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Spectral Solarium

#b5a21d
Notes

Spectral Solarium (#B5A21D) is a true amber with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (52°, 72%, 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
#b5a21d
RGB
rgb(181, 162, 29)
HSL
hsl(52, 72%, 41%)
HWB
hwb(52 11% 29%)
OKLCH
oklch(70.8% 0.140 100.4)
HSV
hsv(52, 84%, 71%)
LAB
lab(66.33% -6.32 64.32)
LCH
lch(66.33% 64.63 95.61)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 10%, 84%, 29%)

Etymology

Spectral
adjective

Latin spectrum, appearance — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, spectral implies a saturated-and-rainbow-decomposed-and-pure quality, the bright color of Newton-prism sunlight-decomposed seven-color spectrum band. Sits at the bright-and-pure end of the grid, parallel to prismatic and pure in usage.

Solarium
noun

A glass-roofed sunroom — particularly the Victorian and Edwardian solarium of British country houses, designed to capture warm sunlight on cool days. Solarium as a color refers to the warm yellow of sun-bleached interior wood and faded yellow-painted plaster: a soft, slightly muted warm yellow with the matte finish of UV-aged surface.

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.

#b5a21d
Original
#b39d00
Protanopia
#b8a429
Deuteranopia
#c4958a
Tritanopia
#9c9c9c
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
2.58:1
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
8.15:1

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