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yellow · warm

#dce739

a balanced, electric yellow · warm · closest name: Yellow

Token name suggestion: Studio Brass

RGB
220, 231, 57
HSL
64°, 78%, 57%
CMYK
5, 0, 75, 9
Luminance
0.7266

#dce739 is a balanced electric yellow, 64° on the wheel and 28/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.53:1). As text it scores 1.35:1 on white — use #72790F instead. Nearest name is Yellow, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(64 78% 57%)rgb(220 231 57)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dce739 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dce739
Hue
64°
yellow
Saturation
78%
electric
Lightness
57%
balanced
Brightness
91%
HSV value
Perceived
84%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7266
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
28/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
15.53:1
Closest name
Yellow
ΔE2000 7
Chroma
80.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.891
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 13.9
Web-safe
#CCFF33
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue64° of 360°
Saturation78%
Lightness57%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dce739.

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#dce739
HEX (8-digit)#dce739ff
RGBrgb(220, 231, 57)
RGBArgba(220, 231, 57, 1)
HSLhsl(64, 78%, 57%)
HSV / HSBhsv(64, 75%, 91%)
HWBhwb(64 22% 9%)
CMYKcmyk(5%, 0%, 75%, 9%)
LABlab(88.3 -23.4 77.0)
LCHlch(88.3 80.5 106.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.891 0.183 113.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(58.83, 72.66, 14.80)
Decimal14477113
Display P3color(display-p3 0.863 0.906 0.224)
Web-safe#CCFF33

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dce739;
background-color: #dce739;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dce739;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dce739] bg-[#dce739]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dce739;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.863, green: 0.906, blue: 0.224)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.863, green: 0.906, blue: 0.224, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DCE739</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDCE739)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDCE739)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(57, 231, 220)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(220, 231, 57)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(220, 231, 57)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 220, 231, 57)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8627f, 0.9059f, 0.2235f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{220,231,57}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dce739 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dce739 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#6B720E, #ECEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dce739 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: #F8F9E6;
  --brand-200: #F2F5C7;
  --brand-300: #EDF39B;
  --brand-400: #E4ED69;
  --brand-500: #dce739;
  --brand-600: #CEDA1A;
  --brand-700: #ACB616;
  --brand-800: #899212;
  --brand-900: #646911;
  --brand-950: #3E420B;
  --brand: #dce739;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EAEDC0;
  --brand-hover: #D5E11B;
  --brand-pressed: #B7C117;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #232414;
    --brand-ink: #ECEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FBFCF3',
        100: '#F8F9E6',
        200: '#F2F5C7',
        300: '#EDF39B',
        400: '#E4ED69',
        500: '#dce739',
        600: '#CEDA1A',
        700: '#ACB616',
        800: '#899212',
        900: '#646911',
        950: '#3E420B',
        DEFAULT: '#dce739',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FBFCF3,
  '100': #F8F9E6,
  '200': #F2F5C7,
  '300': #EDF39B,
  '400': #E4ED69,
  '500': #dce739,
  '600': #CEDA1A,
  '700': #ACB616,
  '800': #899212,
  '900': #646911,
  '950': #3E420B,
);
$brand-base: #dce739;
$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": "#F8F9E6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F2F5C7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#EDF39B", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#E4ED69", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#dce739", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#CEDA1A", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#ACB616", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#899212", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#646911", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#3E420B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dce739 · 15.53:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.35:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.53:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dce739 as text scores 1.35:1 on white and 15.53:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #6B720E at 3.85:1.

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
#72790F · 4.71:1
AA on white−30% L
#72790F
The quick fox
#585D0B · 7.03:1
AAA on white−36% L
#585D0B
The quick fox
#dce739 · 15.53:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dce739
The quick fox
#dce739 · 15.53:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dce739

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #909812 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
#dce739 on white: 1.35:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dce739 on black: 15.53:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dce739 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dce739.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.35:1AaAa
Slate 501.29:1AaAa
Slate 1001.23:1AaAa
Slate 2001.10:1AaAa
Slate 3001.10:1AaAa
Slate 4001.90:1AaAa
Slate 5003.52:1AaAa
Slate 6005.60:1AaAa
Slate 7007.66:1AaAa
Slate 80010.82:1AaAa
Slate 90013.20:1AaAa
Black15.53:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #F8DC06
deuteranopia · #F8DF48
tritanopia · #EBD9C7

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. #dce739 is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FBFCF3
#F8F9E6
#F2F5C7
#EDF39B
#E4ED69
#dce739
#CEDA1A
#ACB616
#899212
#646911
#3E420B
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FBFCF3Darkest = 950 · #3E420BText 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 0.046 113.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.073 113.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.110 113.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.143 113.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.169 113.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.183 113.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.183 113.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.172 113.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.154 113.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.128 113.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.101 113.3);
}

Colors that work with #dce739

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#3557EB
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#6B720E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FBFCE8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#232414
Dark-mode background
Hover#D5E11B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B7C117
Two steps down
Disabled#D3D4BC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E8F341
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 #dce739

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 #6B720E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #909812

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 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight44/100
  • 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#4439E7
Analogous left#E79B39
Analogous right#85E739
Split-complement 1#3985E7
Split-complement 2#9B39E7
Triadic 1#39DCE7
Triadic 2#E739DC
Tetradic#39E79B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°64°

#dce739 sits at 64°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red86.3%
Green90.6%
Blue22.4%
R · 0–255
220
0xdc
G · 0–255
231
0xe7
B · 0–255
57
0x39

CMYK percentages

Cyan4.8%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow75.3%
Key (black)9.4%

Total ink coverage is 90%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dce739 text on a black background

contrast 15.53:1

Card sample

#dce739 text on a white background

contrast 1.35:1

Card sample

#dce739 on grey

1.23:1

#dce739 on its own surface

1.29:1

#dce739 on its dark surface

11.64:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dce739;
Background color
Panel with #dce739 background
background-color: #dce739;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dce739;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(220, 231, 57, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(220, 231, 57, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dce739;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dce739, #68E739);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dce739, #3DE739);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dce739;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dce739;
caret-color: #dce739;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dce739;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FBFCE8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dce739;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dce739 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dce739 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(220, 231, 57, 0.5)
rgb(220 231 57 / 50%)
#dce73980
hsl(64 78% 57% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dce739 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dce7391a#FCFDEB
20%#dce73933#F8FAD7
40%#dce73966#F1F5B0
60%#dce73999#EAF188
80%#dce739cc#E3EC61

Gradients from #dce739

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, #E6EE70, #dce739 45%, #6B720E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dce739, #43E41E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dce739, #4439E7);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EAF18B 0%, #dce739 45%, #6B720E 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%, #EDA767 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #89EA54 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #6B720E 0%, transparent 65%), #dce739;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dce739

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.

#dce739 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 15.53:1.

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.

#dce739, answered

What color is #dce739?

#dce739 is a balanced electric yellow, closest to Yellow (ΔE2000 7). It sits at 64° on the hue wheel with 78% saturation and 57% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dce739?

rgb(220, 231, 57) — 220 red, 231 green and 57 blue out of 255, or 86.3% / 90.6% / 22.4% by channel.

What is #dce739 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(64, 78%, 57%) and hsv(64, 75%, 91%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dce739 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7266 and perceived brightness is 84%, so black text on it reaches 15.53:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dce739?

Black. It scores 15.53:1 against #dce739, versus 1.35:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dce739 accessible on a white background?

#dce739 on white scores 1.35:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #72790F to reach 4.5:1, or #585D0B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dce739?

#4439E7 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #3985E7 and #9B39E7, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dce739?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EAEDC0 for borders, #969B4B for secondary text, #3557EB as an accent and #6B720E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #E79B39 and #85E739 stays calm, while #4439E7 is the loudest partner.

What is #dce739 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(5%, 0%, 75%, 9%). 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 #dce739 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 #E7B239; nudged cooler, #9DE937.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dce739?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 13.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dce739 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dce739 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dce739] or text-[#dce739], 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 #dce739 with 50% opacity?

rgba(220, 231, 57, 0.5), or #dce73980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EEF39C; over black, #6E741D.

Is #dce739 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFF33, ΔE2000 7.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dce739 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 #dce739?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E6EE70, #dce739 45%, #6B720E). For more colour, a short hue run to #43E41E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dce739 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dce739 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.