colors
Back to gallery

Spotlit Primrose

#a6b51b
Notes

Spotlit Primrose (#A6B51B) is a true yellow with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (66°, 74%, 41%) 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
#a6b51b
RGB
rgb(166, 181, 27)
HSL
hsl(66, 74%, 41%)
HWB
hwb(66 11% 29%)
OKLCH
oklch(73.7% 0.162 115.7)
HSV
hsv(66, 85%, 71%)
LAB
lab(70.34% -22.70 67.66)
LCH
lch(70.34% 71.37 108.55)
CMYK
cmyk(8%, 0%, 85%, 29%)

Etymology

Spotlit
adjective

English compound spot + lit — past-participle of spotlight. As a color modifier, spotlit implies a saturated-and-narrow-beam-illuminated quality, the bright color of theatrical-stage-and-museum-display directed-spotlight focused-beam illumination. Sits at the bright-and-saturated end of the grid, parallel to sunlit and brilliant in usage.

Primrose
noun

Primula vulgaris, the European primrose whose pale yellow flowers appear in early spring — prima rosa (first rose) for its early bloom. The color refers to a fresh primrose in March: a soft, slightly cool pale yellow with the satin finish of five-petaled flower with darker yellow center. Cooler than cowslip.

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.

#a6b51b
Original
#c2ab00
Protanopia
#c1ad2d
Deuteranopia
#b1aa9a
Tritanopia
#a7a7a7
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
2.27:1
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
9.25:1

Related Colors

Canvas