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yellow · warm

#ecf1ad

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Straw

RGB
236, 241, 173
HSL
64°, 71%, 81%
CMYK
2, 0, 28, 6
Luminance
0.8376

#ecf1ad is a light vivid yellow, 64° on the wheel and 29/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (17.75:1). As text it scores 1.18:1 on white — use #737B15 instead. Nearest name is Pale Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(64 71% 81%)rgb(236 241 173)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ecf1ad is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ecf1ad
Hue
64°
yellow
Saturation
71%
vivid
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
95%
HSV value
Perceived
91%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8376
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
29/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
17.75:1
Closest name
Pale Goldenrod
ΔE2000 3.5
Chroma
34.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.938
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 19.4
Web-safe
#FFFF99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue64° of 360°
Saturation71%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ecf1ad.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool29% 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#ecf1ad
HEX (8-digit)#ecf1adff
RGBrgb(236, 241, 173)
RGBArgba(236, 241, 173, 1)
HSLhsl(64, 71%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(64, 28%, 95%)
HWBhwb(64 68% 5%)
CMYKcmyk(2%, 0%, 28%, 6%)
LABlab(93.3 -12.2 32.4)
LCHlch(93.3 34.6 110.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.938 0.087 111.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(73.59, 83.76, 51.82)
Decimal15528365
Display P3color(display-p3 0.925 0.945 0.678)
Web-safe#FFFF99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ecf1ad;
background-color: #ecf1ad;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ecf1ad;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ecf1ad] bg-[#ecf1ad]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ecf1ad;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.925, green: 0.945, blue: 0.678)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.925, green: 0.945, blue: 0.678, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#ECF1AD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFECF1AD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFECF1AD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(173, 241, 236)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(236, 241, 173)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(236, 241, 173)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 236, 241, 173)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9255f, 0.9451f, 0.6784f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{236,241,173}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ecf1ad 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ecf1ad 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#666D13, #ECEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ecf1ad 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: #FBFCF3;
  --brand-100: #F7F8E7;
  --brand-200: #EFF3C9;
  --brand-300: #ecf1ad;
  --brand-400: #DEE66F;
  --brand-500: #D3DE3F;
  --brand-600: #C4D124;
  --brand-700: #A4AE1E;
  --brand-800: #838B18;
  --brand-900: #5F6515;
  --brand-950: #3C3F0D;
  --brand: #ecf1ad;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #E9EDC0;
  --brand-hover: #E5EC8F;
  --brand-pressed: #DEE770;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #232414;
    --brand-ink: #ECEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBFCF3',
        100: '#F7F8E7',
        200: '#EFF3C9',
        300: '#ecf1ad',
        400: '#DEE66F',
        500: '#D3DE3F',
        600: '#C4D124',
        700: '#A4AE1E',
        800: '#838B18',
        900: '#5F6515',
        950: '#3C3F0D',
        DEFAULT: '#ecf1ad',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBFCF3,
  '100': #F7F8E7,
  '200': #EFF3C9,
  '300': #ecf1ad,
  '400': #DEE66F,
  '500': #D3DE3F,
  '600': #C4D124,
  '700': #A4AE1E,
  '800': #838B18,
  '900': #5F6515,
  '950': #3C3F0D,
);
$brand-base: #ecf1ad;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBFCF3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F7F8E7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EFF3C9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ecf1ad", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#DEE66F", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#D3DE3F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#C4D124", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#A4AE1E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#838B18", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5F6515", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3C3F0D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ecf1ad · 17.75:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.18:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 17.75:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ecf1ad as text scores 1.18:1 on white and 17.75:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #666D13 at 4.72:1.

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
#737B15 · 4.59:1
AA on white−53% L
#737B15
The quick fox
#575C10 · 7.13:1
AAA on white−60% L
#575C10
The quick fox
#ecf1ad · 17.75:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ecf1ad
The quick fox
#ecf1ad · 17.75:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ecf1ad

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #90991A 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
#ecf1ad on white: 1.18:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ecf1ad on black: 17.75:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ecf1ad as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ecf1ad.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.18:1AaAa
Slate 501.13:1AaAa
Slate 1001.08:1AaAa
Slate 2001.04:1AaAa
Slate 3001.26:1AaAa
Slate 4002.17:1AaAa
Slate 5004.02:1AaAa
Slate 6006.41:1AaAa
Slate 7008.75:1AaAa
Slate 80012.37:1AaAa
Slate 90015.09:1AaAa
Black17.75:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #FBEBA8
deuteranopia · #FCEDB0
tritanopia · #F5E9DF

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. #ecf1ad 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.

#FBFCF3
#F7F8E7
#EFF3C9
#ecf1ad
#DEE66F
#D3DE3F
#C4D124
#A4AE1E
#838B18
#5F6515
#3C3F0D
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FBFCF3Darkest = 950 · #3C3F0DText 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 0.022 111.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.035 111.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.052 111.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.068 111.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.080 111.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.087 111.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.087 111.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.082 111.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.073 111.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.061 111.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.048 111.5);
}

Colors that work with #ecf1ad

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#E9EDC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#959B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1935B3
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#666D13
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FAFBE9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#232414
Dark-mode background
Hover#E5EC8F
One step down in lightness
Pressed#DEE770
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F7F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F3F8BB
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 #ecf1ad

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 #666D13
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #90991A

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
  • Weight19/100
  • 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#B2ADF1
Analogous left#F1D4AD
Analogous right#CAF1AD
Split-complement 1#ADCAF1
Split-complement 2#D4ADF1
Triadic 1#ADECF1
Triadic 2#F1ADEC
Tetradic#ADF1D4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°64°

#ecf1ad sits at 64°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red92.5%
Green94.5%
Blue67.8%
R · 0–255
236
0xec
G · 0–255
241
0xf1
B · 0–255
173
0xad

CMYK percentages

Cyan2.1%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow28.2%
Key (black)5.5%

Total ink coverage is 36%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ecf1ad text on a black background

contrast 17.75:1

Card sample

#ecf1ad text on a white background

contrast 1.18:1

Card sample

#ecf1ad on grey

1.08:1

#ecf1ad on its own surface

1.13:1

#ecf1ad on its dark surface

13.31:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ecf1ad;
Background color
Panel with #ecf1ad background
background-color: #ecf1ad;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ecf1ad;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(236, 241, 173, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(236, 241, 173, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ecf1ad;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ecf1ad, #BFF1AD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ecf1ad, #AEF1AD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ecf1ad;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ecf1ad;
caret-color: #ecf1ad;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ecf1ad;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FAFBE9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ecf1ad;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ecf1ad 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ecf1ad 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(236, 241, 173, 0.5)
rgb(236 241 173 / 50%)
#ecf1ad80
hsl(64 71% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ecf1ad 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ecf1ad1a#FDFEF7
20%#ecf1ad33#FBFCEF
40%#ecf1ad66#F7F9DE
60%#ecf1ad99#F4F7CE
80%#ecf1adcc#F0F4BD

Gradients from #ecf1ad

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, #F8FAE1, #ecf1ad 45%, #666D13);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ecf1ad, #A3ED93);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ecf1ad, #B2ADF1);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FCFDF2 0%, #ecf1ad 45%, #666D13 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%, #F8E8D9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D7F5C7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #666D13 0%, transparent 65%), #ecf1ad;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ecf1ad

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.

#ecf1ad 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 17.75:1.

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.

#ecf1ad, answered

What color is #ecf1ad?

#ecf1ad is a light vivid yellow, closest to Pale Goldenrod (ΔE2000 3.5). It sits at 64° on the hue wheel with 71% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ecf1ad?

rgb(236, 241, 173) — 236 red, 241 green and 173 blue out of 255, or 92.5% / 94.5% / 67.8% by channel.

What is #ecf1ad in HSL and HSV?

hsl(64, 71%, 81%) and hsv(64, 28%, 95%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ecf1ad a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8376 and perceived brightness is 91%, so black text on it reaches 17.75:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ecf1ad?

Black. It scores 17.75:1 against #ecf1ad, versus 1.18:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ecf1ad accessible on a white background?

#ecf1ad on white scores 1.18:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #737B15 to reach 4.5:1, or #575C10 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ecf1ad?

#B2ADF1 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ADCAF1 and #D4ADF1, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ecf1ad?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #E9EDC0 for borders, #959B4B for secondary text, #1935B3 as an accent and #666D13 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F1D4AD and #CAF1AD stays calm, while #B2ADF1 is the loudest partner.

What is #ecf1ad in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(2%, 0%, 28%, 6%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #ecf1ad warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 29 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F1DDAD; nudged cooler, #D3F2AC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ecf1ad?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 19.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ecf1ad as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ecf1ad in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ecf1ad] or text-[#ecf1ad], 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 #ecf1ad with 50% opacity?

rgba(236, 241, 173, 0.5), or #ecf1ad80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F6F8D6; over black, #767957.

Is #ecf1ad a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFF99, ΔE2000 6.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ecf1ad 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 #ecf1ad?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F8FAE1, #ecf1ad 45%, #666D13). For more colour, a short hue run to #A3ED93 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ecf1ad in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ecf1ad at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.