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yellow · warm

#f2ec46

a balanced, electric yellow · warm · closest name: Yellow

Token name suggestion: Signal Citron

RGB
242, 236, 70
HSL
58°, 87%, 61%
CMYK
0, 3, 71, 5
Luminance
0.7931

#f2ec46 is a balanced electric yellow, 58° on the wheel and 23/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (16.86:1). As text it scores 1.25:1 on white — use #7D7909 instead. Nearest name is Yellow, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(58 87% 61%)rgb(242 236 70)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #f2ec46 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#f2ec46
Hue
58°
yellow
Saturation
87%
electric
Lightness
61%
balanced
Brightness
95%
HSV value
Perceived
88%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7931
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
23/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
16.86:1
Closest name
Yellow
ΔE2000 5.2
Chroma
78.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.920
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 17.1
Web-safe
#FFFF33
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue58° of 360°
Saturation87%
Lightness61%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #f2ec46.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool23% 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%
Green76%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#f2ec46
HEX (8-digit)#f2ec46ff
RGBrgb(242, 236, 70)
RGBArgba(242, 236, 70, 1)
HSLhsl(58, 87%, 61%)
HSV / HSBhsv(58, 71%, 95%)
HWBhwb(58 27% 5%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 3%, 71%, 5%)
LABlab(91.4 -16.3 76.3)
LCHlch(91.4 78.0 102.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.920 0.177 107.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(67.72, 79.31, 17.53)
Decimal15920198
Display P3color(display-p3 0.949 0.925 0.275)
Web-safe#FFFF33

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #f2ec46;
background-color: #f2ec46;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #f2ec46;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#f2ec46] bg-[#f2ec46]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #f2ec46;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.949, green: 0.925, blue: 0.275)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.949, green: 0.925, blue: 0.275, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#F2EC46</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFF2EC46)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFF2EC46)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(70, 236, 242)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(242, 236, 70)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(242, 236, 70)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 242, 236, 70)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9490f, 0.9255f, 0.2745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{242,236,70}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #f2ec46 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #f2ec46 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#777308, #EEEDD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #f2ec46 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: #FDFCF2;
  --brand-100: #FAFAE5;
  --brand-200: #F7F6C4;
  --brand-300: #F8F496;
  --brand-400: #F4EF62;
  --brand-500: #f2ec46;
  --brand-600: #E5DD10;
  --brand-700: #BFB80D;
  --brand-800: #99940B;
  --brand-900: #6E6B0C;
  --brand-950: #454308;
  --brand: #f2ec46;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EDEBC0;
  --brand-hover: #F0E925;
  --brand-pressed: #E1DA10;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EEEDD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDFCF2',
        100: '#FAFAE5',
        200: '#F7F6C4',
        300: '#F8F496',
        400: '#F4EF62',
        500: '#f2ec46',
        600: '#E5DD10',
        700: '#BFB80D',
        800: '#99940B',
        900: '#6E6B0C',
        950: '#454308',
        DEFAULT: '#f2ec46',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDFCF2,
  '100': #FAFAE5,
  '200': #F7F6C4,
  '300': #F8F496,
  '400': #F4EF62,
  '500': #f2ec46,
  '600': #E5DD10,
  '700': #BFB80D,
  '800': #99940B,
  '900': #6E6B0C,
  '950': #454308,
);
$brand-base: #f2ec46;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDFCF2", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FAFAE5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F7F6C4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F8F496", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F4EF62", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#f2ec46", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#E5DD10", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#BFB80D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#99940B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#6E6B0C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#454308", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #f2ec46 · 16.86:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.25:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 16.86:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #f2ec46 as text scores 1.25:1 on white and 16.86:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #777308 at 3.98:1.

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
#7D7909 · 4.55:1
AA on white−35% L
#7D7909
The quick fox
#5C5906 · 7.27:1
AAA on white−42% L
#5C5906
The quick fox
#f2ec46 · 16.86:1
AA on blackalready passes
#f2ec46
The quick fox
#f2ec46 · 16.86:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#f2ec46

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #99940B 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
#f2ec46 on white: 1.25:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#f2ec46 on black: 16.86:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #f2ec46 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #f2ec46.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.25:1AaAa
Slate 501.19:1AaAa
Slate 1001.14:1AaAa
Slate 2001.01:1AaAa
Slate 3001.19:1AaAa
Slate 4002.06:1AaAa
Slate 5003.82:1AaAa
Slate 6006.08:1AaAa
Slate 7008.31:1AaAa
Slate 80011.75:1AaAa
Slate 90014.33:1AaAa
Black16.86:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #FFE327
deuteranopia · #FFE952
tritanopia · #FFDDCC

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. #f2ec46 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.

#FDFCF2
#FAFAE5
#F7F6C4
#F8F496
#F4EF62
#f2ec46
#E5DD10
#BFB80D
#99940B
#6E6B0C
#454308
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FDFCF2Darkest = 950 · #454308Text 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 0.044 107.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.071 107.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.106 107.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.138 107.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.163 107.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.177 107.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.177 107.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.166 107.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.148 107.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.124 107.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.097 107.3);
}

Colors that work with #f2ec46

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#EDEBC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B984B
Captions on the surface
Accent#4275F6
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#777308
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDFDE7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#F0E925
One step down in lightness
Pressed#E1DA10
Two steps down
Disabled#DEDDCB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FCF650
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 #f2ec46

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 #777308
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #99940B

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight39/100
  • 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#464CF2
Analogous left#F29646
Analogous right#A2F246
Split-complement 1#46A2F2
Split-complement 2#9646F2
Triadic 1#46F2EC
Triadic 2#EC46F2
Tetradic#46F296
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°58°

#f2ec46 sits at 58°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red94.9%
Green92.5%
Blue27.5%
R · 0–255
242
0xf2
G · 0–255
236
0xec
B · 0–255
70
0x46

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta2.5%
Yellow71.1%
Key (black)5.1%

Total ink coverage is 79%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#f2ec46 text on a black background

contrast 16.86:1

Card sample

#f2ec46 text on a white background

contrast 1.25:1

Card sample

#f2ec46 on grey

1.14:1

#f2ec46 on its own surface

1.19:1

#f2ec46 on its dark surface

12.61:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #f2ec46;
Background color
Panel with #f2ec46 background
background-color: #f2ec46;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #f2ec46;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(242, 236, 70, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(242, 236, 70, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #f2ec46;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #f2ec46, #85F246);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f2ec46, #5AF246);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #f2ec46;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #f2ec46;
caret-color: #f2ec46;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #f2ec46;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FDFDE7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #f2ec46;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#f2ec46 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #f2ec46 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(242, 236, 70, 0.5)
rgb(242 236 70 / 50%)
#f2ec4680
hsl(58 87% 61% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #f2ec46 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#f2ec461a#FEFDED
20%#f2ec4633#FCFBDA
40%#f2ec4666#FAF7B5
60%#f2ec4699#F7F490
80%#f2ec46cc#F5F06B

Gradients from #f2ec46

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, #F6F27F, #f2ec46 45%, #777308);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #f2ec46, #62F029);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f2ec46, #464CF2);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F8F59C 0%, #f2ec46 45%, #777308 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%, #F5A676 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A4F463 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #777308 0%, transparent 65%), #f2ec46;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #f2ec46

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.

#f2ec46 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 16.86:1.

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.

#f2ec46, answered

What color is #f2ec46?

#f2ec46 is a balanced electric yellow, closest to Yellow (ΔE2000 5.2). It sits at 58° on the hue wheel with 87% saturation and 61% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #f2ec46?

rgb(242, 236, 70) — 242 red, 236 green and 70 blue out of 255, or 94.9% / 92.5% / 27.5% by channel.

What is #f2ec46 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(58, 87%, 61%) and hsv(58, 71%, 95%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #f2ec46 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7931 and perceived brightness is 88%, so black text on it reaches 16.86:1.

Should I use black or white text on #f2ec46?

Black. It scores 16.86:1 against #f2ec46, versus 1.25:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #f2ec46 accessible on a white background?

#f2ec46 on white scores 1.25:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7D7909 to reach 4.5:1, or #5C5906 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #f2ec46?

#464CF2 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #46A2F2 and #9646F2, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #f2ec46?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EDEBC0 for borders, #9B984B for secondary text, #4275F6 as an accent and #777308 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F29646 and #A2F246 stays calm, while #464CF2 is the loudest partner.

What is #f2ec46 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 3%, 71%, 5%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #f2ec46 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 23 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F2B746; nudged cooler, #BAF444.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #f2ec46?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 17.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #f2ec46 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #f2ec46 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#f2ec46] or text-[#f2ec46], 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 #f2ec46 with 50% opacity?

rgba(242, 236, 70, 0.5), or #f2ec4680 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F9F6A3; over black, #797623.

Is #f2ec46 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFF33, ΔE2000 4.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #f2ec46 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 #f2ec46?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F6F27F, #f2ec46 45%, #777308). For more colour, a short hue run to #62F029 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #f2ec46 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #f2ec46 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.