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yellow · warm

#dfd1aa

a light, vivid yellow · warm · closest name: Wheat

Token name suggestion: Drift Straw

RGB
223, 209, 170
HSL
44°, 45%, 77%
CMYK
0, 6, 24, 13
Luminance
0.6419

#dfd1aa is a light vivid yellow, 44° on the wheel and 12/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.84:1). As text it scores 1.52:1 on white — use #897334 instead. Nearest name is Wheat, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(44 45% 77%)rgb(223 209 170)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dfd1aa is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dfd1aa
Hue
44°
yellow
Saturation
45%
vivid
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
82%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6419
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
12/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
13.84:1
Closest name
Wheat
ΔE2000 4.6
Chroma
21.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.862
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 19
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue44° of 360°
Saturation45%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dfd1aa.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool12% 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
Red24%
Green71%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#dfd1aa
HEX (8-digit)#dfd1aaff
RGBrgb(223, 209, 170)
RGBArgba(223, 209, 170, 1)
HSLhsl(44, 45%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(44, 24%, 87%)
HWBhwb(44 67% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 6%, 24%, 13%)
LABlab(84.1 -1.2 21.1)
LCHlch(84.1 21.2 93.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.862 0.054 90.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(60.49, 64.19, 47.23)
Decimal14668202
Display P3color(display-p3 0.875 0.820 0.667)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dfd1aa;
background-color: #dfd1aa;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dfd1aa;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dfd1aa] bg-[#dfd1aa]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dfd1aa;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.875, green: 0.820, blue: 0.667)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.875, green: 0.820, blue: 0.667, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DFD1AA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDFD1AA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDFD1AA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(170, 209, 223)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(223, 209, 170)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(223, 209, 170)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 223, 209, 170)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8745f, 0.8196f, 0.6667f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{223,209,170}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dfd1aa 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dfd1aa 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5D4D23, #EEE7D3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dfd1aa 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: #FAF9F5;
  --brand-100: #F5F2EA;
  --brand-200: #EBE4D1;
  --brand-300: #dfd1aa;
  --brand-400: #D1BD85;
  --brand-500: #C2A75C;
  --brand-600: #B29543;
  --brand-700: #947C38;
  --brand-800: #77632D;
  --brand-900: #574924;
  --brand-950: #362E16;
  --brand: #dfd1aa;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF9F4;
  --brand-border: #E9DFC4;
  --brand-hover: #D5C390;
  --brand-pressed: #CCB576;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242014;
    --brand-ink: #EEE7D3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF9F5',
        100: '#F5F2EA',
        200: '#EBE4D1',
        300: '#dfd1aa',
        400: '#D1BD85',
        500: '#C2A75C',
        600: '#B29543',
        700: '#947C38',
        800: '#77632D',
        900: '#574924',
        950: '#362E16',
        DEFAULT: '#dfd1aa',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF9F5,
  '100': #F5F2EA,
  '200': #EBE4D1,
  '300': #dfd1aa,
  '400': #D1BD85,
  '500': #C2A75C,
  '600': #B29543,
  '700': #947C38,
  '800': #77632D,
  '900': #574924,
  '950': #362E16,
);
$brand-base: #dfd1aa;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF9F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F5F2EA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#EBE4D1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#dfd1aa", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#D1BD85", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#C2A75C", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#B29543", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#947C38", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#77632D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#574924", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#362E16", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dfd1aa · 13.84:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.52:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.84:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dfd1aa as text scores 1.52:1 on white and 13.84:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5D4D23 at 5.42:1.

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
#897334 · 4.60:1
AA on white−40% L
#897334
The quick fox
#685727 · 7.04:1
AAA on white−49% L
#685727
The quick fox
#dfd1aa · 13.84:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dfd1aa
The quick fox
#dfd1aa · 13.84:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dfd1aa

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AB8F40 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
#dfd1aa on white: 1.52:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dfd1aa on black: 13.84:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dfd1aa as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dfd1aa.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.52:1AaAa
Slate 501.45:1AaAa
Slate 1001.39:1AaAa
Slate 2001.23:1AaAa
Slate 3001.02:1AaAa
Slate 4001.69:1AaAa
Slate 5003.14:1AaAa
Slate 6004.99:1AaAa
Slate 7006.82:1AaAa
Slate 8009.64:1AaAa
Slate 90011.76:1AaAa
Black13.84:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #DACFA8
deuteranopia · #DED3AB
tritanopia · #E8CBC6

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. #dfd1aa is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FAF9F5
#F5F2EA
#EBE4D1
#dfd1aa
#D1BD85
#C2A75C
#B29543
#947C38
#77632D
#574924
#362E16
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FAF9F5Darkest = 950 · #362E16Text 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 0.013 90.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.022 90.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.032 90.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.042 90.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.050 90.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.054 90.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.054 90.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.051 90.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.045 90.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.038 90.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.030 90.6);
}

Colors that work with #dfd1aa

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#E9DFC4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B864B
Captions on the surface
Accent#346798
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5D4D23
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F8F5EC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242014
Dark-mode background
Hover#D5C390
One step down in lightness
Pressed#CCB576
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F6F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E9DBB4
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 #dfd1aa

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
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • 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
  • White 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 #5D4D23
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AB8F40

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 lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight23/100
  • 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#AAB8DF
Analogous left#DFB7AA
Analogous right#D3DFAA
Split-complement 1#AAD3DF
Split-complement 2#B7AADF
Triadic 1#AADFD1
Triadic 2#D1AADF
Tetradic#AADFB7
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°44°

#dfd1aa sits at 44°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.5%
Green82.0%
Blue66.7%
R · 0–255
223
0xdf
G · 0–255
209
0xd1
B · 0–255
170
0xaa

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta6.3%
Yellow23.8%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 43%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dfd1aa text on a black background

contrast 13.84:1

Card sample

#dfd1aa text on a white background

contrast 1.52:1

Card sample

#dfd1aa on grey

1.39:1

#dfd1aa on its own surface

1.44:1

#dfd1aa on its dark surface

10.71:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dfd1aa;
Background color
Panel with #dfd1aa background
background-color: #dfd1aa;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dfd1aa;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(223, 209, 170, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(223, 209, 170, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dfd1aa;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dfd1aa, #CADFAA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfd1aa, #BCDFAA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dfd1aa;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dfd1aa;
caret-color: #dfd1aa;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dfd1aa;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F8F5EC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dfd1aa;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dfd1aa 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dfd1aa 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(223, 209, 170, 0.5)
rgb(223 209 170 / 50%)
#dfd1aa80
hsl(44 45% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dfd1aa 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dfd1aa1a#FCFAF7
20%#dfd1aa33#F9F6EE
40%#dfd1aa66#F2EDDD
60%#dfd1aa99#ECE3CC
80%#dfd1aacc#E5DABB

Gradients from #dfd1aa

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, #F0E9D7, #dfd1aa 45%, #5D4D23);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dfd1aa, #B6D794);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfd1aa, #AAB8DF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F8F5ED 0%, #dfd1aa 45%, #5D4D23 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%, #EDD4CF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DBE7C0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5D4D23 0%, transparent 65%), #dfd1aa;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dfd1aa

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.

#dfd1aa 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
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
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 13.84:1.

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.

#dfd1aa, answered

What color is #dfd1aa?

#dfd1aa is a light vivid yellow, closest to Wheat (ΔE2000 4.6). It sits at 44° on the hue wheel with 45% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dfd1aa?

rgb(223, 209, 170) — 223 red, 209 green and 170 blue out of 255, or 87.5% / 82% / 66.7% by channel.

What is #dfd1aa in HSL and HSV?

hsl(44, 45%, 77%) and hsv(44, 24%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dfd1aa a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6419 and perceived brightness is 82%, so black text on it reaches 13.84:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dfd1aa?

Black. It scores 13.84:1 against #dfd1aa, versus 1.52:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dfd1aa accessible on a white background?

#dfd1aa on white scores 1.52:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #897334 to reach 4.5:1, or #685727 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dfd1aa?

#AAB8DF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AAD3DF and #B7AADF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dfd1aa?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #E9DFC4 for borders, #9B864B for secondary text, #346798 as an accent and #5D4D23 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DFB7AA and #D3DFAA stays calm, while #AAB8DF is the loudest partner.

What is #dfd1aa in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 6%, 24%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dfd1aa warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 12 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DFC4AA; nudged cooler, #DBE0A9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dfd1aa?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 19 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dfd1aa as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dfd1aa in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dfd1aa] or text-[#dfd1aa], 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 #dfd1aa with 50% opacity?

rgba(223, 209, 170, 0.5), or #dfd1aa80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFE8D5; over black, #706955.

Is #dfd1aa a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 6.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dfd1aa 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 #dfd1aa?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F0E9D7, #dfd1aa 45%, #5D4D23). For more colour, a short hue run to #B6D794 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dfd1aa in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dfd1aa at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.