#BDA521

sRGB: 189 / 165 / 33

#BDA521 belongs to the yellow family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 189 red, 165 green and 33 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 50.8° lands in the yellow region. Its 70.3% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 43.5% on a scale from black (0%) to white (100%). Of black and white lettering, black has the clearer light-to-dark separation on this background (8.57:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 189, 165, 33
HSL: 50.77°, 70.27%, 43.53%
HSV / HSB: 50.77°, 82.54%, 74.12%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 12.70%, 82.54%, 25.88%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 34.715, 37.840, 6.914
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 67.902, -4.240, 64.873
WCAG relative luminance: 0.37839
24-bit decimal: 12428577

CMYK uses a profile-free approximation. Printed output depends on the press, ink and paper. Lab uses a D65 white point.

Text contrast

Contrast tells you how clearly lettering separates from #BDA521 in light and dark. The ratio compares relative luminance, a measure of light weighted for human vision. Identical colors give 1:1 and black against white gives 21:1. A ratio of 2.99:1 falls just below the 3:1 AA minimum for large text. Body text needs at least 4.5:1 because its finer strokes are harder to distinguish.

Black text: 8.57:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.45:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: Fail

AA and AAA are WCAG accessibility levels. AAA sets a higher bar: 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Large text begins at 18 pt regular or 14 pt bold. Ratings use the unrounded ratio.

Reference: WCAG text contrast guidance

Palettes & scales

Harmonies rotate the hue. Scales mix the starting color with white, black or middle gray in 20% steps in encoded sRGB.

Complementary

#2139BD sits half a turn (180°) from #BDA521 on the HSL wheel. Keeping saturation and lightness steady while crossing to the opposite hue gives you a contrasting accent. Check text contrast separately before using the pair for lettering.

#BDA521 #2139BD

Analogous

#BD5721 and #87BD21 sit 30° to either side of #BDA521. The three hues are neighbors on the wheel, so you can change the color of a border or highlight while keeping it close to the original.

#BD5721 #BDA521 #87BD21

Triadic

#BDA521, #21BDA5 and #A521BD are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BDA521 #21BDA5 #A521BD

Split complementary

Start at #BDA521 and look across the wheel. #2187BD and #5721BD sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BDA521 #2187BD #5721BD

Square

Starting with #BDA521, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #21BD57, #2139BD, then #BD2187. Across the square, #BDA521 pairs with #2139BD, and #21BD57 with #BD2187.

#BDA521 #21BD57 #2139BD #BD2187

Tetradic

#BDA521 and #2139BD are opposites, as are #39BD21 and #A521BD. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BDA521 #39BD21 #2139BD #A521BD

Tints

Mixing #BDA521 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #CAB74D, keeps 80% of the original. By #F2EDD3, the mixture is 80% white.

#BDA521 #CAB74D #D7C97A #E5DBA6 #F2EDD3 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BDA521 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #97841A, keeps 80% of the original. By #262107, the mixture is 80% black.

#BDA521 #97841A #716314 #4C420D #262107 #000000

Tones

Mixing #BDA521 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #B19E34, keeps 80% of the original. By #8C876D, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BDA521 #B19E34 #A59647 #988F5A #8C876D #808080

Copy color codes

Hex, RGB and HSL are three ways to write this screen color. Paste any of them into a CSS color property.

Hex

#BDA521

RGB

rgb(189 165 33)

HSL

hsl(50.769 70.270% 43.529%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #BDA521;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BDA521 uses 189 red, 165 green and 33 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 74.1%

Green 64.7%

Blue 12.9%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BDA521 is 0.0% cyan, 12.7% magenta, 82.5% yellow and 25.9% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 12.7%

Yellow 82.5%

Black 25.9%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #BBAA22. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #BA2 in CSS. For a modern design, keep #BDA521 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CC9933, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #BBAA22 Nearest web-safe: #CC9933

Gradient to complement

#BDA521 #A3933B #898155 #6F6F6F #555D89 #3B4BA3 #2139BD

Color vision previews

Compare how #BDA521 appears in each simulation. When two chart lines or status indicators become hard to tell apart, a label, shape or line pattern gives readers another way to distinguish them. Individual perception varies.

Protanopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from long-wavelength cones, some reds and greens can look alike, and reds can appear darker.

#B6A100

Deuteranopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from medium-wavelength cones, some greens can be difficult to distinguish from reds or browns.

#BDA92C

Tritanopia

A blue–yellow color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from short-wavelength cones, blue can resemble green, and yellow can resemble pink.

#CD988D

Protanomaly (50%)

An altered long-wavelength cone response can make reds appear dimmer and harder to distinguish from greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#B9A311

Deuteranomaly (50%)

An altered medium-wavelength cone response can reduce the visible difference between reds and greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#BCA727

Tritanomaly (50%)

An altered short-wavelength cone response can make blue harder to distinguish from green. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#C0A15C

Grayscale (luminance)

This design check removes hue and preserves relative luminance so you can compare light and dark areas.

#A5A5A5

Partial grayscale (50% blend)

This design check mixes the original color halfway toward its grayscale equivalent in linear light. Use it to see how a design holds up as color fades.

#B2A57B

Reference: National Eye Institute: Types of Color Vision Deficiency

Technical reference

CAM16 and CIECAM02 below assume D65 white, an average surround, background Y of 20 against white at 100, and adapting luminance of 4.07 cd/m².

Linear sRGB

These channels scale with emitted light. Use them for lighting calculations and physically meaningful blends.

R 0.50888 G 0.37626 B 0.01521

Display P3

P3 displays can reproduce a wider range of reds and greens. These coordinates reproduce this same sRGB swatch on a color-managed P3 display.

R 0.72562 G 0.65047 B 0.24725

Linear Display P3

These P3 channels are proportional to light, before display encoding.

R 0.48534 G 0.38066 B 0.04978

CIE xyY

The x and y coordinates locate chromaticity on a diagram. Y gives relative luminance on a scale where white is 100.

x 0.437 y 0.476 Y 37.840

CMY

Ideal cyan, magenta and yellow are the complements of the encoded red, green and blue channels.

C % 25.882 M % 35.294 Y % 87.059

Binary RGB

Each eight-bit group represents one channel. Together they store the 24-bit hex color.

10111101 10100101 00100001