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Even Sand

#a26d21
Notes

Even Sand (#A26D21) is a true amber 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 (35°, 66%, 38%) 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 azure. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#a26d21
RGB
rgb(162, 109, 33)
HSL
hsl(35, 66%, 38%)
HWB
hwb(35 13% 36%)
OKLCH
oklch(57.7% 0.111 71.2)
HSV
hsv(35, 80%, 64%)
LAB
lab(50.37% 14.48 48.13)
LCH
lch(50.37% 50.26 73.26)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 33%, 80%, 36%)

Etymology

Even
adjective

Old English efen, flat, equal — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues that read as uniformly distributed across a surface. Even gray, even tan: the implication is moderate saturation combined with optical uniformity. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside steady and balanced.

Sand
noun

Quartz weathered to grain — the residue of geologic time at the granular scale. Beach sand color depends entirely on the source: white from Caribbean coral, black from Hawaiian basalt, red from Australian iron oxide. The reference shade is the warm, slightly golden tan of a temperate Atlantic beach: medium-saturation, matte, with the optical brightness of small mineral particles in sunlight.

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.

#a26d21
Original
#7f7014
Protanopia
#8c7d23
Deuteranopia
#b1605e
Tritanopia
#737373
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).
AA Largeon White
4.43:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAon Black
4.75:1

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