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Surveyed Goldenchain

#556802
Notes

Surveyed Goldenchain (#556802) is a deep yellow with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (71°, 96%, 21%) places it in the highly saturated band at a dark lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary indigo. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#556802
RGB
rgb(85, 104, 2)
HSL
hsl(71, 96%, 21%)
HWB
hwb(71 1% 59%)
OKLCH
oklch(48.4% 0.116 121.4)
HSV
hsv(71, 98%, 41%)
LAB
lab(40.95% -20.09 46.47)
LCH
lch(40.95% 50.63 113.38)
CMYK
cmyk(18%, 0%, 98%, 59%)

Etymology

Surveyed
adjective

Old French surveer, to look upon — past-participle of survey. As a color modifier, surveyed implies a clear-and-measured-and-coordinated quality, the crisp color of Mason-Dixon-Line-and-Royal-Navy-Hydrographic scientific-and-cadastral land-and-sea surveying tradition. Sits at the crisp-and-mapped end of the grid, parallel to mapped and plotted in usage.

Goldenchain
noun

Laburnum — the small European tree whose pendulous yellow racemes cover the canopy in late spring. Highly toxic to humans and livestock, but planted across British gardens for the spectacular flower display. The color refers to a Laburnum × watereri in full bloom: a saturated, slightly cool deep yellow with the satin finish of pea-family flowers along long pendulous racemes.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

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Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#556802
Original
#6f6100
Protanopia
#6d6111
Deuteranopia
#5a6257
Tritanopia
#5d5d5d
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAon White
6.24:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AA Largeon Black
3.37:1

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