3df9c on its dark surface

11.44:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #e3df9c;
Background color
Panel with #e3df9c background
background-color: #e3df9c;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #e3df9c;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(227, 223, 156, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(227, 223, 156, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #e3df9c;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #e3df9c, #B8E39C);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e3df9c, #A6E39C);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #e3df9c;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #e3df9c;
caret-color: #e3df9c;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #e3df9c;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F9F9EB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #e3df9c;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#e3df9c 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #e3df9c 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(227, 223, 156, 0.5)
rgb(227 223 156 / 50%)
#e3df9c80
hsl(57 56% 75% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #e3df9c 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#e3df9c1a#FCFCF5
20%#e3df9c33#F9F9EB
40%#e3df9c66#F4F2D7
60%#e3df9c99#EEECC4
80%#e3df9ccc#E9E5B0

Gradients from #e3df9c

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, #F0EECC, #e3df9c 45%, #635F1C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #e3df9c, #9FDC84);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e3df9c, #9CA0E3);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F7F6E4 0%, #e3df9c 45%, #635F1C 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%, #EED3C4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CDEAB4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #635F1C 0%, transparent 65%), #e3df9c;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #e3df9c

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.

#e3df9c 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 15.30:1.

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.

#e3df9c, answered

What color is #e3df9c?

#e3df9c is a light vivid yellow, closest to Pale Goldenrod (ΔE2000 2.5). It sits at 57° on the hue wheel with 56% saturation and 75% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #e3df9c?

rgb(227, 223, 156) — 227 red, 223 green and 156 blue out of 255, or 89% / 87.5% / 61.2% by channel.

What is #e3df9c in HSL and HSV?

hsl(57, 56%, 75%) and hsv(57, 31%, 89%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #e3df9c a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7151 and perceived brightness is 85%, so black text on it reaches 15.30:1.

Should I use black or white text on #e3df9c?

Black. It scores 15.30:1 against #e3df9c, versus 1.37:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #e3df9c accessible on a white background?

#e3df9c on white scores 1.37:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7C7723 to reach 4.5:1, or #5C581A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #e3df9c?

#9CA0E3 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #9CC4E3 and #BB9CE3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #e3df9c?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EDEAC0 for borders, #9B964B for secondary text, #284FA4 as an accent and #635F1C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #E3BB9C and #C4E39C stays calm, while #9CA0E3 is the loudest partner.

What is #e3df9c in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 2%, 31%, 11%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #e3df9c 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 #E3C59C; nudged cooler, #CDE49B.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #e3df9c?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 18.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #e3df9c as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #e3df9c in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#e3df9c] or text-[#e3df9c], 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 #e3df9c with 50% opacity?

rgba(227, 223, 156, 0.5), or #e3df9c80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F1EFCE; over black, #72704E.

Is #e3df9c a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 5.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #e3df9c 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 #e3df9c?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F0EECC, #e3df9c 45%, #635F1C). For more colour, a short hue run to #9FDC84 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #e3df9c in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #e3df9c at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.