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Phosphoric Lemonade

#a89b20
Notes

Phosphoric Lemonade (#A89B20) is a true amber with a warm character. It leans warm, pulling light toward red, orange, and yellow. Naturally inviting, it suits editorial and hospitality contexts. Its HSL profile (54°, 68%, 39%) 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
#a89b20
RGB
rgb(168, 155, 32)
HSL
hsl(54, 68%, 39%)
HWB
hwb(54 13% 34%)
OKLCH
oklch(68.0% 0.134 102.9)
HSV
hsv(54, 81%, 66%)
LAB
lab(63.24% -8.33 60.36)
LCH
lch(63.24% 60.93 97.86)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 8%, 81%, 34%)

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.

Lemonade
noun

The classic citrus drink — fresh lemon juice diluted with water and sweetener, served chilled in summer. Lemonade refers to the color of fresh-squeezed lemonade in a clear glass: a soft, slightly cool pale yellow with the optical clarity of citrus-juice-and-water. Cooler than mayonnaise.

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.

#a89b20
Original
#aa9600
Protanopia
#ae9c2a
Deuteranopia
#b58f85
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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