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yellow · warm

#f8f9cd

a pale, electric yellow · warm · closest name: Light Goldenrod Yellow

Token name suggestion: Frost Straw

RGB
248, 249, 205
HSL
61°, 79%, 89%
CMYK
0, 0, 18, 2
Luminance
0.9212

#f8f9cd is a pale electric yellow, 61° on the wheel and 26/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (19.42:1). As text it scores 1.08:1 on white — use #787B0F instead. Nearest name is Light Goldenrod Yellow, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(61 79% 89%)rgb(248 249 205)Base step 200AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #f8f9cd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#f8f9cd
Hue
61°
yellow
Saturation
79%
electric
Lightness
89%
pale
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
96%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.9212
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
26/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
19.42:1
Closest name
Light Goldenrod Yellow
ΔE2000 1.2
Chroma
22.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.970
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 24
Web-safe
#FFFFCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue61° of 360°
Saturation79%
Lightness89%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #f8f9cd.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool26% 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
Red22%
Green74%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#f8f9cd
HEX (8-digit)#f8f9cdff
RGBrgb(248, 249, 205)
RGBArgba(248, 249, 205, 1)
HSLhsl(61, 79%, 89%)
HSV / HSBhsv(61, 18%, 98%)
HWBhwb(61 80% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 0%, 18%, 2%)
LABlab(96.9 -7.4 21.1)
LCHlch(96.9 22.3 109.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.970 0.057 108.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(83.61, 92.12, 71.12)
Decimal16316877
Display P3color(display-p3 0.973 0.976 0.804)
Web-safe#FFFFCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #f8f9cd;
background-color: #f8f9cd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #f8f9cd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#f8f9cd] bg-[#f8f9cd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #f8f9cd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.973, green: 0.976, blue: 0.804)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.973, green: 0.976, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#F8F9CD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFF8F9CD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFF8F9CD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 249, 248)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(248, 249, 205)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(248, 249, 205)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 248, 249, 205)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9725f, 0.9765f, 0.8039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{248,249,205}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #f8f9cd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #f8f9cd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#70720E, #EEEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #f8f9cd 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: #FCFCF3;
  --brand-100: #F9F9E6;
  --brand-200: #f8f9cd;
  --brand-300: #F1F39B;
  --brand-400: #EAED69;
  --brand-500: #E3E737;
  --brand-600: #D6DB1A;
  --brand-700: #B2B616;
  --brand-800: #8F9211;
  --brand-900: #676911;
  --brand-950: #41420B;
  --brand: #f8f9cd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #ECEDC0;
  --brand-hover: #F3F5AD;
  --brand-pressed: #EFF18D;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EEEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCFCF3',
        100: '#F9F9E6',
        200: '#f8f9cd',
        300: '#F1F39B',
        400: '#EAED69',
        500: '#E3E737',
        600: '#D6DB1A',
        700: '#B2B616',
        800: '#8F9211',
        900: '#676911',
        950: '#41420B',
        DEFAULT: '#f8f9cd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCFCF3,
  '100': #F9F9E6,
  '200': #f8f9cd,
  '300': #F1F39B,
  '400': #EAED69,
  '500': #E3E737,
  '600': #D6DB1A,
  '700': #B2B616,
  '800': #8F9211,
  '900': #676911,
  '950': #41420B,
);
$brand-base: #f8f9cd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCFCF3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F9F9E6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#f8f9cd", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F1F39B", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#EAED69", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E3E737", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#D6DB1A", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B2B616", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#8F9211", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#676911", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#41420B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #f8f9cd · 19.42:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.08:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 19.42:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #f8f9cd as text scores 1.08:1 on white and 19.42:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #70720E at 4.73:1.

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
#787B0F · 4.53:1
AA on white−62% L
#787B0F
The quick fox
#595B0B · 7.18:1
AAA on white−69% L
#595B0B
The quick fox
#f8f9cd · 19.42:1
AA on blackalready passes
#f8f9cd
The quick fox
#f8f9cd · 19.42:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#f8f9cd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #939612 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
#f8f9cd on white: 1.08:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#f8f9cd on black: 19.42:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #f8f9cd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #f8f9cd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.08:1AaAa
Slate 501.03:1AaAa
Slate 1001.01:1AaAa
Slate 2001.14:1AaAa
Slate 3001.37:1AaAa
Slate 4002.37:1AaAa
Slate 5004.40:1AaAa
Slate 6007.01:1AaAa
Slate 7009.58:1AaAa
Slate 80013.53:1AaAa
Slate 90016.51:1AaAa
Black19.42:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #FFF5CA
deuteranopia · #FFF7CF
tritanopia · #FFF3ED

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. #f8f9cd is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FCFCF3
#F9F9E6
#f8f9cd
#F1F39B
#EAED69
#E3E737
#D6DB1A
#B2B616
#8F9211
#676911
#41420B
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #FCFCF3Darkest = 950 · #41420BText 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 0.014 108.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.023 108.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.034 108.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.044 108.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.052 108.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.057 108.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.057 108.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.054 108.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.048 108.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.040 108.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.031 108.5);
}

Colors that work with #f8f9cd

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#ECEDC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#999B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1237BA
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#70720E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FCFCE8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#F3F5AD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#EFF18D
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F7F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FCFDD9
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 #f8f9cd

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 #70720E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #939612

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 high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

Almost never passes contrast against white. Treat it as a surface or a marker, not as text.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight11/100
  • 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#CECDF9
Analogous left#F9E4CD
Analogous right#E2F9CD
Split-complement 1#CDE2F9
Split-complement 2#E4CDF9
Triadic 1#CDF8F9
Triadic 2#F9CDF8
Tetradic#CDF9E4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°61°

#f8f9cd sits at 61°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red97.3%
Green97.6%
Blue80.4%
R · 0–255
248
0xf8
G · 0–255
249
0xf9
B · 0–255
205
0xcd

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.4%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow17.7%
Key (black)2.4%

Total ink coverage is 20%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#f8f9cd text on a black background

contrast 19.42:1

Card sample

#f8f9cd text on a white background

contrast 1.08:1

Card sample

#f8f9cd on grey

1.01:1

#f8f9cd on its own surface

1.03:1

#f8f9cd on its dark surface

14.52:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #f8f9cd;
Background color
Panel with #f8f9cd background
background-color: #f8f9cd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #f8f9cd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(248, 249, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(248, 249, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #f8f9cd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #f8f9cd, #DBF9CD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f8f9cd, #D0F9CD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #f8f9cd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #f8f9cd;
caret-color: #f8f9cd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #f8f9cd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FCFCE8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #f8f9cd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#f8f9cd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #f8f9cd 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(248, 249, 205, 0.5)
rgb(248 249 205 / 50%)
#f8f9cd80
hsl(61 79% 89% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #f8f9cd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#f8f9cd1a#FEFEFA
20%#f8f9cd33#FEFEF5
40%#f8f9cd66#FCFDEB
60%#f8f9cd99#FBFBE1
80%#f8f9cdcc#F9FAD7

Gradients from #f8f9cd

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, #FCFDED, #f8f9cd 45%, #70720E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #f8f9cd, #C1F6B2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f8f9cd, #CECDF9);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FDFDF1 0%, #f8f9cd 45%, #70720E 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%, #FEFCFA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F0FCE8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #70720E 0%, transparent 65%), #f8f9cd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #f8f9cd

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.

#f8f9cd 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

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

On screens

Very light values are indistinguishable from white on a dim phone screen outdoors. Give it a border if the boundary matters.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 19.42:1.

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.

#f8f9cd, answered

What color is #f8f9cd?

#f8f9cd is a pale electric yellow, closest to Light Goldenrod Yellow (ΔE2000 1.2). It sits at 61° on the hue wheel with 79% saturation and 89% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #f8f9cd?

rgb(248, 249, 205) — 248 red, 249 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 97.3% / 97.6% / 80.4% by channel.

What is #f8f9cd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(61, 79%, 89%) and hsv(61, 18%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #f8f9cd a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.9212 and perceived brightness is 96%, so black text on it reaches 19.42:1.

Should I use black or white text on #f8f9cd?

Black. It scores 19.42:1 against #f8f9cd, versus 1.08:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #f8f9cd accessible on a white background?

#f8f9cd on white scores 1.08:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #787B0F to reach 4.5:1, or #595B0B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #f8f9cd?

#CECDF9 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CDE2F9 and #E4CDF9, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #f8f9cd?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #ECEDC0 for borders, #999B4B for secondary text, #1237BA as an accent and #70720E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F9E4CD and #E2F9CD stays calm, while #CECDF9 is the loudest partner.

What is #f8f9cd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 0%, 18%, 2%). 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 #f8f9cd warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 26 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F9EACD; nudged cooler, #E8FACC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #f8f9cd?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 24 away. That is a visible difference, so define #f8f9cd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #f8f9cd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#f8f9cd] or text-[#f8f9cd], 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 #f8f9cd with 50% opacity?

rgba(248, 249, 205, 0.5), or #f8f9cd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FCFCE6; over black, #7C7D67.

Is #f8f9cd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFFCC, ΔE2000 2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #f8f9cd 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 #f8f9cd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FCFDED, #f8f9cd 45%, #70720E). For more colour, a short hue run to #C1F6B2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #f8f9cd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #f8f9cd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.