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yellow · warm

#cfa331

a balanced, vivid yellow · warm · closest name: Goldenrod

Token name suggestion: Studio Brass

RGB
207, 163, 49
HSL
43°, 62%, 50%
CMYK
0, 21, 76, 19
Luminance
0.3968

#cfa331 is a balanced vivid yellow, 43° on the wheel and 11/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.94:1). As text it scores 2.35:1 on white — use #8D6F21 instead. Nearest name is Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(43 62% 50%)rgb(207 163 49)Base step 600AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cfa331 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cfa331
Hue
43°
yellow
Saturation
62%
vivid
Lightness
50%
balanced
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
66%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3968
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
11/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.94:1
Closest name
Goldenrod
ΔE2000 2.7
Chroma
61.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.737
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 6.4
Web-safe
#CC9933
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue43° of 360°
Saturation62%
Lightness50%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cfa331.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool11% 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
Red33%
Green66%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#cfa331
HEX (8-digit)#cfa331ff
RGBrgb(207, 163, 49)
RGBArgba(207, 163, 49, 1)
HSLhsl(43, 62%, 50%)
HSV / HSBhsv(43, 76%, 81%)
HWBhwb(43 19% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 21%, 76%, 19%)
LABlab(69.2 5.3 61.5)
LCHlch(69.2 61.8 85.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.737 0.135 86.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.39, 39.68, 8.49)
Decimal13607729
Display P3color(display-p3 0.812 0.639 0.192)
Web-safe#CC9933

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cfa331;
background-color: #cfa331;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cfa331;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cfa331] bg-[#cfa331]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cfa331;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.812, green: 0.639, blue: 0.192)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.812, green: 0.639, blue: 0.192, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CFA331</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCFA331)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCFA331)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(49, 163, 207)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(207, 163, 49)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(207, 163, 49)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 207, 163, 49)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8118f, 0.6392f, 0.1922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{207,163,49}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cfa331 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cfa331 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#675118, #EEE7D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cfa331 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: #FBF9F4;
  --brand-100: #F7F3E8;
  --brand-200: #F0E6CC;
  --brand-300: #EAD6A4;
  --brand-400: #DFC277;
  --brand-500: #D5AE49;
  --brand-600: #cfa331;
  --brand-700: #A58227;
  --brand-800: #84681F;
  --brand-900: #604D1A;
  --brand-950: #3C3010;
  --brand: #cfa331;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #EDE0C0;
  --brand-hover: #B38D2A;
  --brand-pressed: #967623;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242014;
    --brand-ink: #EEE7D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBF9F4',
        100: '#F7F3E8',
        200: '#F0E6CC',
        300: '#EAD6A4',
        400: '#DFC277',
        500: '#D5AE49',
        600: '#cfa331',
        700: '#A58227',
        800: '#84681F',
        900: '#604D1A',
        950: '#3C3010',
        DEFAULT: '#cfa331',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBF9F4,
  '100': #F7F3E8,
  '200': #F0E6CC,
  '300': #EAD6A4,
  '400': #DFC277,
  '500': #D5AE49,
  '600': #cfa331,
  '700': #A58227,
  '800': #84681F,
  '900': #604D1A,
  '950': #3C3010,
);
$brand-base: #cfa331;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FBF9F4", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F7F3E8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F0E6CC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#EAD6A4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#DFC277", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#D5AE49", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#cfa331", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#A58227", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#84681F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#604D1A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3C3010", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cfa331 · 8.94:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.35:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.94:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cfa331 as text scores 2.35:1 on white and 8.94:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #675118 at 3.23:1.

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
#8D6F21 · 4.74:1
AA on white−16% L
#8D6F21
The quick fox
#6C5519 · 7.12:1
AAA on white−24% L
#6C5519
The quick fox
#cfa331 · 8.94:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cfa331
The quick fox
#cfa331 · 8.94:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cfa331

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B38D2A 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
#cfa331 on white: 2.35:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cfa331 on black: 8.94:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cfa331 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cfa331.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.35:1AaAa
Slate 502.25:1AaAa
Slate 1002.15:1AaAa
Slate 2001.91:1AaAa
Slate 3001.58:1AaAa
Slate 4001.09:1AaAa
Slate 5002.03:1AaAa
Slate 6003.22:1AaAa
Slate 7004.41:1AaAa
Slate 8006.23:1AaAa
Slate 9007.60:1AaAa
Black8.94:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B7A21D
deuteranopia · #C2AE37
tritanopia · #E1948D

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. #cfa331 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.

#FBF9F4
#F7F3E8
#F0E6CC
#EAD6A4
#DFC277
#D5AE49
#cfa331
#A58227
#84681F
#604D1A
#3C3010
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FBF9F4Darkest = 950 · #3C3010Text step on white = 800
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 0.034 86.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.054 86.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.081 86.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.105 86.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.124 86.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.135 86.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.135 86.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.127 86.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.113 86.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.095 86.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.074 86.4);
}

Colors that work with #cfa331

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#EDE0C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B854B
Captions on the surface
Accent#2C85D4
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#675118
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FAF6EA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242014
Dark-mode background
Hover#B38D2A
One step down in lightness
Pressed#967623
Two steps down
Disabled#C8BFA9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DFB036
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 #cfa331

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 #675118
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B38D2A

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
  • Weight50/100
  • 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#315DCF
Analogous left#CF5431
Analogous right#ACCF31
Split-complement 1#31ACCF
Split-complement 2#5431CF
Triadic 1#31CFA3
Triadic 2#A331CF
Tetradic#31CF54
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°43°

#cfa331 sits at 43°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red81.2%
Green63.9%
Blue19.2%
R · 0–255
207
0xcf
G · 0–255
163
0xa3
B · 0–255
49
0x31

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta21.3%
Yellow76.3%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 116%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cfa331 text on a black background

contrast 8.94:1

Card sample

#cfa331 text on a white background

contrast 2.35:1

Card sample

#cfa331 on grey

2.15:1

#cfa331 on its own surface

2.23:1

#cfa331 on its dark surface

6.92:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cfa331;
Background color
Panel with #cfa331 background
background-color: #cfa331;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cfa331;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(207, 163, 49, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(207, 163, 49, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cfa331;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cfa331, #92CF31);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cfa331, #6ACF31);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cfa331;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cfa331;
caret-color: #cfa331;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cfa331;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FAF6EA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cfa331;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cfa331 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cfa331 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(207, 163, 49, 0.5)
rgb(207 163 49 / 50%)
#cfa33180
hsl(43 62% 50% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cfa331 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cfa3311a#FAF6EA
20%#cfa33133#F5EDD6
40%#cfa33166#ECDAAD
60%#cfa33199#E2C883
80%#cfa331cc#D9B55A

Gradients from #cfa331

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, #DBB963, #cfa331 45%, #675118);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cfa331, #75B72B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cfa331, #315DCF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E0C47B 0%, #cfa331 45%, #675118 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%, #D96C5A 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #AAD54A 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #675118 0%, transparent 65%), #cfa331;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cfa331

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.

#cfa331 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 8.94:1.

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.

#cfa331, answered

What color is #cfa331?

#cfa331 is a balanced vivid yellow, closest to Goldenrod (ΔE2000 2.7). It sits at 43° on the hue wheel with 62% saturation and 50% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cfa331?

rgb(207, 163, 49) — 207 red, 163 green and 49 blue out of 255, or 81.2% / 63.9% / 19.2% by channel.

What is #cfa331 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(43, 62%, 50%) and hsv(43, 76%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cfa331 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3968 and perceived brightness is 66%, so black text on it reaches 8.94:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cfa331?

Black. It scores 8.94:1 against #cfa331, versus 2.35:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cfa331 accessible on a white background?

#cfa331 on white scores 2.35:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8D6F21 to reach 4.5:1, or #6C5519 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cfa331?

#315DCF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #31ACCF and #5431CF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cfa331?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #EDE0C0 for borders, #9B854B for secondary text, #2C85D4 as an accent and #675118 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CF5431 and #ACCF31 stays calm, while #315DCF is the loudest partner.

What is #cfa331 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 21%, 76%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cfa331 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 11 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CF8731; nudged cooler, #C3D22E.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cfa331?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 6.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cfa331 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cfa331 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cfa331] or text-[#cfa331], 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 #cfa331 with 50% opacity?

rgba(207, 163, 49, 0.5), or #cfa33180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E7D198; over black, #685219.

Is #cfa331 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9933, ΔE2000 3.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cfa331 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 #cfa331?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DBB963, #cfa331 45%, #675118). For more colour, a short hue run to #75B72B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cfa331 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cfa331 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.