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Splashy Custard

#a4a019
Notes

Splashy Custard (#A4A019) is a true 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 (58°, 74%, 37%) 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
#a4a019
RGB
rgb(164, 160, 25)
HSL
hsl(58, 74%, 37%)
HWB
hwb(58 10% 36%)
OKLCH
oklch(68.7% 0.142 107.7)
HSV
hsv(58, 85%, 64%)
LAB
lab(64.25% -12.97 62.97)
LCH
lch(64.25% 64.29 101.64)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 2%, 85%, 36%)

Etymology

Splashy
adjective

Imitative-onomatopoeic origin — adjectival suffix -y, evoking the sound of liquid impact. As a color modifier, splashy implies a saturated-and-attention-grabbing-and-bold quality, the bright color of Pop-Art-and-1950s-Tiki mid-century-modern showy-decor advertising-and-display. Sits at the bright-and-flamboyant end of the grid, parallel to showy and flamboyant in usage.

Custard
noun

A cooked mixture of egg yolks and milk or cream — the foundational sauce of European pastry from medieval times forward. The color refers to a chilled vanilla custard or crème anglaise: a soft, slightly off-white yellow with the satiny surface of cooked egg protein. Lighter than yolk (the eggs are diluted), warmer than cream, with the kitchen-canon familiarity of an everyday culinary color.

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.

#a4a019
Original
#ae9900
Protanopia
#b09e27
Deuteranopia
#b19588
Tritanopia
#979797
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
2.76:1
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
7.62:1

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