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yellow · warm

#fcfcf9

a pale, soft yellow · warm · closest name: White

Token name suggestion: Frost Citron

RGB
252, 252, 249
HSL
60°, 33%, 98%
CMYK
0, 0, 1, 1
Luminance
0.9716

#fcfcf9 is a pale soft yellow, 60° on the wheel and 26/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (20.43:1). As text it scores 1.03:1 on white — use #78783C instead. Nearest name is White, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(60 33% 98%)rgb(252 252 249)Base step 50AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #fcfcf9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#fcfcf9
Hue
60°
yellow
Saturation
33%
soft
Lightness
98%
pale
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
99%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.9716
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
26/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
20.43:1
Closest name
White
ΔE2000 1.7
Chroma
1.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.990
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 30.7
Web-safe
#FFFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue60° of 360°
Saturation33%
Lightness98%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #fcfcf9.

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
Red21%
Green72%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#fcfcf9
HEX (8-digit)#fcfcf9ff
RGBrgb(252, 252, 249)
RGBArgba(252, 252, 249, 1)
HSLhsl(60, 33%, 98%)
HSV / HSBhsv(60, 1%, 99%)
HWBhwb(60 98% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 0%, 1%, 1%)
LABlab(98.9 -0.5 1.4)
LCHlch(98.9 1.5 110.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.990 0.004 106.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(92.05, 97.16, 103.51)
Decimal16579833
Display P3color(display-p3 0.988 0.988 0.976)
Web-safe#FFFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fcfcf9;
background-color: #fcfcf9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fcfcf9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fcfcf9] bg-[#fcfcf9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fcfcf9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.988, green: 0.988, blue: 0.976)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.988, green: 0.988, blue: 0.976, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FCFCF9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFCFCF9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFCFCF9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(249, 252, 252)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(252, 252, 249)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(252, 252, 249)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 252, 252, 249)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9882f, 0.9882f, 0.9765f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{252,252,249}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fcfcf9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fcfcf9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#55552B, #EBEBD6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fcfcf9 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: #fcfcf9;
  --brand-100: #F4F4EC;
  --brand-200: #E8E8D4;
  --brand-300: #DADAB4;
  --brand-400: #C7C78F;
  --brand-500: #B4B469;
  --brand-600: #A3A352;
  --brand-700: #888844;
  --brand-800: #6D6D36;
  --brand-900: #50502A;
  --brand-950: #32321B;
  --brand: #fcfcf9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF5;
  --brand-border: #E4E4C9;
  --brand-hover: #F0F0E1;
  --brand-pressed: #E4E4C9;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EBEBD6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#fcfcf9',
        100: '#F4F4EC',
        200: '#E8E8D4',
        300: '#DADAB4',
        400: '#C7C78F',
        500: '#B4B469',
        600: '#A3A352',
        700: '#888844',
        800: '#6D6D36',
        900: '#50502A',
        950: '#32321B',
        DEFAULT: '#fcfcf9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #fcfcf9,
  '100': #F4F4EC,
  '200': #E8E8D4,
  '300': #DADAB4,
  '400': #C7C78F,
  '500': #B4B469,
  '600': #A3A352,
  '700': #888844,
  '800': #6D6D36,
  '900': #50502A,
  '950': #32321B,
);
$brand-base: #fcfcf9;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#fcfcf9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4F4EC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E8E8D4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DADAB4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C7C78F", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#B4B469", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A3A352", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#888844", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6D6D36", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#50502A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#32321B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fcfcf9 · 20.43:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.03:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 20.43:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fcfcf9 as text scores 1.03:1 on white and 20.43:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #55552B at 7.51:1.

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
#78783C · 4.61:1
AA on white−63% L
#78783C
The quick fox
#59592D · 7.26:1
AAA on white−72% L
#59592D
The quick fox
#fcfcf9 · 20.43:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fcfcf9
The quick fox
#fcfcf9 · 20.43:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fcfcf9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #96964B 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
#fcfcf9 on white: 1.03:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fcfcf9 on black: 20.43:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #fcfcf9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #fcfcf9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.03:1AaAa
Slate 501.02:1AaAa
Slate 1001.07:1AaAa
Slate 2001.20:1AaAa
Slate 3001.44:1AaAa
Slate 4002.49:1AaAa
Slate 5004.63:1AaAa
Slate 6007.37:1AaAa
Slate 70010.07:1AaAa
Slate 80014.23:1AaAa
Slate 90017.37:1AaAa
Black20.43:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #FDFCF9
deuteranopia · #FDFCF9
tritanopia · #FDFCFB

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. #fcfcf9 is pinned to step 50; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#fcfcf9
#F4F4EC
#E8E8D4
#DADAB4
#C7C78F
#B4B469
#A3A352
#888844
#6D6D36
#50502A
#32321B
Base = 50Lightest = 50 · #fcfcf9Darkest = 950 · #32321BText 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 0.001 106.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.002 106.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.002 106.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.003 106.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.004 106.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.004 106.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.004 106.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.004 106.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.003 106.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.003 106.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.002 106.5);
}

Colors that work with #fcfcf9

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#FAFAF5
Tinted page background
Border#E4E4C9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#99994D
Captions on the surface
Accent#445B88
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#55552B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6F6EE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#F0F0E1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#E4E4C9
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F7F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F3F3E2
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 #fcfcf9

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #55552B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #96964B

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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight2/100
  • 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#F9F9FC
Analogous left#FCFAF9
Analogous right#FAFCF9
Split-complement 1#F9FAFC
Split-complement 2#FAF9FC
Triadic 1#F9FCFC
Triadic 2#FCF9FC
Tetradic#F9FCFA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°60°

#fcfcf9 sits at 60°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red98.8%
Green98.8%
Blue97.6%
R · 0–255
252
0xfc
G · 0–255
252
0xfc
B · 0–255
249
0xf9

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow1.2%
Key (black)1.2%

Total ink coverage is 2%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fcfcf9 text on a black background

contrast 20.43:1

Card sample

#fcfcf9 text on a white background

contrast 1.03:1

Card sample

#fcfcf9 on grey

1.07:1

#fcfcf9 on its own surface

1.02:1

#fcfcf9 on its dark surface

15.28:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #fcfcf9;
Background color
Panel with #fcfcf9 background
background-color: #fcfcf9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #fcfcf9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(252, 252, 249, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(252, 252, 249, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fcfcf9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fcfcf9, #FAFCF9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fcfcf9, #F9FCF9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fcfcf9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fcfcf9;
caret-color: #fcfcf9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fcfcf9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6F6EE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fcfcf9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fcfcf9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fcfcf9 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(252, 252, 249, 0.5)
rgb(252 252 249 / 50%)
#fcfcf980
hsl(60 33% 98% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fcfcf9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fcfcf91a#FFFFFE
20%#fcfcf933#FEFEFE
40%#fcfcf966#FEFEFD
60%#fcfcf999#FDFDFB
80%#fcfcf9cc#FDFDFA

Gradients from #fcfcf9

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, #F8F8F1, #fcfcf9 45%, #55552B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fcfcf9, #E8F2E4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fcfcf9, #F9F9FC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FAFAF5 0%, #fcfcf9 45%, #55552B 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAFAF5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #55552B 0%, transparent 65%), #fcfcf9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fcfcf9

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.

#fcfcf9 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

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

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 20.43:1.

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.

#fcfcf9, answered

What color is #fcfcf9?

#fcfcf9 is a pale soft yellow, closest to White (ΔE2000 1.7). It sits at 60° on the hue wheel with 33% saturation and 98% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fcfcf9?

rgb(252, 252, 249) — 252 red, 252 green and 249 blue out of 255, or 98.8% / 98.8% / 97.6% by channel.

What is #fcfcf9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(60, 33%, 98%) and hsv(60, 1%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fcfcf9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.9716 and perceived brightness is 99%, so black text on it reaches 20.43:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fcfcf9?

Black. It scores 20.43:1 against #fcfcf9, versus 1.03:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fcfcf9 accessible on a white background?

#fcfcf9 on white scores 1.03:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #78783C to reach 4.5:1, or #59592D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fcfcf9?

#F9F9FC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F9FAFC and #FAF9FC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fcfcf9?

For interface work: #FAFAF5 as the surface, #E4E4C9 for borders, #99994D for secondary text, #445B88 as an accent and #55552B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FCFAF9 and #FAFCF9 stays calm, while #F9F9FC is the loudest partner.

What is #fcfcf9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 0%, 1%, 1%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #fcfcf9 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 #FAF8F5; nudged cooler, #F8FAF5.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fcfcf9?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 30.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #fcfcf9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #fcfcf9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#fcfcf9] or text-[#fcfcf9], 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 #fcfcf9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(252, 252, 249, 0.5), or #fcfcf980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FEFEFC; over black, #7E7E7D.

Is #fcfcf9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFFFF, ΔE2000 1.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #fcfcf9 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #fcfcf9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F8F8F1, #fcfcf9 45%, #55552B). For more colour, a short hue run to #E8F2E4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fcfcf9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #fcfcf9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.