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yellow · warm

#fef11f

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Straw

RGB
254, 241, 31
HSL
57°, 99%, 56%
CMYK
0, 5, 88, 0
Luminance
0.8408

#fef11f is a balanced electric yellow, 57° on the wheel and 22/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (17.82:1). As text it scores 1.18:1 on white — use #7E7701 instead. Nearest name is Yellow, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(57 99% 56%)rgb(254 241 31)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #fef11f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#fef11f
Hue
57°
yellow
Saturation
99%
electric
Lightness
56%
balanced
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
91%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8408
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
22/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
17.82:1
Closest name
Yellow
ΔE2000 3.7
Chroma
89.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.939
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 17.1
Web-safe
#FFFF33
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue57° of 360°
Saturation99%
Lightness56%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #fef11f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool22% 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
Red25%
Green75%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#fef11f
HEX (8-digit)#fef11fff
RGBrgb(254, 241, 31)
RGBArgba(254, 241, 31, 1)
HSLhsl(57, 99%, 56%)
HSV / HSBhsv(57, 88%, 100%)
HWBhwb(57 12% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 5%, 88%, 0%)
LABlab(93.5 -14.9 88.5)
LCHlch(93.5 89.8 99.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.939 0.195 105.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(72.58, 84.08, 13.70)
Decimal16707871
Display P3color(display-p3 0.996 0.945 0.122)
Web-safe#FFFF33

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fef11f;
background-color: #fef11f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fef11f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fef11f] bg-[#fef11f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fef11f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.996, green: 0.945, blue: 0.122)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.996, green: 0.945, blue: 0.122, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FEF11F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFEF11F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFEF11F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(31, 241, 254)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(254, 241, 31)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(254, 241, 31)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 254, 241, 31)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9961f, 0.9451f, 0.1216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{254,241,31}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fef11f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fef11f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7F7801, #EEEDD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fef11f 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: #FEFDF1;
  --brand-100: #FCFBE3;
  --brand-200: #FBF8C0;
  --brand-300: #FEF88F;
  --brand-400: #FEF557;
  --brand-500: #fef11f;
  --brand-600: #F4E601;
  --brand-700: #CBBF01;
  --brand-800: #A29901;
  --brand-900: #756E05;
  --brand-950: #494503;
  --brand: #fef11f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EDEAC0;
  --brand-hover: #F8EA01;
  --brand-pressed: #D5C801;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242314;
    --brand-ink: #EEEDD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FEFDF1',
        100: '#FCFBE3',
        200: '#FBF8C0',
        300: '#FEF88F',
        400: '#FEF557',
        500: '#fef11f',
        600: '#F4E601',
        700: '#CBBF01',
        800: '#A29901',
        900: '#756E05',
        950: '#494503',
        DEFAULT: '#fef11f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FEFDF1,
  '100': #FCFBE3,
  '200': #FBF8C0,
  '300': #FEF88F,
  '400': #FEF557,
  '500': #fef11f,
  '600': #F4E601,
  '700': #CBBF01,
  '800': #A29901,
  '900': #756E05,
  '950': #494503,
);
$brand-base: #fef11f;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FEFDF1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCFBE3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FBF8C0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#FEF88F", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FEF557", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#fef11f", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F4E601", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#CBBF01", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A29901", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#756E05", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#494503", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fef11f · 17.82:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.18:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 17.82:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fef11f as text scores 1.18:1 on white and 17.82:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7F7801 at 3.88:1.

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
#7E7701 · 4.64:1
AA on white−31% L
#7E7701
The quick fox
#605A00 · 7.10:1
AAA on white−37% L
#605A00
The quick fox
#fef11f · 17.82:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fef11f
The quick fox
#fef11f · 17.82:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fef11f

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9D9401 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
#fef11f on white: 1.18:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fef11f on black: 17.82:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #fef11f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #fef11f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.18:1AaAa
Slate 501.13:1AaAa
Slate 1001.08:1AaAa
Slate 2001.05:1AaAa
Slate 3001.26:1AaAa
Slate 4002.18:1AaAa
Slate 5004.04:1AaAa
Slate 6006.43:1AaAa
Slate 7008.78:1AaAa
Slate 80012.41:1AaAa
Slate 90015.15:1AaAa
Black17.82:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #FFE800
deuteranopia · #FFF038
tritanopia · #FFE0CE

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. #fef11f 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.

#FEFDF1
#FCFBE3
#FBF8C0
#FEF88F
#FEF557
#fef11f
#F4E601
#CBBF01
#A29901
#756E05
#494503
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FEFDF1Darkest = 950 · #494503Text 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 0.049 105.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.078 105.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.117 105.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.152 105.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.179 105.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.195 105.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.195 105.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.183 105.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.164 105.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.137 105.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.107 105.5);
}

Colors that work with #fef11f

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#EDEAC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B964B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1E63FF
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7F7801
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFFDE6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242314
Dark-mode background
Hover#F8EA01
One step down in lightness
Pressed#D5C801
Two steps down
Disabled#D3D2BA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFF332
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 #fef11f

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 #7F7801
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9D9401

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
  • Weight44/100
  • 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#1F2CFE
Analogous left#FE821F
Analogous right#9CFE1F
Split-complement 1#1F9CFE
Split-complement 2#821FFE
Triadic 1#1FFEF1
Triadic 2#F11FFE
Tetradic#1FFE82
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°57°

#fef11f sits at 57°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red99.6%
Green94.5%
Blue12.2%
R · 0–255
254
0xfe
G · 0–255
241
0xf1
B · 0–255
31
0x1f

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta5.1%
Yellow87.8%
Key (black)0.4%

Total ink coverage is 93%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fef11f text on a black background

contrast 17.82:1

Card sample

#fef11f text on a white background

contrast 1.18:1

Card sample

#fef11f on grey

1.08:1

#fef11f on its own surface

1.13:1

#fef11f on its dark surface

13.44:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #fef11f;
Background color
Panel with #fef11f background
background-color: #fef11f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #fef11f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(254, 241, 31, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(254, 241, 31, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fef11f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fef11f, #76FE1F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fef11f, #3FFE1F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fef11f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fef11f;
caret-color: #fef11f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fef11f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFFDE6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fef11f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fef11f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fef11f 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(254, 241, 31, 0.5)
rgb(254 241 31 / 50%)
#fef11f80
hsl(57 99% 56% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fef11f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fef11f1a#FFFEE9
20%#fef11f33#FFFCD2
40%#fef11f66#FFF9A5
60%#fef11f99#FEF779
80%#fef11fcc#FEF44C

Gradients from #fef11f

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, #FEF55C, #fef11f 45%, #7F7801);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fef11f, #4FFD01);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fef11f, #1F2CFE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FEF77A 0%, #fef11f 45%, #7F7801 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%, #FE9052 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #99FE3E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7F7801 0%, transparent 65%), #fef11f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fef11f

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.

#fef11f 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 17.82:1.

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.

#fef11f, answered

What color is #fef11f?

#fef11f is a balanced electric yellow, closest to Yellow (ΔE2000 3.7). It sits at 57° on the hue wheel with 99% saturation and 56% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fef11f?

rgb(254, 241, 31) — 254 red, 241 green and 31 blue out of 255, or 99.6% / 94.5% / 12.2% by channel.

What is #fef11f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(57, 99%, 56%) and hsv(57, 88%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fef11f a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8408 and perceived brightness is 91%, so black text on it reaches 17.82:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fef11f?

Black. It scores 17.82:1 against #fef11f, versus 1.18:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fef11f accessible on a white background?

#fef11f on white scores 1.18:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7E7701 to reach 4.5:1, or #605A00 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fef11f?

#1F2CFE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #1F9CFE and #821FFE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fef11f?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EDEAC0 for borders, #9B964B for secondary text, #1E63FF as an accent and #7F7801 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FE821F and #9CFE1F stays calm, while #1F2CFE is the loudest partner.

What is #fef11f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 5%, 88%, 0%). 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 #fef11f warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 22 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #FEB61F; nudged cooler, #BAFF1E.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fef11f?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 17.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #fef11f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #fef11f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#fef11f] or text-[#fef11f], 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 #fef11f with 50% opacity?

rgba(254, 241, 31, 0.5), or #fef11f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FFF88F; over black, #7F7910.

Is #fef11f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFF33, ΔE2000 3.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #fef11f 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 #fef11f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FEF55C, #fef11f 45%, #7F7801). For more colour, a short hue run to #4FFD01 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fef11f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #fef11f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.