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yellow · warm

#fdfaa9

a light, electric yellow · warm · closest name: Khaki

Token name suggestion: Linen Honey

RGB
253, 250, 169
HSL
58°, 96%, 83%
CMYK
0, 1, 33, 1
Luminance
0.9212

#fdfaa9 is a light electric yellow, 58° on the wheel and 23/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (19.42:1). As text it scores 1.08:1 on white — use #7B7703 instead. Nearest name is Khaki, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(58 96% 83%)rgb(253 250 169)Base step 200AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #fdfaa9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#fdfaa9
Hue
58°
yellow
Saturation
96%
electric
Lightness
83%
light
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
95%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.9212
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
23/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
19.42:1
Closest name
Khaki
ΔE2000 4.8
Chroma
40.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.969
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 20.8
Web-safe
#FFFF99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue58° of 360°
Saturation96%
Lightness83%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #fdfaa9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool23% 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
Red23%
Green74%
Blue3%

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

Every format

HEX#fdfaa9
HEX (8-digit)#fdfaa9ff
RGBrgb(253, 250, 169)
RGBArgba(253, 250, 169, 1)
HSLhsl(58, 96%, 83%)
HSV / HSBhsv(58, 33%, 99%)
HWBhwb(58 66% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 1%, 33%, 1%)
LABlab(96.9 -10.8 39.3)
LCHlch(96.9 40.7 105.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.969 0.101 106.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(81.86, 92.12, 51.00)
Decimal16644777
Display P3color(display-p3 0.992 0.980 0.663)
Web-safe#FFFF99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fdfaa9;
background-color: #fdfaa9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fdfaa9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fdfaa9] bg-[#fdfaa9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fdfaa9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.992, green: 0.980, blue: 0.663)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.992, green: 0.980, blue: 0.663, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FDFAA9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFDFAA9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFDFAA9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(169, 250, 253)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(253, 250, 169)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(253, 250, 169)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 253, 250, 169)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9922f, 0.9804f, 0.6627f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{253,250,169}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fdfaa9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fdfaa9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7D7803, #EEEDD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fdfaa9 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: #FDFDF1;
  --brand-100: #FCFBE4;
  --brand-200: #fdfaa9;
  --brand-300: #FCF991;
  --brand-400: #FBF65A;
  --brand-500: #FAF224;
  --brand-600: #EFE706;
  --brand-700: #C7C105;
  --brand-800: #A09A04;
  --brand-900: #736F07;
  --brand-950: #484605;
  --brand: #fdfaa9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EDEBC0;
  --brand-hover: #FCF886;
  --brand-pressed: #FBF663;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EEEDD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FDFDF1',
        100: '#FCFBE4',
        200: '#fdfaa9',
        300: '#FCF991',
        400: '#FBF65A',
        500: '#FAF224',
        600: '#EFE706',
        700: '#C7C105',
        800: '#A09A04',
        900: '#736F07',
        950: '#484605',
        DEFAULT: '#fdfaa9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FDFDF1,
  '100': #FCFBE4,
  '200': #fdfaa9,
  '300': #FCF991,
  '400': #FBF65A,
  '500': #FAF224,
  '600': #EFE706,
  '700': #C7C105,
  '800': #A09A04,
  '900': #736F07,
  '950': #484605,
);
$brand-base: #fdfaa9;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FDFDF1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCFBE4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#fdfaa9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#FCF991", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FBF65A", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FAF224", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#EFE706", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#C7C105", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A09A04", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#736F07", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#484605", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fdfaa9 · 19.42:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.08:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 19.42:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fdfaa9 as text scores 1.08:1 on white and 19.42:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7D7803 at 4.26:1.

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
#7B7703 · 4.69:1
AA on white−58% L
#7B7703
The quick fox
#5D5A02 · 7.17:1
AAA on white−64% L
#5D5A02
The quick fox
#fdfaa9 · 19.42:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fdfaa9
The quick fox
#fdfaa9 · 19.42:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fdfaa9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #999404 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
#fdfaa9 on white: 1.08:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fdfaa9 on black: 19.42:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #fdfaa9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #fdfaa9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.08:1AaAa
Slate 501.03:1AaAa
Slate 1001.01:1AaAa
Slate 2001.14:1AaAa
Slate 3001.37:1AaAa
Slate 4002.37:1AaAa
Slate 5004.40:1AaAa
Slate 6007.01:1AaAa
Slate 7009.58:1AaAa
Slate 80013.53:1AaAa
Slate 90016.51:1AaAa
Black19.42:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #FFF4A3
deuteranopia · #FFF8AC
tritanopia · #FFF0E5

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. #fdfaa9 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.

#FDFDF1
#FCFBE4
#fdfaa9
#FCF991
#FBF65A
#FAF224
#EFE706
#C7C105
#A09A04
#736F07
#484605
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #FDFDF1Darkest = 950 · #484605Text 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 0.025 106.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.041 106.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.061 106.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.079 106.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.093 106.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.101 106.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.101 106.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.095 106.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.085 106.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.071 106.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.056 106.3);
}

Colors that work with #fdfaa9

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#EDEBC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B984B
Captions on the surface
Accent#003ACC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7D7803
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FEFEE6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#FCF886
One step down in lightness
Pressed#FBF663
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F7F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFFDBB
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 #fdfaa9

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 #7D7803
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #999404

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 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • 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#A9ACFD
Analogous left#FDD0A9
Analogous right#D6FDA9
Split-complement 1#A9D6FD
Split-complement 2#D0A9FD
Triadic 1#A9FDFA
Triadic 2#FAA9FD
Tetradic#A9FDD0
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°58°

#fdfaa9 sits at 58°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red99.2%
Green98.0%
Blue66.3%
R · 0–255
253
0xfd
G · 0–255
250
0xfa
B · 0–255
169
0xa9

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta1.2%
Yellow33.2%
Key (black)0.8%

Total ink coverage is 35%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fdfaa9 text on a black background

contrast 19.42:1

Card sample

#fdfaa9 text on a white background

contrast 1.08:1

Card sample

#fdfaa9 on grey

1.01:1

#fdfaa9 on its own surface

1.03:1

#fdfaa9 on its dark surface

14.52:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #fdfaa9;
Background color
Panel with #fdfaa9 background
background-color: #fdfaa9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #fdfaa9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(253, 250, 169, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(253, 250, 169, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fdfaa9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fdfaa9, #C8FDA9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fdfaa9, #B3FDA9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fdfaa9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fdfaa9;
caret-color: #fdfaa9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fdfaa9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FEFEE6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fdfaa9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fdfaa9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fdfaa9 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(253, 250, 169, 0.5)
rgb(253 250 169 / 50%)
#fdfaa980
hsl(58 96% 83% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fdfaa9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fdfaa91a#FFFFF6
20%#fdfaa933#FFFEEE
40%#fdfaa966#FEFDDD
60%#fdfaa999#FEFCCB
80%#fdfaa9cc#FDFBBA

Gradients from #fdfaa9

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, #FEFDE5, #fdfaa9 45%, #7D7803);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fdfaa9, #ABFC8B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fdfaa9, #A9ACFD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FFFEF0 0%, #fdfaa9 45%, #7D7803 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%, #FEE8DB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E0FEC7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7D7803 0%, transparent 65%), #fdfaa9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fdfaa9

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.

#fdfaa9 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

On screens

Very light values are indistinguishable from white on a dim phone screen outdoors. Give it a border if the boundary matters.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 19.42:1.

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.

#fdfaa9, answered

What color is #fdfaa9?

#fdfaa9 is a light electric yellow, closest to Khaki (ΔE2000 4.8). It sits at 58° on the hue wheel with 96% saturation and 83% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fdfaa9?

rgb(253, 250, 169) — 253 red, 250 green and 169 blue out of 255, or 99.2% / 98% / 66.3% by channel.

What is #fdfaa9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(58, 96%, 83%) and hsv(58, 33%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fdfaa9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.9212 and perceived brightness is 95%, so black text on it reaches 19.42:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fdfaa9?

Black. It scores 19.42:1 against #fdfaa9, versus 1.08:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fdfaa9 accessible on a white background?

#fdfaa9 on white scores 1.08:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7B7703 to reach 4.5:1, or #5D5A02 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fdfaa9?

#A9ACFD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #A9D6FD and #D0A9FD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fdfaa9?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EDEBC0 for borders, #9B984B for secondary text, #003ACC as an accent and #7D7803 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FDD0A9 and #D6FDA9 stays calm, while #A9ACFD is the loudest partner.

What is #fdfaa9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 1%, 33%, 1%). 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 #fdfaa9 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 23 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #FDDBA9; nudged cooler, #E1FEA8.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fdfaa9?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 20.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #fdfaa9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #fdfaa9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#fdfaa9] or text-[#fdfaa9], 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 #fdfaa9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(253, 250, 169, 0.5), or #fdfaa980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FEFDD4; over black, #7F7D55.

Is #fdfaa9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFF99, ΔE2000 3.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #fdfaa9 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 #fdfaa9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FEFDE5, #fdfaa9 45%, #7D7803). For more colour, a short hue run to #ABFC8B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fdfaa9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #fdfaa9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.