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yellow · warm

#e5eb21

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Brass

RGB
229, 235, 33
HSL
62°, 84%, 53%
CMYK
3, 0, 86, 8
Luminance
0.7618

#e5eb21 is a balanced electric yellow, 62° on the wheel and 27/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (16.24:1). As text it scores 1.29:1 on white — use #74770B instead. Nearest name is Yellow, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(62 84% 53%)rgb(229 235 33)Base step 500AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #e5eb21 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#e5eb21
Hue
62°
yellow
Saturation
84%
electric
Lightness
53%
balanced
Brightness
92%
HSV value
Perceived
86%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7618
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
27/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
16.24:1
Closest name
Yellow
ΔE2000 5
Chroma
87.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.906
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 15.9
Web-safe
#CCFF33
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue62° of 360°
Saturation84%
Lightness53%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #e5eb21.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool27% 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%
Green78%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#e5eb21
HEX (8-digit)#e5eb21ff
RGBrgb(229, 235, 33)
RGBArgba(229, 235, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(62, 84%, 53%)
HSV / HSBhsv(62, 86%, 92%)
HWBhwb(62 13% 8%)
CMYKcmyk(3%, 0%, 86%, 8%)
LABlab(90.0 -22.3 84.5)
LCHlch(90.0 87.4 104.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.906 0.194 111.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(62.30, 76.19, 12.86)
Decimal15067937
Display P3color(display-p3 0.898 0.922 0.129)
Web-safe#CCFF33

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #e5eb21;
background-color: #e5eb21;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #e5eb21;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#e5eb21] bg-[#e5eb21]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #e5eb21;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.898, green: 0.922, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.898, green: 0.922, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#E5EB21</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFE5EB21)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFE5EB21)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 235, 229)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(229, 235, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(229, 235, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 229, 235, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8980f, 0.9216f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{229,235,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #e5eb21 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #e5eb21 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#72750B, #EDEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #e5eb21 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: #FCFCF2;
  --brand-100: #F9FAE6;
  --brand-200: #F5F6C5;
  --brand-300: #F3F698;
  --brand-400: #EDF165;
  --brand-500: #e5eb21;
  --brand-600: #DAE114;
  --brand-700: #B6BB11;
  --brand-800: #92960D;
  --brand-900: #696C0E;
  --brand-950: #424409;
  --brand: #e5eb21;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EBEDC0;
  --brand-hover: #CFD513;
  --brand-pressed: #AFB410;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EDEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCFCF2',
        100: '#F9FAE6',
        200: '#F5F6C5',
        300: '#F3F698',
        400: '#EDF165',
        500: '#e5eb21',
        600: '#DAE114',
        700: '#B6BB11',
        800: '#92960D',
        900: '#696C0E',
        950: '#424409',
        DEFAULT: '#e5eb21',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCFCF2,
  '100': #F9FAE6,
  '200': #F5F6C5,
  '300': #F3F698,
  '400': #EDF165,
  '500': #e5eb21,
  '600': #DAE114,
  '700': #B6BB11,
  '800': #92960D,
  '900': #696C0E,
  '950': #424409,
);
$brand-base: #e5eb21;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCFCF2", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F9FAE6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F5F6C5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F3F698", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#EDF165", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#e5eb21", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#DAE114", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B6BB11", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#92960D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#696C0E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#424409", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #e5eb21 · 16.24:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.29:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 16.24:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #e5eb21 as text scores 1.29:1 on white and 16.24:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #72750B at 3.81:1.

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
#74770B · 4.79:1
AA on white−27% L
#74770B
The quick fox
#595B08 · 7.18:1
AAA on white−33% L
#595B08
The quick fox
#e5eb21 · 16.24:1
AA on blackalready passes
#e5eb21
The quick fox
#e5eb21 · 16.24:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#e5eb21

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #94980E 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
#e5eb21 on white: 1.29:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#e5eb21 on black: 16.24:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #e5eb21 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #e5eb21.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.29:1AaAa
Slate 501.24:1AaAa
Slate 1001.18:1AaAa
Slate 2001.05:1AaAa
Slate 3001.15:1AaAa
Slate 4001.98:1AaAa
Slate 5003.68:1AaAa
Slate 6005.86:1AaAa
Slate 7008.01:1AaAa
Slate 80011.31:1AaAa
Slate 90013.80:1AaAa
Black16.24:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #FEE000
deuteranopia · #FFE439
tritanopia · #F5DCC9

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. #e5eb21 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.

#FCFCF2
#F9FAE6
#F5F6C5
#F3F698
#EDF165
#e5eb21
#DAE114
#B6BB11
#92960D
#696C0E
#424409
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #FCFCF2Darkest = 950 · #424409Text 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 0.049 111.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.078 111.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.117 111.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.152 111.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.179 111.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.194 111.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.194 111.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.183 111.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.163 111.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.136 111.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.107 111.6);
}

Colors that work with #e5eb21

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#EBEDC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#999B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#1C4BF0
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#72750B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FCFDE8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#CFD513
One step down in lightness
Pressed#AFB410
Two steps down
Disabled#CBCCB0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F2F828
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 #e5eb21

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 #72750B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #94980E

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
  • Weight48/100
  • 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#2721EB
Analogous left#EB8C21
Analogous right#80EB21
Split-complement 1#2180EB
Split-complement 2#8C21EB
Triadic 1#21E5EB
Triadic 2#EB21E5
Tetradic#21EB8C
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°62°

#e5eb21 sits at 62°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red89.8%
Green92.2%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
229
0xe5
G · 0–255
235
0xeb
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan2.6%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow86.0%
Key (black)7.8%

Total ink coverage is 96%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#e5eb21 text on a black background

contrast 16.24:1

Card sample

#e5eb21 text on a white background

contrast 1.29:1

Card sample

#e5eb21 on grey

1.18:1

#e5eb21 on its own surface

1.23:1

#e5eb21 on its dark surface

12.14:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #e5eb21;
Background color
Panel with #e5eb21 background
background-color: #e5eb21;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #e5eb21;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(229, 235, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(229, 235, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #e5eb21;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #e5eb21, #5EEB21);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e5eb21, #2CEB21);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #e5eb21;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #e5eb21;
caret-color: #e5eb21;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #e5eb21;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FCFDE8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #e5eb21;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#e5eb21 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #e5eb21 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(229, 235, 33, 0.5)
rgb(229 235 33 / 50%)
#e5eb2180
hsl(62 84% 53% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #e5eb21 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#e5eb211a#FCFDE9
20%#e5eb2133#FAFBD3
40%#e5eb2166#F5F7A6
60%#e5eb2199#EFF37A
80%#e5eb21cc#EAEF4D

Gradients from #e5eb21

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, #ECF059, #e5eb21 45%, #72750B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #e5eb21, #3FDA14);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e5eb21, #2721EB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EFF375 0%, #e5eb21 45%, #72750B 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%, #EF9750 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #81EE3D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #72750B 0%, transparent 65%), #e5eb21;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #e5eb21

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.

#e5eb21 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 16.24:1.

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.

#e5eb21, answered

What color is #e5eb21?

#e5eb21 is a balanced electric yellow, closest to Yellow (ΔE2000 5). It sits at 62° on the hue wheel with 84% saturation and 53% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #e5eb21?

rgb(229, 235, 33) — 229 red, 235 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 89.8% / 92.2% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #e5eb21 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(62, 84%, 53%) and hsv(62, 86%, 92%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #e5eb21 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7618 and perceived brightness is 86%, so black text on it reaches 16.24:1.

Should I use black or white text on #e5eb21?

Black. It scores 16.24:1 against #e5eb21, versus 1.29:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #e5eb21 accessible on a white background?

#e5eb21 on white scores 1.29:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #74770B to reach 4.5:1, or #595B08 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #e5eb21?

#2721EB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #2180EB and #8C21EB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #e5eb21?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EBEDC0 for borders, #999B4B for secondary text, #1C4BF0 as an accent and #72750B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #EB8C21 and #80EB21 stays calm, while #2721EB is the loudest partner.

What is #e5eb21 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(3%, 0%, 86%, 8%). 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 #e5eb21 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 27 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #EBAF21; nudged cooler, #9BED1E.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #e5eb21?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 15.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #e5eb21 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #e5eb21 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#e5eb21] or text-[#e5eb21], 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 #e5eb21 with 50% opacity?

rgba(229, 235, 33, 0.5), or #e5eb2180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F2F590; over black, #737611.

Is #e5eb21 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFF33, ΔE2000 8.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #e5eb21 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 #e5eb21?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ECF059, #e5eb21 45%, #72750B). For more colour, a short hue run to #3FDA14 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #e5eb21 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #e5eb21 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.