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yellow · warm

#f6ce39

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Honey

RGB
246, 206, 57
HSL
47°, 91%, 59%
CMYK
0, 16, 77, 4
Luminance
0.6403

#f6ce39 is a balanced electric yellow, 47° on the wheel and 14/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.81:1). As text it scores 1.52:1 on white — use #8F7207 instead. Nearest name is Gold, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(47 91% 59%)rgb(246 206 57)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #f6ce39 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#f6ce39
Hue
47°
yellow
Saturation
91%
electric
Lightness
59%
balanced
Brightness
96%
HSV value
Perceived
82%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6403
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
14/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
13.81:1
Closest name
Gold
ΔE2000 3.6
Chroma
73.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.862
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 7.2
Web-safe
#FFCC33
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue47° of 360°
Saturation91%
Lightness59%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #f6ce39.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool14% 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
Red31%
Green69%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#f6ce39
HEX (8-digit)#f6ce39ff
RGBrgb(246, 206, 57)
RGBArgba(246, 206, 57, 1)
HSLhsl(47, 91%, 59%)
HSV / HSBhsv(47, 77%, 96%)
HWBhwb(47 22% 4%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 16%, 77%, 4%)
LABlab(84.0 -0.1 73.8)
LCHlch(84.0 73.8 90.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.862 0.161 93.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(60.82, 64.03, 13.03)
Decimal16174649
Display P3color(display-p3 0.965 0.808 0.224)
Web-safe#FFCC33

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #f6ce39;
background-color: #f6ce39;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #f6ce39;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#f6ce39] bg-[#f6ce39]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #f6ce39;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.965, green: 0.808, blue: 0.224)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.965, green: 0.808, blue: 0.224, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#F6CE39</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFF6CE39)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFF6CE39)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(57, 206, 246)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(246, 206, 57)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(246, 206, 57)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 246, 206, 57)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9647f, 0.8078f, 0.2235f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{246,206,57}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #f6ce39 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #f6ce39 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7A6106, #EEE8D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #f6ce39 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: #FDFBF2;
  --brand-100: #FBF6E4;
  --brand-200: #F9EDC3;
  --brand-300: #FAE494;
  --brand-400: #F8D75E;
  --brand-500: #f6ce39;
  --brand-600: #EABB0B;
  --brand-700: #C39C09;
  --brand-800: #9C7D07;
  --brand-900: #715B0A;
  --brand-950: #463906;
  --brand: #f6ce39;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #EDE3C0;
  --brand-hover: #F4C617;
  --brand-pressed: #DDB10A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242114;
    --brand-ink: #EEE8D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDFBF2',
        100: '#FBF6E4',
        200: '#F9EDC3',
        300: '#FAE494',
        400: '#F8D75E',
        500: '#f6ce39',
        600: '#EABB0B',
        700: '#C39C09',
        800: '#9C7D07',
        900: '#715B0A',
        950: '#463906',
        DEFAULT: '#f6ce39',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDFBF2,
  '100': #FBF6E4,
  '200': #F9EDC3,
  '300': #FAE494,
  '400': #F8D75E,
  '500': #f6ce39,
  '600': #EABB0B,
  '700': #C39C09,
  '800': #9C7D07,
  '900': #715B0A,
  '950': #463906,
);
$brand-base: #f6ce39;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDFBF2", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FBF6E4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F9EDC3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#FAE494", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F8D75E", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#f6ce39", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#EABB0B", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#C39C09", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#9C7D07", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#715B0A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#463906", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #f6ce39 · 13.81:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.52:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.81:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #f6ce39 as text scores 1.52:1 on white and 13.81:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7A6106 at 3.90:1.

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
#8F7207 · 4.59:1
AA on white−30% L
#8F7207
The quick fox
#685305 · 7.43:1
AAA on white−38% L
#685305
The quick fox
#f6ce39 · 13.81:1
AA on blackalready passes
#f6ce39
The quick fox
#f6ce39 · 13.81:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#f6ce39

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B28E08 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
#f6ce39 on white: 1.52:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#f6ce39 on black: 13.81:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #f6ce39 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #f6ce39.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.52:1AaAa
Slate 501.45:1AaAa
Slate 1001.39:1AaAa
Slate 2001.23:1AaAa
Slate 3001.02:1AaAa
Slate 4001.69:1AaAa
Slate 5003.13:1AaAa
Slate 6004.98:1AaAa
Slate 7006.81:1AaAa
Slate 8009.62:1AaAa
Slate 90011.74:1AaAa
Black13.81:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E5CB19
deuteranopia · #EFD642
tritanopia · #FFBDB2

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. #f6ce39 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.

#FDFBF2
#FBF6E4
#F9EDC3
#FAE494
#F8D75E
#f6ce39
#EABB0B
#C39C09
#9C7D07
#715B0A
#463906
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FDFBF2Darkest = 950 · #463906Text 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 0.040 93.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.064 93.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.097 93.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.126 93.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.148 93.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.161 93.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.161 93.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.151 93.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.135 93.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.113 93.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.089 93.0);
}

Colors that work with #f6ce39

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#EDE3C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B8A4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#3590FA
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7A6106
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FEF9E7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242114
Dark-mode background
Hover#F4C617
One step down in lightness
Pressed#DDB10A
Two steps down
Disabled#DAD6C5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFD744
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 #f6ce39

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 #7A6106
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B28E08

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
  • Weight41/100
  • 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#3961F6
Analogous left#F66F39
Analogous right#BFF639
Split-complement 1#39BFF6
Split-complement 2#6F39F6
Triadic 1#39F6CE
Triadic 2#CE39F6
Tetradic#39F66F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°47°

#f6ce39 sits at 47°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red96.5%
Green80.8%
Blue22.4%
R · 0–255
246
0xf6
G · 0–255
206
0xce
B · 0–255
57
0x39

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta16.3%
Yellow76.8%
Key (black)3.5%

Total ink coverage is 97%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#f6ce39 text on a black background

contrast 13.81:1

Card sample

#f6ce39 text on a white background

contrast 1.52:1

Card sample

#f6ce39 on grey

1.39:1

#f6ce39 on its own surface

1.44:1

#f6ce39 on its dark surface

10.60:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #f6ce39;
Background color
Panel with #f6ce39 background
background-color: #f6ce39;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #f6ce39;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(246, 206, 57, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(246, 206, 57, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #f6ce39;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #f6ce39, #A0F639);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f6ce39, #71F639);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #f6ce39;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #f6ce39;
caret-color: #f6ce39;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #f6ce39;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FEF9E7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #f6ce39;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#f6ce39 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #f6ce39 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(246, 206, 57, 0.5)
rgb(246 206 57 / 50%)
#f6ce3980
hsl(47 91% 59% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #f6ce39 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#f6ce391a#FEFAEB
20%#f6ce3933#FDF5D7
40%#f6ce3966#FBEBB0
60%#f6ce3999#FAE288
80%#f6ce39cc#F8D861

Gradients from #f6ce39

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, #F9DC73, #f6ce39 45%, #7A6106);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #f6ce39, #80F51C);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f6ce39, #3961F6);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FAE491 0%, #f6ce39 45%, #7A6106 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%, #F8876A 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #BBF756 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7A6106 0%, transparent 65%), #f6ce39;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #f6ce39

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.

#f6ce39 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 13.81:1.

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.

#f6ce39, answered

What color is #f6ce39?

#f6ce39 is a balanced electric yellow, closest to Gold (ΔE2000 3.6). It sits at 47° on the hue wheel with 91% saturation and 59% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #f6ce39?

rgb(246, 206, 57) — 246 red, 206 green and 57 blue out of 255, or 96.5% / 80.8% / 22.4% by channel.

What is #f6ce39 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(47, 91%, 59%) and hsv(47, 77%, 96%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #f6ce39 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6403 and perceived brightness is 82%, so black text on it reaches 13.81:1.

Should I use black or white text on #f6ce39?

Black. It scores 13.81:1 against #f6ce39, versus 1.52:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #f6ce39 accessible on a white background?

#f6ce39 on white scores 1.52:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8F7207 to reach 4.5:1, or #685305 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #f6ce39?

#3961F6 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #39BFF6 and #6F39F6, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #f6ce39?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #EDE3C0 for borders, #9B8A4B for secondary text, #3590FA as an accent and #7A6106 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F66F39 and #BFF639 stays calm, while #3961F6 is the loudest partner.

What is #f6ce39 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 16%, 77%, 4%). 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 #f6ce39 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 14 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F6A839; nudged cooler, #DAF837.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #f6ce39?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 7.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #f6ce39 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #f6ce39 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#f6ce39] or text-[#f6ce39], 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 #f6ce39 with 50% opacity?

rgba(246, 206, 57, 0.5), or #f6ce3980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FBE79C; over black, #7B671D.

Is #f6ce39 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFCC33, ΔE2000 2.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #f6ce39 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 #f6ce39?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F9DC73, #f6ce39 45%, #7A6106). For more colour, a short hue run to #80F51C keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #f6ce39 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #f6ce39 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.