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yellow · warm

#bbc615

a dark, electric yellow · warm · closest name: Yellow Green

Token name suggestion: Shadow Honey

RGB
187, 198, 21
HSL
64°, 81%, 43%
CMYK
6, 0, 89, 22
Luminance
0.5101

#bbc615 is a dark electric yellow, 64° on the wheel and 28/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.20:1). As text it scores 1.87:1 on white — use #757C0D instead. Nearest name is Yellow Green, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(64 81% 43%)rgb(187 198 21)Base step 700AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bbc615 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bbc615
Hue
64°
yellow
Saturation
81%
electric
Lightness
43%
dark
Brightness
78%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5101
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
28/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.20:1
Closest name
Yellow Green
ΔE2000 8.4
Chroma
77.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.791
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 10.9
Web-safe
#CCCC00
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue64° of 360°
Saturation81%
Lightness43%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bbc615.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool28% 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%
Green79%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#bbc615
HEX (8-digit)#bbc615ff
RGBrgb(187, 198, 21)
RGBArgba(187, 198, 21, 1)
HSLhsl(64, 81%, 43%)
HSV / HSBhsv(64, 89%, 78%)
HWBhwb(64 8% 22%)
CMYKcmyk(6%, 0%, 89%, 22%)
LABlab(76.7 -22.3 74.6)
LCHlch(76.7 77.9 106.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.791 0.174 113.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(40.82, 51.01, 8.40)
Decimal12305941
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.776 0.082)
Web-safe#CCCC00

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bbc615;
background-color: #bbc615;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bbc615;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bbc615] bg-[#bbc615]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bbc615;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.776, blue: 0.082)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.776, blue: 0.082, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBC615</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBC615)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBC615)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(21, 198, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 198, 21)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 198, 21)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 198, 21)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.7765f, 0.0824f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,198,21}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bbc615 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bbc615 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#6D730C, #ECEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bbc615 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: #FCFCF3;
  --brand-100: #F8F9E6;
  --brand-200: #F3F5C6;
  --brand-300: #EFF49A;
  --brand-400: #E6EF67;
  --brand-500: #DEE934;
  --brand-600: #D1DD18;
  --brand-700: #bbc615;
  --brand-800: #8B9410;
  --brand-900: #656B10;
  --brand-950: #3F430A;
  --brand: #bbc615;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EAEDC0;
  --brand-hover: #9CA612;
  --brand-pressed: #7E850E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #232414;
    --brand-ink: #ECEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCFCF3',
        100: '#F8F9E6',
        200: '#F3F5C6',
        300: '#EFF49A',
        400: '#E6EF67',
        500: '#DEE934',
        600: '#D1DD18',
        700: '#bbc615',
        800: '#8B9410',
        900: '#656B10',
        950: '#3F430A',
        DEFAULT: '#bbc615',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCFCF3,
  '100': #F8F9E6,
  '200': #F3F5C6,
  '300': #EFF49A,
  '400': #E6EF67,
  '500': #DEE934,
  '600': #D1DD18,
  '700': #bbc615,
  '800': #8B9410,
  '900': #656B10,
  '950': #3F430A,
);
$brand-base: #bbc615;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCFCF3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F8F9E6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F3F5C6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#EFF49A", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E6EF67", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#DEE934", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#D1DD18", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#bbc615", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#8B9410", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#656B10", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3F430A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bbc615 · 11.20:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.87:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.20:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bbc615 as text scores 1.87:1 on white and 11.20:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #6D730C at 2.73:1.

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
#757C0D · 4.52:1
AA on white−16% L
#757C0D
The quick fox
#575C0A · 7.14:1
AAA on white−23% L
#575C0A
The quick fox
#bbc615 · 11.20:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bbc615
The quick fox
#bbc615 · 11.20:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bbc615

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8F9810 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
#bbc615 on white: 1.87:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bbc615 on black: 11.20:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bbc615 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bbc615.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.87:1AaAa
Slate 501.79:1AaAa
Slate 1001.71:1AaAa
Slate 2001.52:1AaAa
Slate 3001.26:1AaAa
Slate 4001.37:1AaAa
Slate 5002.54:1AaAa
Slate 6004.04:1AaAa
Slate 7005.52:1AaAa
Slate 8007.80:1AaAa
Slate 9009.52:1AaAa
Black11.20:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D5BC00
deuteranopia · #D5BF2C
tritanopia · #C8B9A9

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. #bbc615 is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FCFCF3
#F8F9E6
#F3F5C6
#EFF49A
#E6EF67
#DEE934
#D1DD18
#bbc615
#8B9410
#656B10
#3F430A
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #FCFCF3Darkest = 950 · #3F430AText 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 0.043 113.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.070 113.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.104 113.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.136 113.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.160 113.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.174 113.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.174 113.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.163 113.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.146 113.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.122 113.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.096 113.8);
}

Colors that work with #bbc615

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#EAEDC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#969B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1134CA
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#6D730C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FBFDE8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#232414
Dark-mode background
Hover#9CA612
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7E850E
Two steps down
Disabled#B7B992
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D7E40B
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 #bbc615

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
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • 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
  • Black 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 #6D730C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8F9810

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 low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

Almost never passes contrast against white. Treat it as a surface or a marker, not as text.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight57/100
  • 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#2015C6
Analogous left#C67815
Analogous right#62C615
Split-complement 1#1562C6
Split-complement 2#7815C6
Triadic 1#15BBC6
Triadic 2#C615BB
Tetradic#15C678
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°64°

#bbc615 sits at 64°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green77.6%
Blue8.2%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
198
0xc6
B · 0–255
21
0x15

CMYK percentages

Cyan5.6%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow89.4%
Key (black)22.4%

Total ink coverage is 117%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bbc615 text on a black background

contrast 11.20:1

Card sample

#bbc615 text on a white background

contrast 1.87:1

Card sample

#bbc615 on grey

1.71:1

#bbc615 on its own surface

1.79:1

#bbc615 on its dark surface

8.40:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bbc615;
Background color
Panel with #bbc615 background
background-color: #bbc615;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bbc615;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 198, 21, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 198, 21, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bbc615;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bbc615, #45C615);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbc615, #19C615);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bbc615;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bbc615;
caret-color: #bbc615;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bbc615;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FBFDE8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bbc615;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bbc615 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bbc615 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(187, 198, 21, 0.5)
rgb(187 198 21 / 50%)
#bbc61580
hsl(64 81% 43% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bbc615 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bbc6151a#F8F9E8
20%#bbc61533#F1F4D0
40%#bbc61566#E4E8A1
60%#bbc61599#D6DD73
80%#bbc615cc#C9D144

Gradients from #bbc615

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, #DDE92F, #bbc615 45%, #6D730C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bbc615, #2FAA12);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbc615, #2015C6);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E2EC4B 0%, #bbc615 45%, #6D730C 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%, #E88326 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #5FE118 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #6D730C 0%, transparent 65%), #bbc615;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bbc615

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.

#bbc615 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 11.20:1.

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.

#bbc615, answered

What color is #bbc615?

#bbc615 is a dark electric yellow, closest to Yellow Green (ΔE2000 8.4). It sits at 64° on the hue wheel with 81% saturation and 43% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bbc615?

rgb(187, 198, 21) — 187 red, 198 green and 21 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 77.6% / 8.2% by channel.

What is #bbc615 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(64, 81%, 43%) and hsv(64, 89%, 78%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bbc615 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5101 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 11.20:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bbc615?

Black. It scores 11.20:1 against #bbc615, versus 1.87:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bbc615 accessible on a white background?

#bbc615 on white scores 1.87:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #757C0D to reach 4.5:1, or #575C0A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bbc615?

#2015C6 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #1562C6 and #7815C6, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bbc615?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EAEDC0 for borders, #969B4B for secondary text, #1134CA as an accent and #6D730C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C67815 and #62C615 stays calm, while #2015C6 is the loudest partner.

What is #bbc615 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(6%, 0%, 89%, 22%). 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 #bbc615 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 28 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C69015; nudged cooler, #7AC813.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bbc615?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 10.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bbc615 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bbc615 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bbc615] or text-[#bbc615], 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 #bbc615 with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 198, 21, 0.5), or #bbc61580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDE38A; over black, #5E630B.

Is #bbc615 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC00, ΔE2000 3.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bbc615 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 #bbc615?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DDE92F, #bbc615 45%, #6D730C). For more colour, a short hue run to #2FAA12 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bbc615 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bbc615 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.