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Phosphoric Haldi

#a78f01
Notes

Phosphoric Haldi (#A78F01) is a deep 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 (51°, 99%, 33%) places it in the highly saturated band at a dark lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. 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
#a78f01
RGB
rgb(167, 143, 1)
HSL
hsl(51, 99%, 33%)
HWB
hwb(51 0% 35%)
OKLCH
oklch(65.2% 0.134 97.1)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6395 0.5642 0.1784)
HSV
hsv(51, 99%, 65%)
LAB
lab(59.77% -2.98 63.87)
LCH
lch(59.77% 63.94 92.67)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 14%, 99%, 35%)

Etymology

Phosphoric
adjective

Greek phōsphóros, light-bringer — adjectival suffix -ic. As a color modifier, phosphoric implies a saturated-and-cool-glow quality, the bright color of match-tip-strike and firefly phosphorus-emission luminescence. Sits at the bright-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to phosphorescent and fluorescent in usage.

Haldi
noun

The Hindi word for turmeric — the South Asian spice and ceremonial pigment used in Hindu haldi pre-wedding rituals and in gor-haldi (turmeric milk). The color refers to fresh haldi paste applied to skin in a wedding ritual: a saturated, slightly red-shifted yellow with the dusty finish of fresh-ground rhizome. Warmer than turmeric.

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.

#a78f01
Original
#9f8c00
Protanopia
#a59315
Deuteranopia
#b58379
Tritanopia
#8a8a8a
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
3.20:1
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
6.57:1

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
##A78F01
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6395 0.5642 0.1784)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.134

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.

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