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yellow · warm

#b2ac8a

a balanced, soft yellow · warm · closest name: Dark Khaki

Token name suggestion: Signal Citron

RGB
178, 172, 138
HSL
51°, 21%, 62%
CMYK
0, 3, 23, 30
Luminance
0.4081

#b2ac8a is a balanced soft yellow, 51° on the wheel and 31/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.16:1). As text it scores 2.29:1 on white — use #7B7551 instead. Nearest name is Dark Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(51 21% 62%)rgb(178 172 138)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b2ac8a is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b2ac8a
Hue
51°
yellow
Saturation
21%
soft
Lightness
62%
balanced
Brightness
70%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4081
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
31/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.16:1
Closest name
Dark Khaki
ΔE2000 9.7
Chroma
18.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.741
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 20.6
Web-safe
#999999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue51° of 360°
Saturation21%
Lightness62%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b2ac8a.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool31% 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
Red23%
Green72%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#b2ac8a
HEX (8-digit)#b2ac8aff
RGBrgb(178, 172, 138)
RGBArgba(178, 172, 138, 1)
HSLhsl(51, 21%, 62%)
HSV / HSBhsv(51, 22%, 70%)
HWBhwb(51 54% 30%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 3%, 23%, 30%)
LABlab(70.0 -3.5 18.3)
LCHlch(70.0 18.6 100.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.741 0.047 99.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(37.70, 40.81, 29.93)
Decimal11709578
Display P3color(display-p3 0.698 0.675 0.541)
Web-safe#999999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b2ac8a;
background-color: #b2ac8a;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b2ac8a;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b2ac8a] bg-[#b2ac8a]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b2ac8a;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.698, green: 0.675, blue: 0.541)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.698, green: 0.675, blue: 0.541, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B2AC8A</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB2AC8A)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB2AC8A)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(138, 172, 178)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(178, 172, 138)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(178, 172, 138)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 178, 172, 138)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6980f, 0.6745f, 0.5412f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{178,172,138}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b2ac8a 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b2ac8a 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4D4933, #E7E5DA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b2ac8a 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: #F9F8F6;
  --brand-100: #F2F1ED;
  --brand-200: #E4E2D8;
  --brand-300: #D2CFBB;
  --brand-400: #b2ac8a;
  --brand-500: #A69F78;
  --brand-600: #948C61;
  --brand-700: #7B7551;
  --brand-800: #625D41;
  --brand-900: #494532;
  --brand-950: #2D2B1F;
  --brand: #b2ac8a;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F8F6;
  --brand-border: #DFDCCE;
  --brand-hover: #A49D75;
  --brand-pressed: #948C61;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #222016;
    --brand-ink: #E7E5DA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F8F6',
        100: '#F2F1ED',
        200: '#E4E2D8',
        300: '#D2CFBB',
        400: '#b2ac8a',
        500: '#A69F78',
        600: '#948C61',
        700: '#7B7551',
        800: '#625D41',
        900: '#494532',
        950: '#2D2B1F',
        DEFAULT: '#b2ac8a',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F8F6,
  '100': #F2F1ED,
  '200': #E4E2D8,
  '300': #D2CFBB,
  '400': #b2ac8a,
  '500': #A69F78,
  '600': #948C61,
  '700': #7B7551,
  '800': #625D41,
  '900': #494532,
  '950': #2D2B1F,
);
$brand-base: #b2ac8a;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F8F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F2F1ED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E4E2D8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D2CFBB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#b2ac8a", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A69F78", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#948C61", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7B7551", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#625D41", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#494532", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2D2B1F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #b2ac8a · 9.16:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.29:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.16:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #b2ac8a as text scores 2.29:1 on white and 9.16:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4D4933 at 3.95:1.

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
#7B7551 · 4.66:1
AA on white−22% L
#7B7551
The quick fox
#5C583D · 7.20:1
AAA on white−32% L
#5C583D
The quick fox
#b2ac8a · 9.16:1
AA on blackalready passes
#b2ac8a
The quick fox
#b2ac8a · 9.16:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#b2ac8a

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9C9468 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
#b2ac8a on white: 2.29:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b2ac8a on black: 9.16:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b2ac8a as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b2ac8a.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.29:1AaAa
Slate 502.19:1AaAa
Slate 1002.09:1AaAa
Slate 2001.86:1AaAa
Slate 3001.54:1AaAa
Slate 4001.12:1AaAa
Slate 5002.08:1AaAa
Slate 6003.31:1AaAa
Slate 7004.52:1AaAa
Slate 8006.38:1AaAa
Slate 9007.79:1AaAa
Black9.16:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B3AA88
deuteranopia · #B5AC8B
tritanopia · #B8A7A3

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. #b2ac8a is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F8F6
#F2F1ED
#E4E2D8
#D2CFBB
#b2ac8a
#A69F78
#948C61
#7B7551
#625D41
#494532
#2D2B1F
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F9F8F6Darkest = 950 · #2D2B1FText step on white = 700
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 0.012 99.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.019 99.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.028 99.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.037 99.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.044 99.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.047 99.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.047 99.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.044 99.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.040 99.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.033 99.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.026 99.1);
}

Colors that work with #b2ac8a

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#F9F8F6
Tinted page background
Border#DFDCCE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8A835B
Captions on the surface
Accent#4D617F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4D4933
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5F4F0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#222016
Dark-mode background
Hover#A49D75
One step down in lightness
Pressed#948C61
Two steps down
Disabled#DFDCCE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C3BB8E
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 #b2ac8a

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #4D4933
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9C9468

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 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight38/100
  • 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#8A90B2
Analogous left#B2988A
Analogous right#A4B28A
Split-complement 1#8AA4B2
Split-complement 2#988AB2
Triadic 1#8AB2AC
Triadic 2#AC8AB2
Tetradic#8AB298
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°51°

#b2ac8a sits at 51°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red69.8%
Green67.5%
Blue54.1%
R · 0–255
178
0xb2
G · 0–255
172
0xac
B · 0–255
138
0x8a

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta3.4%
Yellow22.5%
Key (black)30.2%

Total ink coverage is 56%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#b2ac8a text on a black background

contrast 9.16:1

Card sample

#b2ac8a text on a white background

contrast 2.29:1

Card sample

#b2ac8a on grey

2.09:1

#b2ac8a on its own surface

2.16:1

#b2ac8a on its dark surface

7.12:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b2ac8a;
Background color
Panel with #b2ac8a background
background-color: #b2ac8a;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b2ac8a;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(178, 172, 138, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(178, 172, 138, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b2ac8a;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b2ac8a, #9DB28A);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b2ac8a, #93B28A);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b2ac8a;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b2ac8a;
caret-color: #b2ac8a;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b2ac8a;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5F4F0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b2ac8a;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b2ac8a 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b2ac8a 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(178, 172, 138, 0.5)
rgb(178 172 138 / 50%)
#b2ac8a80
hsl(51 21% 62% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b2ac8a 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b2ac8a1a#F7F7F3
20%#b2ac8a33#F0EEE8
40%#b2ac8a66#E0DED0
60%#b2ac8a99#D1CDB9
80%#b2ac8acc#C1BDA1

Gradients from #b2ac8a

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, #CAC6AF, #b2ac8a 45%, #4D4933);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b2ac8a, #8AA678);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b2ac8a, #8A90B2);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D7D3C1 0%, #b2ac8a 45%, #4D4933 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F8F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C6B1A9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B0BE9D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4D4933 0%, transparent 65%), #b2ac8a;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b2ac8a

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.

#b2ac8a 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

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

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 9.16:1.

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.

#b2ac8a, answered

What color is #b2ac8a?

#b2ac8a is a balanced soft yellow, closest to Dark Khaki (ΔE2000 9.7). It sits at 51° on the hue wheel with 21% saturation and 62% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #b2ac8a?

rgb(178, 172, 138) — 178 red, 172 green and 138 blue out of 255, or 69.8% / 67.5% / 54.1% by channel.

What is #b2ac8a in HSL and HSV?

hsl(51, 21%, 62%) and hsv(51, 22%, 70%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b2ac8a a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4081 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 9.16:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b2ac8a?

Black. It scores 9.16:1 against #b2ac8a, versus 2.29:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #b2ac8a accessible on a white background?

#b2ac8a on white scores 2.29:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7B7551 to reach 4.5:1, or #5C583D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #b2ac8a?

#8A90B2 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #8AA4B2 and #988AB2, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b2ac8a?

For interface work: #F9F8F6 as the surface, #DFDCCE for borders, #8A835B for secondary text, #4D617F as an accent and #4D4933 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B2988A and #A4B28A stays calm, while #8A90B2 is the loudest partner.

What is #b2ac8a in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 3%, 23%, 30%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #b2ac8a warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 31 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B29E8A; nudged cooler, #ABB488.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b2ac8a?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 20.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b2ac8a as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b2ac8a in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b2ac8a] or text-[#b2ac8a], 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 #b2ac8a with 50% opacity?

rgba(178, 172, 138, 0.5), or #b2ac8a80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D9D6C5; over black, #595645.

Is #b2ac8a a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #999999, ΔE2000 14.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b2ac8a 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 #b2ac8a?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CAC6AF, #b2ac8a 45%, #4D4933). For more colour, a short hue run to #8AA678 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b2ac8a in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b2ac8a at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.