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yellow · warm

#bbca21

a balanced, vivid yellow · warm · closest name: Yellow Green

Token name suggestion: Studio Honey

RGB
187, 202, 33
HSL
65°, 72%, 46%
CMYK
7, 0, 84, 21
Luminance
0.5292

#bbca21 is a balanced vivid yellow, 65° on the wheel and 29/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.58:1). As text it scores 1.81:1 on white — use #727B14 instead. Nearest name is Yellow Green, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(65 72% 46%)rgb(187 202 33)Base step 600AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bbca21 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bbca21
Hue
65°
yellow
Saturation
72%
vivid
Lightness
46%
balanced
Brightness
79%
HSV value
Perceived
73%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5292
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
29/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.58:1
Closest name
Yellow Green
ΔE2000 7.4
Chroma
77.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.801
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 10
Web-safe
#CCCC33
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue65° of 360°
Saturation72%
Lightness46%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bbca21.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool29% 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
Red20%
Green80%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#bbca21
HEX (8-digit)#bbca21ff
RGBrgb(187, 202, 33)
RGBArgba(187, 202, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(65, 72%, 46%)
HSV / HSBhsv(65, 84%, 79%)
HWBhwb(65 13% 21%)
CMYKcmyk(7%, 0%, 84%, 21%)
LABlab(77.8 -23.9 73.2)
LCHlch(77.8 77.0 108.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.801 0.174 115.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(41.89, 52.92, 9.45)
Decimal12306977
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.792 0.129)
Web-safe#CCCC33

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bbca21;
background-color: #bbca21;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bbca21;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bbca21] bg-[#bbca21]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bbca21;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.792, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.792, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBCA21</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBCA21)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBCA21)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 202, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 202, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 202, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 202, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.7922f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,202,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bbca21 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bbca21 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#656E12, #ECEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bbca21 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: #FBFCF3;
  --brand-100: #F7F8E7;
  --brand-200: #EFF3C9;
  --brand-300: #E8EF9F;
  --brand-400: #DDE76E;
  --brand-500: #D1DF3E;
  --brand-600: #bbca21;
  --brand-700: #A2AF1D;
  --brand-800: #828C17;
  --brand-900: #5F6615;
  --brand-950: #3B400D;
  --brand: #bbca21;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #E9EDC0;
  --brand-hover: #9FAB1C;
  --brand-pressed: #828D17;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #232414;
    --brand-ink: #ECEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBFCF3',
        100: '#F7F8E7',
        200: '#EFF3C9',
        300: '#E8EF9F',
        400: '#DDE76E',
        500: '#D1DF3E',
        600: '#bbca21',
        700: '#A2AF1D',
        800: '#828C17',
        900: '#5F6615',
        950: '#3B400D',
        DEFAULT: '#bbca21',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBFCF3,
  '100': #F7F8E7,
  '200': #EFF3C9,
  '300': #E8EF9F,
  '400': #DDE76E,
  '500': #D1DF3E,
  '600': #bbca21,
  '700': #A2AF1D,
  '800': #828C17,
  '900': #5F6615,
  '950': #3B400D,
);
$brand-base: #bbca21;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBFCF3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F7F8E7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EFF3C9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#E8EF9F", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#DDE76E", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#D1DF3E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#bbca21", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#A2AF1D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#828C17", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#5F6615", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3B400D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bbca21 · 11.58:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.81:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.58:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bbca21 as text scores 1.81:1 on white and 11.58:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #656E12 at 3.05:1.

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
#727B14 · 4.61:1
AA on white−18% L
#727B14
The quick fox
#565C0F · 7.16:1
AAA on white−25% L
#565C0F
The quick fox
#bbca21 · 11.58:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bbca21
The quick fox
#bbca21 · 11.58:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bbca21

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8E9A19 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
#bbca21 on white: 1.81:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bbca21 on black: 11.58:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bbca21 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bbca21.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.81:1AaAa
Slate 501.73:1AaAa
Slate 1001.65:1AaAa
Slate 2001.47:1AaAa
Slate 3001.22:1AaAa
Slate 4001.41:1AaAa
Slate 5002.62:1AaAa
Slate 6004.18:1AaAa
Slate 7005.71:1AaAa
Slate 8008.07:1AaAa
Slate 9009.85:1AaAa
Black11.58:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D9BF00
deuteranopia · #D8C234
tritanopia · #C8BEAD

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. #bbca21 is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FBFCF3
#F7F8E7
#EFF3C9
#E8EF9F
#DDE76E
#D1DF3E
#bbca21
#A2AF1D
#828C17
#5F6615
#3B400D
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FBFCF3Darkest = 950 · #3B400DText 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 0.044 115.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.070 115.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.105 115.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.136 115.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.160 115.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.174 115.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.174 115.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.164 115.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.146 115.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.122 115.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.096 115.1);
}

Colors that work with #bbca21

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#E9EDC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#949B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1C39CF
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#656E12
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FAFBE9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#232414
Dark-mode background
Hover#9FAB1C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#828D17
Two steps down
Disabled#BCC09C
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D6E818
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 #bbca21

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 #656E12
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8E9A19

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • Weight54/100
  • 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#3021CA
Analogous left#CA8421
Analogous right#67CA21
Split-complement 1#2167CA
Split-complement 2#8421CA
Triadic 1#21BBCA
Triadic 2#CA21BB
Tetradic#21CA84
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°65°

#bbca21 sits at 65°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green79.2%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
202
0xca
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan7.4%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow83.7%
Key (black)20.8%

Total ink coverage is 112%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bbca21 text on a black background

contrast 11.58:1

Card sample

#bbca21 text on a white background

contrast 1.81:1

Card sample

#bbca21 on grey

1.65:1

#bbca21 on its own surface

1.73:1

#bbca21 on its dark surface

8.68:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bbca21;
Background color
Panel with #bbca21 background
background-color: #bbca21;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bbca21;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 202, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 202, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bbca21;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bbca21, #4ACA21);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbca21, #21CA22);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bbca21;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bbca21;
caret-color: #bbca21;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bbca21;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FAFBE9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bbca21;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bbca21 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bbca21 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, 202, 33, 0.5)
rgb(187 202 33 / 50%)
#bbca2180
hsl(65 72% 46% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bbca21 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bbca211a#F8FAE9
20%#bbca2133#F1F4D3
40%#bbca2166#E4EAA6
60%#bbca2199#D6DF7A
80%#bbca21cc#C9D54D

Gradients from #bbca21

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, #D3E147, #bbca21 45%, #656E12);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bbca21, #35B01D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bbca21, #3021CA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DAE562 0%, #bbca21 45%, #656E12 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%, #E0903F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #67DD2D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #656E12 0%, transparent 65%), #bbca21;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bbca21

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.

#bbca21 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 11.58:1.

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.

#bbca21, answered

What color is #bbca21?

#bbca21 is a balanced vivid yellow, closest to Yellow Green (ΔE2000 7.4). It sits at 65° on the hue wheel with 72% saturation and 46% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #bbca21?

rgb(187, 202, 33) — 187 red, 202 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 79.2% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #bbca21 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(65, 72%, 46%) and hsv(65, 84%, 79%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bbca21 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5292 and perceived brightness is 73%, so black text on it reaches 11.58:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bbca21?

Black. It scores 11.58:1 against #bbca21, versus 1.81:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bbca21 accessible on a white background?

#bbca21 on white scores 1.81:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #727B14 to reach 4.5:1, or #565C0F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bbca21?

#3021CA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #2167CA and #8421CA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bbca21?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #E9EDC0 for borders, #949B4B for secondary text, #1C39CF as an accent and #656E12 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CA8421 and #67CA21 stays calm, while #3021CA is the loudest partner.

What is #bbca21 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(7%, 0%, 84%, 21%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bbca21 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 29 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CA9B21; nudged cooler, #7DCC1F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bbca21?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 10 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bbca21 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bbca21 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bbca21] or text-[#bbca21], 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 #bbca21 with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 202, 33, 0.5), or #bbca2180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDE590; over black, #5E6511.

Is #bbca21 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC33, ΔE2000 3.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bbca21 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 #bbca21?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D3E147, #bbca21 45%, #656E12). For more colour, a short hue run to #35B01D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bbca21 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bbca21 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.