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yellow · warm

#dfdfc9

a light, soft yellow · warm · closest name: Beige

Token name suggestion: Linen Brass

RGB
223, 223, 201
HSL
60°, 26%, 83%
CMYK
0, 0, 10, 13
Luminance
0.7268

#dfdfc9 is a light soft yellow, 60° on the wheel and 32/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.54:1). As text it scores 1.35:1 on white — use #777746 instead. Nearest name is Beige, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(60 26% 83%)rgb(223 223 201)Base step 200AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dfdfc9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dfdfc9
Hue
60°
yellow
Saturation
26%
soft
Lightness
83%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
87%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7268
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
32/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
15.54:1
Closest name
Beige
ΔE2000 4.8
Chroma
11.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.898
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 25.2
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue60° of 360°
Saturation26%
Lightness83%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dfdfc9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool32% 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
Red22%
Green73%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#dfdfc9
HEX (8-digit)#dfdfc9ff
RGBrgb(223, 223, 201)
RGBArgba(223, 223, 201, 1)
HSLhsl(60, 26%, 83%)
HSV / HSBhsv(60, 10%, 87%)
HWBhwb(60 79% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 0%, 10%, 13%)
LABlab(88.3 -3.8 10.8)
LCHlch(88.3 11.4 109.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.898 0.029 107.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(67.36, 72.68, 65.73)
Decimal14671817
Display P3color(display-p3 0.875 0.875 0.788)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dfdfc9;
background-color: #dfdfc9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dfdfc9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dfdfc9] bg-[#dfdfc9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dfdfc9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.875, green: 0.875, blue: 0.788)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.875, green: 0.875, blue: 0.788, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DFDFC9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDFDFC9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDFDFC9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(201, 223, 223)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(223, 223, 201)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(223, 223, 201)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 223, 223, 201)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8745f, 0.8745f, 0.7882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{223,223,201}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dfdfc9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dfdfc9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#50502F, #E8E8D9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dfdfc9 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: #F9F9F6;
  --brand-100: #F3F3ED;
  --brand-200: #dfdfc9;
  --brand-300: #D5D5B9;
  --brand-400: #C0C095;
  --brand-500: #ACAC72;
  --brand-600: #9A9A5B;
  --brand-700: #80804C;
  --brand-800: #66663D;
  --brand-900: #4C4C2F;
  --brand-950: #2F2F1D;
  --brand: #dfdfc9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F9F5;
  --brand-border: #E1E1CC;
  --brand-hover: #D2D2B2;
  --brand-pressed: #C4C49C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #232315;
    --brand-ink: #E8E8D9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F9F6',
        100: '#F3F3ED',
        200: '#dfdfc9',
        300: '#D5D5B9',
        400: '#C0C095',
        500: '#ACAC72',
        600: '#9A9A5B',
        700: '#80804C',
        800: '#66663D',
        900: '#4C4C2F',
        950: '#2F2F1D',
        DEFAULT: '#dfdfc9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F9F6,
  '100': #F3F3ED,
  '200': #dfdfc9,
  '300': #D5D5B9,
  '400': #C0C095,
  '500': #ACAC72,
  '600': #9A9A5B,
  '700': #80804C,
  '800': #66663D,
  '900': #4C4C2F,
  '950': #2F2F1D,
);
$brand-base: #dfdfc9;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3F3ED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#dfdfc9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D5D5B9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C0C095", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#ACAC72", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#9A9A5B", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#80804C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#66663D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4C4C2F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2F2F1D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dfdfc9 · 15.54:1
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 · 15.54:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dfdfc9 as text scores 1.35:1 on white and 15.54:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #50502F at 6.14:1.

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
#777746 · 4.65:1
AA on white−46% L
#777746
The quick fox
#5A5A35 · 7.12:1
AAA on white−55% L
#5A5A35
The quick fox
#dfdfc9 · 15.54:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dfdfc9
The quick fox
#dfdfc9 · 15.54:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dfdfc9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #979759 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
#dfdfc9 on white: 1.35:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dfdfc9 on black: 15.54:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dfdfc9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dfdfc9.

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 6005.61:1AaAa
Slate 7007.66:1AaAa
Slate 80010.82:1AaAa
Slate 90013.21:1AaAa
Black15.54:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E3DDC8
deuteranopia · #E4DECA
tritanopia · #E3DCD9

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. #dfdfc9 is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F9F6
#F3F3ED
#dfdfc9
#D5D5B9
#C0C095
#ACAC72
#9A9A5B
#80804C
#66663D
#4C4C2F
#2F2F1D
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F9F9F6Darkest = 950 · #2F2F1DText 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 0.007 107.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.012 107.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.018 107.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.023 107.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.027 107.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.029 107.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.029 107.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.028 107.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.025 107.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.021 107.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.016 107.0);
}

Colors that work with #dfdfc9

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#F9F9F5
Tinted page background
Border#E1E1CC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#909055
Captions on the surface
Accent#475885
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#50502F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6F6EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#232315
Dark-mode background
Hover#D2D2B2
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C4C49C
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F7F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#EAEAD2
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 #dfdfc9

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #50502F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #979759

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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • Weight17/100
  • 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#C9C9DF
Analogous left#DFD4C9
Analogous right#D4DFC9
Split-complement 1#C9D4DF
Split-complement 2#D4C9DF
Triadic 1#C9DFDF
Triadic 2#DFC9DF
Tetradic#C9DFD4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°60°

#dfdfc9 sits at 60°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.5%
Green87.5%
Blue78.8%
R · 0–255
223
0xdf
G · 0–255
223
0xdf
B · 0–255
201
0xc9

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow9.9%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 22%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dfdfc9 text on a black background

contrast 15.54:1

Card sample

#dfdfc9 text on a white background

contrast 1.35:1

Card sample

#dfdfc9 on grey

1.23:1

#dfdfc9 on its own surface

1.28:1

#dfdfc9 on its dark surface

11.75:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dfdfc9;
Background color
Panel with #dfdfc9 background
background-color: #dfdfc9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dfdfc9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(223, 223, 201, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(223, 223, 201, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dfdfc9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dfdfc9, #D0DFC9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfdfc9, #CBDFC9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dfdfc9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dfdfc9;
caret-color: #dfdfc9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dfdfc9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6F6EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dfdfc9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dfdfc9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dfdfc9 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, 223, 201, 0.5)
rgb(223 223 201 / 50%)
#dfdfc980
hsl(60 26% 83% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dfdfc9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dfdfc91a#FCFCFA
20%#dfdfc933#F9F9F4
40%#dfdfc966#F2F2E9
60%#dfdfc999#ECECDF
80%#dfdfc9cc#E5E5D4

Gradients from #dfdfc9

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, #F6F6EF, #dfdfc9 45%, #50502F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dfdfc9, #BDD4B6);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfdfc9, #C9C9DF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F9F9F5 0%, #dfdfc9 45%, #50502F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F9F5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #F2EDE9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E2EADC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #50502F 0%, transparent 65%), #dfdfc9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dfdfc9

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.

#dfdfc9 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 15.54:1.

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.

#dfdfc9, answered

What color is #dfdfc9?

#dfdfc9 is a light soft yellow, closest to Beige (ΔE2000 4.8). It sits at 60° on the hue wheel with 26% saturation and 83% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dfdfc9?

rgb(223, 223, 201) — 223 red, 223 green and 201 blue out of 255, or 87.5% / 87.5% / 78.8% by channel.

What is #dfdfc9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(60, 26%, 83%) and hsv(60, 10%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dfdfc9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7268 and perceived brightness is 87%, so black text on it reaches 15.54:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dfdfc9?

Black. It scores 15.54:1 against #dfdfc9, versus 1.35:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dfdfc9 accessible on a white background?

#dfdfc9 on white scores 1.35:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #777746 to reach 4.5:1, or #5A5A35 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dfdfc9?

#C9C9DF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C9D4DF and #D4C9DF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dfdfc9?

For interface work: #F9F9F5 as the surface, #E1E1CC for borders, #909055 for secondary text, #475885 as an accent and #50502F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DFD4C9 and #D4DFC9 stays calm, while #C9C9DF is the loudest partner.

What is #dfdfc9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 0%, 10%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dfdfc9 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 32 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DFD7C9; nudged cooler, #D7E0C8.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dfdfc9?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 25.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dfdfc9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dfdfc9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dfdfc9] or text-[#dfdfc9], 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 #dfdfc9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(223, 223, 201, 0.5), or #dfdfc980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFEFE4; over black, #707065.

Is #dfdfc9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 10.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dfdfc9 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #dfdfc9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F6F6EF, #dfdfc9 45%, #50502F). For more colour, a short hue run to #BDD4B6 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dfdfc9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dfdfc9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.