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yellow · warm

#fffcad

a light, electric yellow · warm · closest name: Pale Goldenrod

Token name suggestion: Linen Citron

RGB
255, 252, 173
HSL
58°, 100%, 84%
CMYK
0, 1, 32, 0
Luminance
0.9390

#fffcad is a light electric yellow, 58° on the wheel and 23/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (19.78:1). As text it scores 1.06:1 on white — use #7A7500 instead. Nearest name is Pale Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(58 100% 84%)rgb(255 252 173)Base step 200AAA inkWarm

At a glance

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

Hex
#fffcad
Hue
58°
yellow
Saturation
100%
electric
Lightness
84%
light
Brightness
100%
HSV value
Perceived
96%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.9390
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
23/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
19.78:1
Closest name
Pale Goldenrod
ΔE2000 5
Chroma
39.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.976
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 21.2
Web-safe
#FFFF99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue58° of 360°
Saturation100%
Lightness84%
Saturation × lightness field

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

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#fffcad
HEX (8-digit)#fffcadff
RGBrgb(255, 252, 173)
RGBArgba(255, 252, 173, 1)
HSLhsl(58, 100%, 84%)
HSV / HSBhsv(58, 32%, 100%)
HWBhwb(58 68% 0%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 1%, 32%, 0%)
LABlab(97.6 -10.6 38.3)
LCHlch(97.6 39.7 105.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.976 0.099 106.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(83.59, 93.90, 53.25)
Decimal16776365
Display P3color(display-p3 1.000 0.988 0.678)
Web-safe#FFFF99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #fffcad;
background-color: #fffcad;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #fffcad;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#fffcad] bg-[#fffcad]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #fffcad;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 1.000, green: 0.988, blue: 0.678)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 1.000, green: 0.988, blue: 0.678, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#FFFCAD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFFFFCAD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFFFFCAD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(173, 252, 255)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(255, 252, 173)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(255, 252, 173)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 255, 252, 173)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(1.0000f, 0.9882f, 0.6784f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{255,252,173}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #fffcad 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #fffcad 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#807B00, #EEEDD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #fffcad 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: #FCFBE3;
  --brand-200: #fffcad;
  --brand-300: #FFFB8F;
  --brand-400: #FFF957;
  --brand-500: #FFF71F;
  --brand-600: #F5EC00;
  --brand-700: #CCC500;
  --brand-800: #A39D00;
  --brand-900: #767105;
  --brand-950: #494703;
  --brand: #fffcad;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAFAF4;
  --brand-border: #EDEBC0;
  --brand-hover: #FFFB89;
  --brand-pressed: #FFF965;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #242414;
    --brand-ink: #EEEDD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FEFDF1',
        100: '#FCFBE3',
        200: '#fffcad',
        300: '#FFFB8F',
        400: '#FFF957',
        500: '#FFF71F',
        600: '#F5EC00',
        700: '#CCC500',
        800: '#A39D00',
        900: '#767105',
        950: '#494703',
        DEFAULT: '#fffcad',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FEFDF1,
  '100': #FCFBE3,
  '200': #fffcad,
  '300': #FFFB8F,
  '400': #FFF957,
  '500': #FFF71F,
  '600': #F5EC00,
  '700': #CCC500,
  '800': #A39D00,
  '900': #767105,
  '950': #494703,
);
$brand-base: #fffcad;
$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": "#FCFBE3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#fffcad", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#FFFB8F", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#FFF957", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#FFF71F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#F5EC00", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#CCC500", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#A39D00", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#767105", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#494703", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #fffcad · 19.78:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.06:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 19.78:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #fffcad as text scores 1.06:1 on white and 19.78:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #807B00 at 4.16:1.

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
#7A7500 · 4.80:1
AA on white−60% L
#7A7500
The quick fox
#5B5800 · 7.39:1
AAA on white−66% L
#5B5800
The quick fox
#fffcad · 19.78:1
AA on blackalready passes
#fffcad
The quick fox
#fffcad · 19.78:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#fffcad

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9E9800 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
#fffcad on white: 1.06:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#fffcad on black: 19.78:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.06:1AaAa
Slate 501.01:1AaAa
Slate 1001.03:1AaAa
Slate 2001.16:1AaAa
Slate 3001.40:1AaAa
Slate 4002.42:1AaAa
Slate 5004.48:1AaAa
Slate 6007.14:1AaAa
Slate 7009.75:1AaAa
Slate 80013.78:1AaAa
Slate 90016.82:1AaAa
Black19.78:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #FFF6A7
deuteranopia · #FFFAB0
tritanopia · #FFF2E8

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. #fffcad 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.

#FEFDF1
#FCFBE3
#fffcad
#FFFB8F
#FFF957
#FFF71F
#F5EC00
#CCC500
#A39D00
#767105
#494703
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #FEFDF1Darkest = 950 · #494703Text 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 0.025 106.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.040 106.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.059 106.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.077 106.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.091 106.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.099 106.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.099 106.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.093 106.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.083 106.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.069 106.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.054 106.2);
}

Colors that work with #fffcad

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#0039CC
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#807B00
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FFFEE5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#242414
Dark-mode background
Hover#FFFB89
One step down in lightness
Pressed#FFF965
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F7F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#FFFDC1
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 #fffcad

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 #807B00
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9E9800

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
  • Weight16/100
  • 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#ADB0FF
Analogous left#FFD3AD
Analogous right#D9FFAD
Split-complement 1#ADD9FF
Split-complement 2#D3ADFF
Triadic 1#ADFFFC
Triadic 2#FCADFF
Tetradic#ADFFD3
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°58°

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

RGB percentages

Red100.0%
Green98.8%
Blue67.8%
R · 0–255
255
0xff
G · 0–255
252
0xfc
B · 0–255
173
0xad

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta1.2%
Yellow32.2%
Key (black)0.0%

Total ink coverage is 33%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#fffcad text on a black background

contrast 19.78:1

Card sample

#fffcad text on a white background

contrast 1.06:1

Card sample

#fffcad on grey

1.03:1

#fffcad on its own surface

1.01:1

#fffcad on its dark surface

14.79:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(255, 252, 173, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(255, 252, 173, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #fffcad;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #fffcad, #CBFFAD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fffcad, #B7FFAD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #fffcad;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #fffcad;
caret-color: #fffcad;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #fffcad;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FFFEE5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #fffcad;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#fffcad 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #fffcad 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(255, 252, 173, 0.5)
rgb(255 252 173 / 50%)
#fffcad80
hsl(58 100% 84% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #fffcad 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#fffcad1a#FFFFF7
20%#fffcad33#FFFEEF
40%#fffcad66#FFFEDE
60%#fffcad99#FFFDCE
80%#fffcadcc#FFFDBD

Gradients from #fffcad

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, #FFFEEA, #fffcad 45%, #807B00);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #fffcad, #AFFF8E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #fffcad, #ADB0FF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FFFEF0 0%, #fffcad 45%, #807B00 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%, #FFECE0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E3FFCB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #807B00 0%, transparent 65%), #fffcad;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #fffcad

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.

#fffcad 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 19.78:1.

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.

#fffcad, answered

What color is #fffcad?

#fffcad is a light electric yellow, closest to Pale Goldenrod (ΔE2000 5). It sits at 58° on the hue wheel with 100% saturation and 84% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #fffcad?

rgb(255, 252, 173) — 255 red, 252 green and 173 blue out of 255, or 100% / 98.8% / 67.8% by channel.

What is #fffcad in HSL and HSV?

hsl(58, 100%, 84%) and hsv(58, 32%, 100%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #fffcad a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.9390 and perceived brightness is 96%, so black text on it reaches 19.78:1.

Should I use black or white text on #fffcad?

Black. It scores 19.78:1 against #fffcad, versus 1.06:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #fffcad accessible on a white background?

#fffcad on white scores 1.06:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7A7500 to reach 4.5:1, or #5B5800 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #fffcad?

#ADB0FF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ADD9FF and #D3ADFF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #fffcad?

For interface work: #FAFAF4 as the surface, #EDEBC0 for borders, #9B984B for secondary text, #0039CC as an accent and #807B00 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FFD3AD and #D9FFAD stays calm, while #ADB0FF is the loudest partner.

What is #fffcad in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 1%, 32%, 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 #fffcad 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 #FFDEAD; nudged cooler, #E4FFAD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #fffcad?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 21.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #fffcad as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #fffcad in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(255, 252, 173, 0.5), or #fffcad80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #FFFED6; over black, #807E57.

Is #fffcad a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFF99, ΔE2000 3.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #fffcad 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 #fffcad?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #FFFEEA, #fffcad 45%, #807B00). For more colour, a short hue run to #AFFF8E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #fffcad in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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