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yellow · warm

#efe4af

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Citron

RGB
239, 228, 175
HSL
50°, 67%, 81%
CMYK
0, 5, 27, 6
Luminance
0.7693

#efe4af is a light vivid yellow, 50° on the wheel and 16/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (16.39:1). As text it scores 1.28:1 on white — use #89761B instead. Nearest name is Pale Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(50 67% 81%)rgb(239 228 175)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #efe4af is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#efe4af
Hue
50°
yellow
Saturation
67%
vivid
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
94%
HSV value
Perceived
89%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7693
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
16/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
16.39:1
Closest name
Pale Goldenrod
ΔE2000 2.6
Chroma
27.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.915
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 19.4
Web-safe
#FFCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue50° of 360°
Saturation67%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #efe4af.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool16% 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%
Green72%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#efe4af
HEX (8-digit)#efe4afff
RGBrgb(239, 228, 175)
RGBArgba(239, 228, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(50, 67%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(50, 27%, 94%)
HWBhwb(50 69% 6%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 5%, 27%, 6%)
LABlab(90.3 -4.3 27.3)
LCHlch(90.3 27.6 99.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.915 0.070 97.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(71.08, 76.93, 51.65)
Decimal15721647
Display P3color(display-p3 0.937 0.894 0.686)
Web-safe#FFCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #efe4af;
background-color: #efe4af;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #efe4af;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#efe4af] bg-[#efe4af]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #efe4af;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.937, green: 0.894, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.937, green: 0.894, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#EFE4AF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFEFE4AF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFEFE4AF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 228, 239)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(239, 228, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(239, 228, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 239, 228, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9373f, 0.8941f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{239,228,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #efe4af 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #efe4af 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#6A5C15, #EEE9D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #efe4af 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: #FBFAF3;
  --brand-100: #F8F5E8;
  --brand-200: #F1EBCA;
  --brand-300: #efe4af;
  --brand-400: #E3D073;
  --brand-500: #DAC044;
  --brand-600: #CCB029;
  --brand-700: #AA9322;
  --brand-800: #88751B;
  --brand-900: #635618;
  --brand-950: #3E360F;
  --brand: #efe4af;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #EDE5C0;
  --brand-hover: #E9DA91;
  --brand-pressed: #E3D074;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242214;
    --brand-ink: #EEE9D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBFAF3',
        100: '#F8F5E8',
        200: '#F1EBCA',
        300: '#efe4af',
        400: '#E3D073',
        500: '#DAC044',
        600: '#CCB029',
        700: '#AA9322',
        800: '#88751B',
        900: '#635618',
        950: '#3E360F',
        DEFAULT: '#efe4af',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBFAF3,
  '100': #F8F5E8,
  '200': #F1EBCA,
  '300': #efe4af,
  '400': #E3D073,
  '500': #DAC044,
  '600': #CCB029,
  '700': #AA9322,
  '800': #88751B,
  '900': #635618,
  '950': #3E360F,
);
$brand-base: #efe4af;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBFAF3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F8F5E8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F1EBCA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#efe4af", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E3D073", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#DAC044", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#CCB029", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#AA9322", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#88751B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#635618", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3E360F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #efe4af · 16.39:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.28:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 16.39:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #efe4af as text scores 1.28:1 on white and 16.39:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #6A5C15 at 5.19:1.

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
#89761B · 4.50:1
AA on white−49% L
#89761B
The quick fox
#635514 · 7.39:1
AAA on white−58% L
#635514
The quick fox
#efe4af · 16.39:1
AA on blackalready passes
#efe4af
The quick fox
#efe4af · 16.39:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#efe4af

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AB9322 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
#efe4af on white: 1.28:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#efe4af on black: 16.39:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #efe4af as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #efe4af.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.28:1AaAa
Slate 501.22:1AaAa
Slate 1001.17:1AaAa
Slate 2001.04:1AaAa
Slate 3001.16:1AaAa
Slate 4002.00:1AaAa
Slate 5003.71:1AaAa
Slate 6005.91:1AaAa
Slate 7008.08:1AaAa
Slate 80011.41:1AaAa
Slate 90013.93:1AaAa
Black16.39:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #EFE1AC
deuteranopia · #F2E5B1
tritanopia · #F9DCD6

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. #efe4af 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.

#FBFAF3
#F8F5E8
#F1EBCA
#efe4af
#E3D073
#DAC044
#CCB029
#AA9322
#88751B
#635618
#3E360F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FBFAF3Darkest = 950 · #3E360FText 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 0.017 97.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.028 97.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.042 97.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.054 97.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.064 97.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.070 97.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.070 97.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.065 97.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.058 97.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.049 97.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.038 97.7);
}

Colors that work with #efe4af

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#EDE5C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B8D4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1E5BAE
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#6A5C15
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FBF8EA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242214
Dark-mode background
Hover#E9DA91
One step down in lightness
Pressed#E3D074
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F6F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F6ECBC
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 #efe4af

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 #6A5C15
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AB9322

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#AFBAEF
Analogous left#EFC4AF
Analogous right#DAEFAF
Split-complement 1#AFDAEF
Split-complement 2#C4AFEF
Triadic 1#AFEFE4
Triadic 2#E4AFEF
Tetradic#AFEFC4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°50°

#efe4af sits at 50°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red93.7%
Green89.4%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
239
0xef
G · 0–255
228
0xe4
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta4.6%
Yellow26.8%
Key (black)6.3%

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

Color previews

#efe4af text on a black background

contrast 16.39:1

Card sample

#efe4af text on a white background

contrast 1.28:1

Card sample

#efe4af on grey

1.17:1

#efe4af on its own surface

1.22:1

#efe4af on its dark surface

12.47:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #efe4af;
Background color
Panel with #efe4af background
background-color: #efe4af;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #efe4af;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(239, 228, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(239, 228, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #efe4af;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #efe4af, #CFEFAF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #efe4af, #BFEFAF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #efe4af;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #efe4af;
caret-color: #efe4af;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #efe4af;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FBF8EA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #efe4af;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#efe4af 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #efe4af 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(239, 228, 175, 0.5)
rgb(239 228 175 / 50%)
#efe4af80
hsl(50 67% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #efe4af 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#efe4af1a#FDFCF7
20%#efe4af33#FCFAEF
40%#efe4af66#F9F4DF
60%#efe4af99#F5EFCF
80%#efe4afcc#F2E9BF

Gradients from #efe4af

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, #F9F5E2, #efe4af 45%, #6A5C15);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #efe4af, #B9EA96);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #efe4af, #AFBAEF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FCFBF2 0%, #efe4af 45%, #6A5C15 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%, #F8E1DA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E2F4C9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #6A5C15 0%, transparent 65%), #efe4af;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #efe4af

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.

#efe4af 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 16.39:1.

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.

#efe4af, answered

What color is #efe4af?

#efe4af is a light vivid yellow, closest to Pale Goldenrod (ΔE2000 2.6). It sits at 50° on the hue wheel with 67% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #efe4af?

rgb(239, 228, 175) — 239 red, 228 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 93.7% / 89.4% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #efe4af in HSL and HSV?

hsl(50, 67%, 81%) and hsv(50, 27%, 94%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #efe4af a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7693 and perceived brightness is 89%, so black text on it reaches 16.39:1.

Should I use black or white text on #efe4af?

Black. It scores 16.39:1 against #efe4af, versus 1.28:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #efe4af accessible on a white background?

#efe4af on white scores 1.28:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #89761B to reach 4.5:1, or #635514 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #efe4af?

#AFBAEF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AFDAEF and #C4AFEF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #efe4af?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #EDE5C0 for borders, #9B8D4B for secondary text, #1E5BAE as an accent and #6A5C15 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #EFC4AF and #DAEFAF stays calm, while #AFBAEF is the loudest partner.

What is #efe4af in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 5%, 27%, 6%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #efe4af warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 16 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #EFD0AF; nudged cooler, #E3F0AE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #efe4af?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 19.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #efe4af as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #efe4af in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#efe4af] or text-[#efe4af], 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 #efe4af with 50% opacity?

rgba(239, 228, 175, 0.5), or #efe4af80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F7F2D7; over black, #787258.

Is #efe4af a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFCC99, ΔE2000 13.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #efe4af 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 #efe4af?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F9F5E2, #efe4af 45%, #6A5C15). For more colour, a short hue run to #B9EA96 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #efe4af in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #efe4af at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.