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Fiery Helichrysum

#a59c1a
Notes

Fiery Helichrysum (#A59C1A) 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 (56°, 73%, 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
#a59c1a
RGB
rgb(165, 156, 26)
HSL
hsl(56, 73%, 37%)
HWB
hwb(56 10% 35%)
OKLCH
oklch(67.9% 0.138 105.2)
HSV
hsv(56, 84%, 65%)
LAB
lab(63.22% -10.39 61.89)
LCH
lch(63.22% 62.76 99.53)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 5%, 84%, 35%)

Etymology

Fiery
adjective

Old English fȳr, fire — adjectival suffix -y. As a color modifier, fiery implies a saturated-and-bright-flaming quality, the bright color of autumn-foliage fall-color and forge-furnace hot-iron emission. Sits at the bright-and-warm end of the grid, parallel to flaming and blazing in usage.

Helichrysum
noun

The genus Helichrysum — Mediterranean composite-family plants whose dried yellow flower bracts retain their color for years (also called strawflower). The color refers to dried Helichrysum bracts in a winter bouquet: a soft, slightly muted dry yellow with the matte papery finish of preserved flower.

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.

#a59c1a
Original
#ab9600
Protanopia
#ae9b27
Deuteranopia
#b29185
Tritanopia
#959595
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
2.85:1
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
7.37:1

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