#DDCA21

sRGB: 221 / 202 / 33

Thunderous oceans command forgotten kingdoms
Majestic waterfalls awaken beneath celestial skies
Distant echoes surrender to silence

#DDCA21 belongs to the yellow family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 221 red, 202 green and 33 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 53.9° lands in the yellow region. Its 74.0% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 49.8% 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 (12.54:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 221, 202, 33
HSL: 53.94°, 74.02%, 49.80%
HSV / HSB: 53.94°, 85.07%, 86.67%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 8.60%, 85.07%, 13.33%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 51.212, 57.724, 9.883
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 80.585, -9.450, 76.650
WCAG relative luminance: 0.57723
24-bit decimal: 14535201

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 #DDCA21 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: 12.54:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.67:1

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

#2134DD sits half a turn (180°) from #DDCA21 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.

#DDCA21 #2134DD

Analogous

#DD6C21 and #92DD21 sit 30° to either side of #DDCA21. 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.

#DD6C21 #DDCA21 #92DD21

Triadic

#DDCA21, #21DDCA and #CA21DD are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#DDCA21 #21DDCA #CA21DD

Split complementary

Start at #DDCA21 and look across the wheel. #2192DD and #6C21DD sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#DDCA21 #2192DD #6C21DD

Square

Starting with #DDCA21, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #21DD6C, #2134DD, then #DD2192. Across the square, #DDCA21 pairs with #2134DD, and #21DD6C with #DD2192.

#DDCA21 #21DD6C #2134DD #DD2192

Tetradic

#DDCA21 and #2134DD are opposites, as are #34DD21 and #CA21DD. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#DDCA21 #34DD21 #2134DD #CA21DD

Tints

Mixing #DDCA21 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #E4D54D, keeps 80% of the original. By #F8F4D3, the mixture is 80% white.

#DDCA21 #E4D54D #EBDF7A #F1EAA6 #F8F4D3 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #DDCA21 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #B1A21A, keeps 80% of the original. By #2C2807, the mixture is 80% black.

#DDCA21 #B1A21A #857914 #58510D #2C2807 #000000

Tones

Mixing #DDCA21 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #CABB34, keeps 80% of the original. By #938F6D, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#DDCA21 #CABB34 #B8AC47 #A59E5A #938F6D #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

#DDCA21

RGB

rgb(221 202 33)

HSL

hsl(53.936 74.016% 49.804%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #DDCA21;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#DDCA21 uses 221 red, 202 green and 33 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 86.7%

Green 79.2%

Blue 12.9%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #DDCA21 is 0.0% cyan, 8.6% magenta, 85.1% yellow and 13.3% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 8.6%

Yellow 85.1%

Black 13.3%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #DDCC22. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #DC2 in CSS. For a modern design, keep #DDCA21 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CCCC33, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #DDCC22 Nearest web-safe: #CCCC33

Gradient to complement

#DDCA21 #BEB140 #9E9860 #7F7F7F #60669E #404DBE #2134DD

Color vision previews

Compare how #DDCA21 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.

#DEC300

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.

#E3CB32

Tritanopia

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

#EFBBAD

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.

#DEC601

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.

#E1CA2A

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#E1C670

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#C8C8C8

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.

#D3C994

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 0.72306 G 0.59062 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 0.85406 G 0.79478 B 0.29120

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.69954 G 0.59501 B 0.06896

CIE xyY

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

x 0.431 y 0.486 Y 57.724

CMY

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

C % 13.333 M % 20.784 Y % 87.059

Binary RGB

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

11011101 11001010 00100001