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Live Yunnan

#b59f0f
Notes

Live Yunnan (#B59F0F) is a true 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 (52°, 85%, 38%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid 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
#b59f0f
RGB
rgb(181, 159, 15)
HSL
hsl(52, 85%, 38%)
HWB
hwb(52 6% 29%)
OKLCH
oklch(70.1% 0.142 99.1)
HSV
hsv(52, 92%, 71%)
LAB
lab(65.48% -5.04 66.64)
LCH
lch(65.48% 66.83 94.32)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 12%, 92%, 29%)

Etymology

Live
adjective

Old English libban, to live — used as a color word since the nineteenth century for hues that read as active or animate. Live wire, live color: the implication is luminance combined with the optical impression of internal motion. Sits in the bright-bucket center alongside vivid and vibrant.

Yunnan
noun

The southwestern Chinese province — and the deep yellow of Yunnan Pu-erh tea liquor and the yellow stripe in the jīnhuáng glaze of Tang-dynasty Yunnan ceramics. Yunnan refers to a fresh-brewed Yunnan Pu-erh in a porcelain cup: a saturated, slightly red-shifted gold-yellow with the optical depth of fermented-tea liquor.

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.

#b59f0f
Original
#b09b00
Protanopia
#b6a21f
Deuteranopia
#c49287
Tritanopia
#999999
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
2.65:1
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
7.93:1

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