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yellow · warm

#fefd78

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Straw

RGB
254, 253, 120
HSL
60°, 99%, 73%
CMYK
0, 0, 53, 0
Luminance
0.9268

#fefd78 is a light electric yellow, 60° on the wheel and 25/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (19.54:1). As text it scores 1.07:1 on white — use #7B7A01 instead. Nearest name is Yellow, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(60 99% 73%)rgb(254 253 120)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #fefd78 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#fefd78
Hue
60°
yellow
Saturation
99%
electric
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
95%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.9268
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
25/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
19.54:1
Closest name
Yellow
ΔE2000 7
Chroma
64.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.969
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 19
Web-safe
#FFFF66
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue60° of 360°
Saturation99%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #fefd78.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool25% 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%
Green76%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#fefd78
HEX (8-digit)#fefd78ff
RGBrgb(254, 253, 120)
RGBArgba(254, 253, 120, 1)
HSLhsl(60, 99%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(60, 53%, 100%)
HWBhwb(60 47% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 0%, 53%, 0%)
LABlab(97.1 -16.6 62.8)
LCHlch(97.1 64.9 104.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.969 0.155 108.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(79.39, 92.68, 31.47)
Decimal16711032
Display P3color(display-p3 0.996 0.992 0.471)
Web-safe#FFFF66

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fefd78;
background-color: #fefd78;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fefd78;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fefd78] bg-[#fefd78]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fefd78;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.996, green: 0.992, blue: 0.471)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.996, green: 0.992, blue: 0.471, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FEFD78</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFEFD78)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFEFD78)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(120, 253, 254)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(254, 253, 120)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(254, 253, 120)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 254, 253, 120)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9961f, 0.9922f, 0.4706f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{254,253,120}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fefd78 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fefd78 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#7F7E01, #EEEED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fefd78 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: #FEFDF1;
  --brand-100: #FCFCE3;
  --brand-200: #FBFBC1;
  --brand-300: #fefd78;
  --brand-400: #FEFD58;
  --brand-500: #FDFC20;
  --brand-600: #F3F102;
  --brand-700: #CAC902;
  --brand-800: #A2A101;
  --brand-900: #757406;
  --brand-950: #494804;
  --brand: #fefd78;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EDECC0;
  --brand-hover: #FEFD54;
  --brand-pressed: #FDFC31;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EEEED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FEFDF1',
        100: '#FCFCE3',
        200: '#FBFBC1',
        300: '#fefd78',
        400: '#FEFD58',
        500: '#FDFC20',
        600: '#F3F102',
        700: '#CAC902',
        800: '#A2A101',
        900: '#757406',
        950: '#494804',
        DEFAULT: '#fefd78',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FEFDF1,
  '100': #FCFCE3,
  '200': #FBFBC1,
  '300': #fefd78,
  '400': #FEFD58,
  '500': #FDFC20,
  '600': #F3F102,
  '700': #CAC902,
  '800': #A2A101,
  '900': #757406,
  '950': #494804,
);
$brand-base: #fefd78;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FEFDF1", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#FCFCE3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#FBFBC1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#fefd78", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FEFD58", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FDFC20", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F3F102", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#CAC902", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A2A101", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#757406", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#494804", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fefd78 · 19.54:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.07:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 19.54:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fefd78 as text scores 1.07:1 on white and 19.54:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #7F7E01 at 4.00:1.

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
#7B7A01 · 4.54:1
AA on white−49% L
#7B7A01
The quick fox
#5D5C01 · 7.01:1
AAA on white−55% L
#5D5C01
The quick fox
#fefd78 · 19.54:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fefd78
The quick fox
#fefd78 · 19.54:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fefd78

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #999801 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
#fefd78 on white: 1.07:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fefd78 on black: 19.54:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #fefd78 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #fefd78.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.07:1AaAa
Slate 501.03:1AaAa
Slate 1001.02:1AaAa
Slate 2001.15:1AaAa
Slate 3001.38:1AaAa
Slate 4002.39:1AaAa
Slate 5004.43:1AaAa
Slate 6007.05:1AaAa
Slate 7009.63:1AaAa
Slate 80013.61:1AaAa
Slate 90016.61:1AaAa
Black19.54:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #FFF46B
deuteranopia · #FFF97F
tritanopia · #FFEFDF

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. #fefd78 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.

#FEFDF1
#FCFCE3
#FBFBC1
#fefd78
#FEFD58
#FDFC20
#F3F102
#CAC902
#A2A101
#757406
#494804
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #FEFDF1Darkest = 950 · #494804Text 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 0.039 108.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.062 108.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.093 108.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.121 108.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.142 108.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.155 108.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.155 108.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.145 108.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.130 108.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.108 108.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.085 108.6);
}

Colors that work with #fefd78

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#EDECC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B9A4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#0034CC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#7F7E01
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFFFE6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#FEFD54
One step down in lightness
Pressed#FDFC31
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F6F0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFFE8B
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 #fefd78

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 #7F7E01
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #999801

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
  • Weight27/100
  • 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#7879FE
Analogous left#FEBA78
Analogous right#BCFE78
Split-complement 1#78BCFE
Split-complement 2#BA78FE
Triadic 1#78FEFD
Triadic 2#FD78FE
Tetradic#78FEBA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°60°

#fefd78 sits at 60°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red99.6%
Green99.2%
Blue47.1%
R · 0–255
254
0xfe
G · 0–255
253
0xfd
B · 0–255
120
0x78

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta0.4%
Yellow52.8%
Key (black)0.4%

Total ink coverage is 54%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fefd78 text on a black background

contrast 19.54:1

Card sample

#fefd78 text on a white background

contrast 1.07:1

Card sample

#fefd78 on grey

1.02:1

#fefd78 on its own surface

1.03:1

#fefd78 on its dark surface

14.61:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #fefd78;
Background color
Panel with #fefd78 background
background-color: #fefd78;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #fefd78;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(254, 253, 120, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(254, 253, 120, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fefd78;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fefd78, #A5FE78);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fefd78, #84FE78);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fefd78;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fefd78;
caret-color: #fefd78;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fefd78;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFFFE6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fefd78;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fefd78 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fefd78 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(254, 253, 120, 0.5)
rgb(254 253 120 / 50%)
#fefd7880
hsl(60 99% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fefd78 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fefd781a#FFFFF2
20%#fefd7833#FFFFE4
40%#fefd7866#FFFEC9
60%#fefd7899#FEFEAE
80%#fefd78cc#FEFD93

Gradients from #fefd78

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, #FEFEB5, #fefd78 45%, #7F7E01);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fefd78, #84FE59);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fefd78, #7879FE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FFFED3 0%, #fefd78 45%, #7F7E01 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%, #FECDAA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C2FE96 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #7F7E01 0%, transparent 65%), #fefd78;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fefd78

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.

#fefd78 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 19.54:1.

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.

#fefd78, answered

What color is #fefd78?

#fefd78 is a light electric yellow, closest to Yellow (ΔE2000 7). It sits at 60° on the hue wheel with 99% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fefd78?

rgb(254, 253, 120) — 254 red, 253 green and 120 blue out of 255, or 99.6% / 99.2% / 47.1% by channel.

What is #fefd78 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(60, 99%, 73%) and hsv(60, 53%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fefd78 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.9268 and perceived brightness is 95%, so black text on it reaches 19.54:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fefd78?

Black. It scores 19.54:1 against #fefd78, versus 1.07:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fefd78 accessible on a white background?

#fefd78 on white scores 1.07:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7B7A01 to reach 4.5:1, or #5D5C01 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fefd78?

#7879FE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #78BCFE and #BA78FE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fefd78?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EDECC0 for borders, #9B9A4B for secondary text, #0034CC as an accent and #7F7E01 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FEBA78 and #BCFE78 stays calm, while #7879FE is the loudest partner.

What is #fefd78 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 0%, 53%, 0%). 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 #fefd78 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 25 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #FECD78; nudged cooler, #CEFF77.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fefd78?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 19 away. That is a visible difference, so define #fefd78 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #fefd78 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#fefd78] or text-[#fefd78], 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 #fefd78 with 50% opacity?

rgba(254, 253, 120, 0.5), or #fefd7880 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FFFEBC; over black, #7F7F3C.

Is #fefd78 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFF66, ΔE2000 2.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #fefd78 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 #fefd78?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FEFEB5, #fefd78 45%, #7F7E01). For more colour, a short hue run to #84FE59 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fefd78 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #fefd78 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.