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Scorching Tampopo

#b9bd2d
Notes

Scorching Tampopo (#B9BD2D) is a true yellow 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 (62°, 62%, 46%) 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
#b9bd2d
RGB
rgb(185, 189, 45)
HSL
hsl(62, 62%, 46%)
HWB
hwb(62 18% 26%)
OKLCH
oklch(77.1% 0.156 111.2)
HSV
hsv(62, 76%, 74%)
LAB
lab(74.13% -17.95 66.69)
LCH
lch(74.13% 69.06 105.06)
CMYK
cmyk(2%, 0%, 76%, 26%)

Etymology

Scorching
adjective

Old English scorcnian, to dry up — present-participle of scorch. As a color modifier, scorching implies a saturated-and-burning-hot quality, the bright color of Mojave-Desert-and-Death-Valley mid-afternoon high-temperature surface-emission. Sits at the bright-and-warm end of the grid, parallel to searing and sizzling in usage.

Tampopo
noun

The Japanese word for dandelionTaraxacum officinale, the cosmopolitan composite-family wildflower whose bright yellow heads dot Japanese spring lawns. Tampopo is also the title of a 1985 Itami Jūzō film about a ramen quest. The color refers to a fresh tampopo bloom: a saturated, slightly red yellow with the matte finish of small ray-florets.

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.

#b9bd2d
Original
#ccb404
Protanopia
#cdb839
Deuteranopia
#c6b1a2
Tritanopia
#b2b2b2
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
2.02:1
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
10.38:1

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