colors
Back to gallery

Symmetrical Mayonnaise

#a0a055
Notes

Symmetrical Mayonnaise (#A0A055) is a true yellow with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (60°, 31%, 48%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary blue. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#a0a055
RGB
rgb(160, 160, 85)
HSL
hsl(60, 31%, 48%)
HWB
hwb(60 33% 37%)
OKLCH
oklch(68.9% 0.098 108.7)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6275 0.6275 0.3721)
HSV
hsv(60, 47%, 63%)
LAB
lab(64.38% -10.99 38.85)
LCH
lch(64.38% 40.38 105.80)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 0%, 47%, 37%)

Etymology

Symmetrical
adjective

Greek symmetría, due-proportion — adjectival suffix -al, derived from sym-metron (with-measure). As a color modifier, symmetrical implies a clear-and-balanced-and-mirrored quality where the hue carries the visual register of bilateral-or-radial proportional symmetry. Sits at the crisp-and-balanced end of the grid, parallel to balanced and aligned in usage.

Mayonnaise
noun

The egg-yolk-and-oil emulsion essential to French sauces (aïoli, rémoulade), American sandwiches, and Japanese Kewpie cuisine. The color refers to fresh-whisked mayonnaise as it sits in a glass jar, slightly mounded from the spoon: a soft, slightly warm pale yellow with the satin finish of high-fat emulsion. Lighter than yolk, warmer than buttermilk.

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

Click any swatch to explore

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.

#a0a055
Original
#ab9b4f
Protanopia
#ac9d59
Deuteranopia
#a9988e
Tritanopia
#9b9b9b
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).
Failon White
2.74:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
7.65:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

The CSS Color 4 wide-gamut form of this color. Both swatches render the same color on every display — the P3 form only diverges from sRGB when a designer pushes channels outside sRGB's reach.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##A0A055
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6275 0.6275 0.3721)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.098

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

Related Colors

Canvas