Goldenrod #daa520

Gold that grew in a field.

RGB

218, 165, 32

HSL

43°, 74%, 49%

CMYK

0, 24, 85, 15

Luminance

0.4192

About Goldenrod

Goldenrod, #daa520, is gold with brown honesty — named for the tall wildflower that turns roadsides amber every late summer. Deeper than gold, richer than mustard, it is autumn’s official warm.

History

The wildflower dyed cloth and named the color; Edison chased its rubber; and "goldenrod" became the standard tint of legal-pad paper and manila-adjacent office stock — bureaucracy’s one flash of warmth.

Psychology

Goldenrod reads warm, ripe and earthbound — gold that skips the glamour for harvest honesty. It signals autumn, wheat and late-day sun.

In design

Goldenrod is a strong warm accent: passes large-text on white (~4.6:1), darkens acceptably for body. Pair with charcoal, forest, burgundy and cream. Harvest, craft and academic-heritage palettes deploy it liberally.

In culture

Goldenrod fields, goldenrod paper, the flower blamed (wrongly) for hay fever: a late-summer color with a bureaucratic second life.

Brands that own goldenrod

Legal-pad kin#e6c200 Wheat-belt branding#daa520 Craft beer amber#c8971a Autumn campaigns#d4a017 Manila office stock#e3c565

Shades of goldenrod

Gold Mustard Amber Ochre Honey Dark goldenrod Saffron Marigold

Every format

HEX	#daa520
RGB	rgb(218, 165, 32)
HSL	hsl(43, 74%, 49%)
CMYK	cmyk(0%, 24%, 85%, 15%)
LAB	lab(70.8 8.5 68.8)
LCH	lch(70.8 69.3 82.9)
OKLCH	oklch(0.752 0.147 84.0)

Copy-ready code

/* CSS */
color: #daa520;
background-color: #daa520;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#daa520] bg-[#daa520]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #daa520;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.855, green: 0.647, blue: 0.125)
/* Android */
Color.parseColor("#daa520")

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

#daa520 on white: 2.24:1

AA ✗ fail · AA-large ✗ · AAA ✗

#daa520 on black: 9.38:1

AA ✓ pass · AA-large ✓ · AAA ✓

true color

protanopia

deuteranopia

tritanopia

RGB percentages

Red85.5%

Green64.7%

Blue12.5%

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%

Magenta24.3%

Yellow85.3%

Key (black)14.5%

Color previews

#daa520 text on a black background

contrast 9.38:1

Card sample

#daa520 text on a white background

contrast 2.24:1

Card sample

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #daa520;

Background color

Panel with #daa520 background

background-color: #daa520;

Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #daa520;

Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(218, 165, 32, 0.45);

Div box shadow

Elevated card

box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(218, 165, 32, 0.45);

Border & gradient

Gradient panel

border: 3px solid #daa520;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #daa520, #93DA20);

Monochromatic scale

#352808 #745811 #B2871A #E1AF32 #EAC871 #F3E0AF #FAF1DB

Palettes built from #daa520

UI palette

Gradient stops

Accent trio

Warm–cool bridge

Shades — darker

#C4941D #AE841A #997316 #836313 #6D5210 #57420D #41310A #2C2106 #161003

Tints — lighter

#E1AF33 #E4B84A #E8C160 #EBCA77 #EED38E #F2DCA4 #F5E4BB #F8EDD2 #FCF6E8

Hue & tone neighbors

#DA6720 #DA8620 #DAC420 #D1DA20 #E4B849 #AD8319 #F3B007 #C19A39

Color harmonies

Complement

Split-complement

Analogous

Triadic

Tetradic

Nearest named colors

orange · ΔE 18.9 peru · ΔE 26.1 gold · ΔE 26.6 olive · ΔE 31.1 chocolate · ΔE 34.3

Goldenrod, answered

What is the hex code for goldenrod?

CSS goldenrod is #daa520; dark goldenrod deepens to #b8860b, pale goldenrod lightens to #eee8aa.

Goldenrod vs gold vs mustard?

Gold is metallic-bright, mustard is condiment-flat, goldenrod is the wildflower between — browner and warmer than both.

What pairs with goldenrod?

Charcoal and forest green (harvest), burgundy and cream (academic), denim for casual warmth.

Work with #daa520 in the Color Lab

Contrast Checker →Palette Generator →Palette Pro →Scale Generator →CSS Code Generator →Color Blind Simulator →Accessibility Checker →Color Distance →