#CCAC21

sRGB: 204 / 172 / 33

Celestial flames pierce eternal darkness
Sacred blossoms thunder through timeless canyons
Distant echoes surrender to silence

#CCAC21 belongs to the yellow family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 204 red, 172 green and 33 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 48.8° lands in the yellow region. Its 72.2% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 46.5% 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 (9.49:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 204, 172, 33
HSL: 48.77°, 72.15%, 46.47%
HSV / HSB: 48.77°, 83.82%, 80.00%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 15.69%, 83.82%, 20.00%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 39.928, 42.453, 7.530
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 71.182, -1.316, 68.226
WCAG relative luminance: 0.42452
24-bit decimal: 13413409

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 #CCAC21 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: 9.49:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.21:1

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

#2141CC sits half a turn (180°) from #CCAC21 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.

#CCAC21 #2141CC

Analogous

#CC5721 and #96CC21 sit 30° to either side of #CCAC21. 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.

#CC5721 #CCAC21 #96CC21

Triadic

#CCAC21, #21CCAC and #AC21CC are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#CCAC21 #21CCAC #AC21CC

Split complementary

Start at #CCAC21 and look across the wheel. #2196CC and #5721CC sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#CCAC21 #2196CC #5721CC

Square

Starting with #CCAC21, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #21CC57, #2141CC, then #CC2197. Across the square, #CCAC21 pairs with #2141CC, and #21CC57 with #CC2197.

#CCAC21 #21CC57 #2141CC #CC2197

Tetradic

#CCAC21 and #2141CC are opposites, as are #41CC21 and #AC21CC. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#CCAC21 #41CC21 #2141CC #AC21CC

Tints

Mixing #CCAC21 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #D6BD4D, keeps 80% of the original. By #F5EED3, the mixture is 80% white.

#CCAC21 #D6BD4D #E0CD7A #EBDEA6 #F5EED3 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #CCAC21 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #A38A1A, keeps 80% of the original. By #292207, the mixture is 80% black.

#CCAC21 #A38A1A #7A6714 #52450D #292207 #000000

Tones

Mixing #CCAC21 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #BDA334, keeps 80% of the original. By #8F896D, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#CCAC21 #BDA334 #AE9A47 #9E925A #8F896D #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

#CCAC21

RGB

rgb(204 172 33)

HSL

hsl(48.772 72.152% 46.471%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #CCAC21;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#CCAC21 uses 204 red, 172 green and 33 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 80.0%

Green 67.5%

Blue 12.9%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #CCAC21 is 0.0% cyan, 15.7% magenta, 83.8% yellow and 20.0% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 15.7%

Yellow 83.8%

Black 20.0%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #CCAA22. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #CA2 in CSS. For a modern design, keep #CCAC21 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CC9933, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #CCAA22 Nearest web-safe: #CC9933

Gradient to complement

#CCAC21 #B09A3E #93885A #777777 #5A6593 #3E53B0 #2141CC

Color vision previews

Compare how #CCAC21 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.

#BFA900

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.

#C7B22C

Tritanopia

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

#DD9D93

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.

#C4AB0D

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.

#C8B027

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#CFA860

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#AEAEAE

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.

#BEAD81

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 0.60383 G 0.41254 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 0.77963 G 0.67917 B 0.25774

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.56987 G 0.41889 B 0.05403

CIE xyY

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

x 0.444 y 0.472 Y 42.453

CMY

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

C % 20.000 M % 32.549 Y % 87.059

Binary RGB

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

11001100 10101100 00100001