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Vibrant Yùhuáng

#a9b838
Notes

Vibrant Yùhuáng (#A9B838) is a true yellow with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (67°, 53%, 47%) 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
#a9b838
RGB
rgb(169, 184, 56)
HSL
hsl(67, 53%, 47%)
HWB
hwb(67 22% 28%)
OKLCH
oklch(74.7% 0.149 115.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6737 0.7197 0.3084)
HSV
hsv(67, 70%, 72%)
LAB
lab(71.56% -21.71 60.01)
LCH
lch(71.56% 63.82 109.89)
CMYK
cmyk(8%, 0%, 70%, 28%)

Etymology

Vibrant
adjective

From the Latin vibrare, to shake — used as a color word since the seventeenth century for hues that read as alive and resonant. Vibrant orange, vibrant green: the implication is saturation combined with the optical impression of slight motion or energy. Sits at the bright-bucket center alongside vivid and lively.

Yùhuáng
noun

Literally jade-yellow in Chinese — a soft, slightly cool pale yellow used in ceremonial hetian nephrite jade and in the silks of Qing-dynasty consort robes. The color refers to a polished pale-yellow nephrite cabochon: a soft, slightly cool pale yellow with the satin finish of fine jade.

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.

#a9b838
Original
#c5af23
Protanopia
#c4b042
Deuteranopia
#b4ae9f
Tritanopia
#acacac
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
2.19:1
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
9.60:1

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
##A9B838
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6737 0.7197 0.3084)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.149

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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