Skip to content

#e3c310

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

RGB
227, 195, 16
HSL
51°, 87%, 48%
CMYK
0, 14, 93, 11
Luminance
0.5540

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #e3c310 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#e3c310
Hue
51°
yellow
Saturation
87%
electric
Lightness
48%
balanced
Brightness
89%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5540
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
17/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
12.08:1
Closest name
Gold
ΔE2000 5.5
Where it sits
Hue51° of 360°
Saturation87%
Lightness48%
Temperature
Warm ← → Cool17% cool

Reads warm. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Every format

HEX#e3c310
RGBrgb(227, 195, 16)
HSLhsl(51, 87%, 48%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 14%, 93%, 11%)
LABlab(79.3 -3.6 78.8)
LCHlch(79.3 78.9 92.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.820 0.167 96.9)
Decimal14926608
Display P3color(display-p3 0.890 0.765 0.063)

Copy-ready code

/* CSS */
color: #e3c310;
background-color: #e3c310;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#e3c310] bg-[#e3c310]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #e3c310;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.890, green: 0.765, blue: 0.063)
/* Android */
Color.parseColor("#e3c310")
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFE3C310)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(16, 195, 227)

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 #e3c310 · 12.08:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
White text · 1.74:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.08:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #e3c310 as text scores 1.74:1 on white and 12.08:1 on black.

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#e3c310 on white: 1.74:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#e3c310 on black: 12.08:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
true color
protanopia · #D9BE00
deuteranopia · #E1C926
tritanopia · #F6B3A6

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #e3c310 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.

#FDFBF2
#FAF7E5
#F7F0C4
#F8E996
#F4DE62
#F0D32D
#e3c310
#BFA40D
#98830B
#6E5F0C
#453C08
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #FDFBF2Darkest = 950 · #453C08
:root {
  --brand-50: #FDFBF2;
  --brand-100: #FAF7E5;
  --brand-200: #F7F0C4;
  --brand-300: #F8E996;
  --brand-400: #F4DE62;
  --brand-500: #F0D32D;
  --brand-600: #e3c310;
  --brand-700: #BFA40D;
  --brand-800: #98830B;
  --brand-900: #6E5F0C;
  --brand-950: #453C08;
  --brand: #e3c310;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
}

Colors that work with #e3c310

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#EDE6C0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B8F4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0B64E8
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#776608
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FDFAE7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242214
Dark-mode background
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

How to use #e3c310

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
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

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#1030E3
Analogous left#E35910
Analogous right#99E310
Split-complement 1#1099E3
Split-complement 2#5910E3
Triadic 1#10E3C3
Triadic 2#C310E3
Tetradic#10E359

RGB percentages

Red89.0%
Green76.5%
Blue6.3%

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta14.1%
Yellow93.0%
Key (black)11.0%

Color previews

#e3c310 text on a black background

contrast 12.08:1

Card sample

#e3c310 text on a white background

contrast 1.74:1

Card sample

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #e3c310;
Background color
Panel with #e3c310 background
background-color: #e3c310;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #e3c310;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(227, 195, 16, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(227, 195, 16, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #e3c310;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #e3c310, #76E310);

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #e3c310

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

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.

#e3c310 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.

#e3c310, answered

What color is #e3c310?

#e3c310 is a balanced electric yellow, closest to Gold (ΔE2000 5.5). It sits at 51° on the hue wheel with 87% saturation and 48% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #e3c310?

rgb(227, 195, 16) — 227 red, 195 green and 16 blue out of 255, or 89% / 76.5% / 6.3% by channel.

Is #e3c310 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5540 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 12.08:1.

Should I use black or white text on #e3c310?

Black. It scores 12.08:1 against #e3c310, versus 1.74:1 for white — AAA at any size.

What is the complementary color of #e3c310?

#1030E3 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #1099E3 and #5910E3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #e3c310?

For interface work: #FAF9F4 as the surface, #EDE6C0 for borders, #9B8F4B for secondary text, #0B64E8 as an accent and #776608 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #E35910 and #99E310 stays calm, while #1030E3 is the loudest partner.

What is #e3c310 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 14%, 93%, 11%). 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 #e3c310 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 17 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E39410; nudged cooler, #B7E50E.

Work with #e3c310 in the Color Lab