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yellow · warm

#ffee9c

a light, electric yellow · warm · closest name: Khaki

Token name suggestion: Morning Honey

RGB
255, 238, 156
HSL
50°, 100%, 81%
CMYK
0, 7, 39, 0
Luminance
0.8481

#ffee9c is a light electric yellow, 50° on the wheel and 16/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (17.96:1). As text it scores 1.17:1 on white — use #887000 instead. Nearest name is Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(50 100% 81%)rgb(255 238 156)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ffee9c is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ffee9c
Hue
50°
yellow
Saturation
100%
electric
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
92%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8481
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
16/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
17.96:1
Closest name
Khaki
ΔE2000 3.2
Chroma
42.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.945
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 17.4
Web-safe
#FFFF99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue50° of 360°
Saturation100%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ffee9c.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool16% 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%
Green72%
Blue3%

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

Every format

HEX#ffee9c
HEX (8-digit)#ffee9cff
RGBrgb(255, 238, 156)
RGBArgba(255, 238, 156, 1)
HSLhsl(50, 100%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(50, 39%, 100%)
HWBhwb(50 61% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 7%, 39%, 0%)
LABlab(93.8 -5.5 41.8)
LCHlch(93.8 42.1 97.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.945 0.103 97.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(77.82, 84.81, 43.72)
Decimal16772764
Display P3color(display-p3 1.000 0.933 0.612)
Web-safe#FFFF99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ffee9c;
background-color: #ffee9c;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ffee9c;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ffee9c] bg-[#ffee9c]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ffee9c;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 1.000, green: 0.933, blue: 0.612)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 1.000, green: 0.933, blue: 0.612, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FFEE9C</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFFEE9C)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFFEE9C)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(156, 238, 255)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(255, 238, 156)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(255, 238, 156)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 255, 238, 156)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(1.0000f, 0.9333f, 0.6118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{255,238,156}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ffee9c 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ffee9c 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#806A00, #EEE9D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ffee9c 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: #FEFBF1;
  --brand-100: #FCF8E3;
  --brand-200: #FCF1C0;
  --brand-300: #ffee9c;
  --brand-400: #FFE257;
  --brand-500: #FFD81F;
  --brand-600: #F5CB00;
  --brand-700: #CCA900;
  --brand-800: #A38700;
  --brand-900: #766205;
  --brand-950: #493D03;
  --brand: #ffee9c;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #EDE5C0;
  --brand-hover: #FFE878;
  --brand-pressed: #FFE255;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242214;
    --brand-ink: #EEE9D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FEFBF1',
        100: '#FCF8E3',
        200: '#FCF1C0',
        300: '#ffee9c',
        400: '#FFE257',
        500: '#FFD81F',
        600: '#F5CB00',
        700: '#CCA900',
        800: '#A38700',
        900: '#766205',
        950: '#493D03',
        DEFAULT: '#ffee9c',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FEFBF1,
  '100': #FCF8E3,
  '200': #FCF1C0,
  '300': #ffee9c,
  '400': #FFE257,
  '500': #FFD81F,
  '600': #F5CB00,
  '700': #CCA900,
  '800': #A38700,
  '900': #766205,
  '950': #493D03,
);
$brand-base: #ffee9c;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FEFBF1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCF8E3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FCF1C0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ffee9c", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FFE257", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FFD81F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F5CB00", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#CCA900", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A38700", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#766205", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#493D03", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #ffee9c · 17.96:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.17:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 17.96:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ffee9c as text scores 1.17:1 on white and 17.96:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #806A00 at 4.51:1.

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
#887000 · 4.81:1
AA on white−54% L
#887000
The quick fox
#695700 · 7.09:1
AAA on white−60% L
#695700
The quick fox
#ffee9c · 17.96:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ffee9c
The quick fox
#ffee9c · 17.96:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ffee9c

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B09200 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
#ffee9c on white: 1.17:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ffee9c on black: 17.96:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ffee9c as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ffee9c.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.17:1AaAa
Slate 501.12:1AaAa
Slate 1001.07:1AaAa
Slate 2001.05:1AaAa
Slate 3001.27:1AaAa
Slate 4002.19:1AaAa
Slate 5004.07:1AaAa
Slate 6006.48:1AaAa
Slate 7008.86:1AaAa
Slate 80012.51:1AaAa
Slate 90015.27:1AaAa
Black17.96:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #FDEA96
deuteranopia · #FFF09F
tritanopia · #FFE3D9

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. #ffee9c 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.

#FEFBF1
#FCF8E3
#FCF1C0
#ffee9c
#FFE257
#FFD81F
#F5CB00
#CCA900
#A38700
#766205
#493D03
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FEFBF1Darkest = 950 · #493D03Text 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 0.026 97.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.041 97.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.062 97.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.081 97.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.095 97.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.103 97.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.103 97.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.097 97.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.087 97.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.072 97.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.057 97.9);
}

Colors that work with #ffee9c

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#EDE5C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B8D4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0057CC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#806A00
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFFBE5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242214
Dark-mode background
Hover#FFE878
One step down in lightness
Pressed#FFE255
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F6F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFF2B0
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 #ffee9c

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 #806A00
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B09200

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
  • Weight19/100
  • 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#9CADFF
Analogous left#FFBD9C
Analogous right#DFFF9C
Split-complement 1#9CDFFF
Split-complement 2#BD9CFF
Triadic 1#9CFFEE
Triadic 2#EE9CFF
Tetradic#9CFFBD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°50°

#ffee9c sits at 50°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red100.0%
Green93.3%
Blue61.2%
R · 0–255
255
0xff
G · 0–255
238
0xee
B · 0–255
156
0x9c

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta6.7%
Yellow38.8%
Key (black)0.0%

Total ink coverage is 46%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ffee9c text on a black background

contrast 17.96:1

Card sample

#ffee9c text on a white background

contrast 1.17:1

Card sample

#ffee9c on grey

1.07:1

#ffee9c on its own surface

1.11:1

#ffee9c on its dark surface

13.67:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ffee9c;
Background color
Panel with #ffee9c background
background-color: #ffee9c;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ffee9c;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(255, 238, 156, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(255, 238, 156, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ffee9c;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ffee9c, #CEFF9C);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ffee9c, #B5FF9C);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ffee9c;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ffee9c;
caret-color: #ffee9c;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ffee9c;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFFBE5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ffee9c;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ffee9c 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ffee9c 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(255, 238, 156, 0.5)
rgb(255 238 156 / 50%)
#ffee9c80
hsl(50 100% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ffee9c 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ffee9c1a#FFFDF5
20%#ffee9c33#FFFCEB
40%#ffee9c66#FFF8D7
60%#ffee9c99#FFF5C4
80%#ffee9ccc#FFF1B0

Gradients from #ffee9c

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, #FFF9D9, #ffee9c 45%, #806A00);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ffee9c, #B4FF7D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ffee9c, #9CADFF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FFFCF0 0%, #ffee9c 45%, #806A00 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%, #FFDBCF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E3FFBB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #806A00 0%, transparent 65%), #ffee9c;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ffee9c

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.

#ffee9c 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 17.96:1.

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.

#ffee9c, answered

What color is #ffee9c?

#ffee9c is a light electric yellow, closest to Khaki (ΔE2000 3.2). It sits at 50° on the hue wheel with 100% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ffee9c?

rgb(255, 238, 156) — 255 red, 238 green and 156 blue out of 255, or 100% / 93.3% / 61.2% by channel.

What is #ffee9c in HSL and HSV?

hsl(50, 100%, 81%) and hsv(50, 39%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ffee9c a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8481 and perceived brightness is 92%, so black text on it reaches 17.96:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ffee9c?

Black. It scores 17.96:1 against #ffee9c, versus 1.17:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ffee9c accessible on a white background?

#ffee9c on white scores 1.17:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #887000 to reach 4.5:1, or #695700 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ffee9c?

#9CADFF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #9CDFFF and #BD9CFF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ffee9c?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #EDE5C0 for borders, #9B8D4B for secondary text, #0057CC as an accent and #806A00 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FFBD9C and #DFFF9C stays calm, while #9CADFF is the loudest partner.

What is #ffee9c in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 7%, 39%, 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 #ffee9c warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 16 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #FFD29C; nudged cooler, #ECFF9C.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ffee9c?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 17.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ffee9c as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ffee9c in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ffee9c] or text-[#ffee9c], 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 #ffee9c with 50% opacity?

rgba(255, 238, 156, 0.5), or #ffee9c80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FFF7CE; over black, #80774E.

Is #ffee9c a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFF99, ΔE2000 6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ffee9c 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 #ffee9c?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FFF9D9, #ffee9c 45%, #806A00). For more colour, a short hue run to #B4FF7D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ffee9c in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ffee9c at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.