Skip to content
yellow · warm

#f9cf79

a light, electric yellow · warm · closest name: Navajo White

Token name suggestion: Linen Brass

RGB
249, 207, 121
HSL
40°, 91%, 73%
CMYK
0, 17, 51, 2
Luminance
0.6615

#f9cf79 is a light electric yellow, 40° on the wheel and 9/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.23:1). As text it scores 1.48:1 on white — use #9F6D07 instead. Nearest name is Navajo White, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(40 91% 73%)rgb(249 207 121)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #f9cf79 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#f9cf79
Hue
40°
yellow
Saturation
91%
electric
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
84%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6615
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
9/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
14.23:1
Closest name
Navajo White
ΔE2000 8.1
Chroma
48.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.873
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 10
Web-safe
#FFCC66
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue40° of 360°
Saturation91%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #f9cf79.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool9% 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
Red30%
Green67%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#f9cf79
HEX (8-digit)#f9cf79ff
RGBrgb(249, 207, 121)
RGBArgba(249, 207, 121, 1)
HSLhsl(40, 91%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(40, 51%, 98%)
HWBhwb(40 47% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 17%, 51%, 2%)
LABlab(85.1 4.5 47.9)
LCHlch(85.1 48.1 84.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.873 0.115 84.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(64.83, 66.15, 27.44)
Decimal16371577
Display P3color(display-p3 0.976 0.812 0.475)
Web-safe#FFCC66

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #f9cf79;
background-color: #f9cf79;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #f9cf79;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#f9cf79] bg-[#f9cf79]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #f9cf79;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.976, green: 0.812, blue: 0.475)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.976, green: 0.812, blue: 0.475, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#F9CF79</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFF9CF79)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFF9CF79)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(121, 207, 249)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(249, 207, 121)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(249, 207, 121)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 249, 207, 121)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9765f, 0.8118f, 0.4745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{249,207,121}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #f9cf79 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #f9cf79 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7A5405, #EEE5D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #f9cf79 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: #FDF9F2;
  --brand-100: #FBF4E4;
  --brand-200: #F9E7C3;
  --brand-300: #f9cf79;
  --brand-400: #F8C55E;
  --brand-500: #F5B228;
  --brand-600: #EAA10B;
  --brand-700: #C38609;
  --brand-800: #9C6B07;
  --brand-900: #714F0A;
  --brand-950: #463106;
  --brand: #f9cf79;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF8F4;
  --brand-border: #EDDEC0;
  --brand-hover: #F7C357;
  --brand-pressed: #F6B634;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241F14;
    --brand-ink: #EEE5D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDF9F2',
        100: '#FBF4E4',
        200: '#F9E7C3',
        300: '#f9cf79',
        400: '#F8C55E',
        500: '#F5B228',
        600: '#EAA10B',
        700: '#C38609',
        800: '#9C6B07',
        900: '#714F0A',
        950: '#463106',
        DEFAULT: '#f9cf79',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDF9F2,
  '100': #FBF4E4,
  '200': #F9E7C3,
  '300': #f9cf79,
  '400': #F8C55E,
  '500': #F5B228,
  '600': #EAA10B,
  '700': #C38609,
  '800': #9C6B07,
  '900': #714F0A,
  '950': #463106,
);
$brand-base: #f9cf79;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDF9F2", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FBF4E4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F9E7C3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#f9cf79", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#F8C55E", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#F5B228", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#EAA10B", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#C38609", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#9C6B07", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#714F0A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#463106", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #f9cf79 · 14.23:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.48:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.23:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #f9cf79 as text scores 1.48:1 on white and 14.23:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7A5405 at 4.59:1.

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
#9F6D07 · 4.50:1
AA on white−40% L
#9F6D07
The quick fox
#734F05 · 7.37:1
AAA on white−49% L
#734F05
The quick fox
#f9cf79 · 14.23:1
AA on blackalready passes
#f9cf79
The quick fox
#f9cf79 · 14.23:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#f9cf79

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #C68809 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
#f9cf79 on white: 1.48:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#f9cf79 on black: 14.23:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #f9cf79 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #f9cf79.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.48:1AaAa
Slate 501.41:1AaAa
Slate 1001.35:1AaAa
Slate 2001.20:1AaAa
Slate 3001.01:1AaAa
Slate 4001.74:1AaAa
Slate 5003.22:1AaAa
Slate 6005.13:1AaAa
Slate 7007.02:1AaAa
Slate 8009.91:1AaAa
Slate 90012.10:1AaAa
Black14.23:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E2CE72
deuteranopia · #ECD97C
tritanopia · #FFC1BB

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. #f9cf79 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.

#FDF9F2
#FBF4E4
#F9E7C3
#f9cf79
#F8C55E
#F5B228
#EAA10B
#C38609
#9C6B07
#714F0A
#463106
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FDF9F2Darkest = 950 · #463106Text 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 0.029 84.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.046 84.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.069 84.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.090 84.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.106 84.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.115 84.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.115 84.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.108 84.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.097 84.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.081 84.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.063 84.0);
}

Colors that work with #f9cf79

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#FAF8F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDDEC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B814B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0475C8
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7A5405
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FEF6E7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241F14
Dark-mode background
Hover#F7C357
One step down in lightness
Pressed#F6B634
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F2EE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFD887
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 #f9cf79

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 #7A5405
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #C68809

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 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight28/100
  • 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#79A3F9
Analogous left#F98F79
Analogous right#E3F979
Split-complement 1#79E3F9
Split-complement 2#8F79F9
Triadic 1#79F9CF
Triadic 2#CF79F9
Tetradic#79F98F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°40°

#f9cf79 sits at 40°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red97.6%
Green81.2%
Blue47.5%
R · 0–255
249
0xf9
G · 0–255
207
0xcf
B · 0–255
121
0x79

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta16.9%
Yellow51.4%
Key (black)2.4%

Total ink coverage is 71%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#f9cf79 text on a black background

contrast 14.23:1

Card sample

#f9cf79 text on a white background

contrast 1.48:1

Card sample

#f9cf79 on grey

1.35:1

#f9cf79 on its own surface

1.39:1

#f9cf79 on its dark surface

11.11:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #f9cf79;
Background color
Panel with #f9cf79 background
background-color: #f9cf79;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #f9cf79;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(249, 207, 121, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(249, 207, 121, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #f9cf79;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #f9cf79, #CEF979);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f9cf79, #AEF979);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #f9cf79;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #f9cf79;
caret-color: #f9cf79;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #f9cf79;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FEF6E7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #f9cf79;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#f9cf79 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #f9cf79 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(249, 207, 121, 0.5)
rgb(249 207 121 / 50%)
#f9cf7980
hsl(40 91% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #f9cf79 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#f9cf791a#FEFAF2
20%#f9cf7933#FEF5E4
40%#f9cf7966#FDECC9
60%#f9cf7999#FBE2AF
80%#f9cf79cc#FAD994

Gradients from #f9cf79

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, #FCE4B3, #f9cf79 45%, #7A5405);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #f9cf79, #B6F85B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #f9cf79, #79A3F9);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FDEED1 0%, #f9cf79 45%, #7A5405 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF8F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #FBB1AA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E1FA96 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7A5405 0%, transparent 65%), #f9cf79;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #f9cf79

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.

#f9cf79 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

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 14.23:1.

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.

#f9cf79, answered

What color is #f9cf79?

#f9cf79 is a light electric yellow, closest to Navajo White (ΔE2000 8.1). It sits at 40° on the hue wheel with 91% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #f9cf79?

rgb(249, 207, 121) — 249 red, 207 green and 121 blue out of 255, or 97.6% / 81.2% / 47.5% by channel.

What is #f9cf79 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(40, 91%, 73%) and hsv(40, 51%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #f9cf79 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6615 and perceived brightness is 84%, so black text on it reaches 14.23:1.

Should I use black or white text on #f9cf79?

Black. It scores 14.23:1 against #f9cf79, versus 1.48:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #f9cf79 accessible on a white background?

#f9cf79 on white scores 1.48:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9F6D07 to reach 4.5:1, or #734F05 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #f9cf79?

#79A3F9 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #79E3F9 and #8F79F9, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #f9cf79?

For interface work: #FAF8F4 as the surface, #EDDEC0 for borders, #9B814B for secondary text, #0475C8 as an accent and #7A5405 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F98F79 and #E3F979 stays calm, while #79A3F9 is the loudest partner.

What is #f9cf79 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 17%, 51%, 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 #f9cf79 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 9 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F9BB79; nudged cooler, #F5FA77.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #f9cf79?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 10 away. That is a visible difference, so define #f9cf79 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #f9cf79 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#f9cf79] or text-[#f9cf79], 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 #f9cf79 with 50% opacity?

rgba(249, 207, 121, 0.5), or #f9cf7980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FCE7BC; over black, #7D683D.

Is #f9cf79 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFCC66, ΔE2000 2.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #f9cf79 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 #f9cf79?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FCE4B3, #f9cf79 45%, #7A5405). For more colour, a short hue run to #B6F85B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #f9cf79 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #f9cf79 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.