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Splashy Primrose

#bacb49
Notes

Splashy Primrose (#BACB49) 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 (68°, 56%, 54%) 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
#bacb49
RGB
rgb(186, 203, 73)
HSL
hsl(68, 56%, 54%)
HWB
hwb(68 29% 20%)
OKLCH
oklch(80.5% 0.154 116.3)
HSV
hsv(68, 64%, 80%)
LAB
lab(78.25% -22.97 60.60)
LCH
lch(78.25% 64.81 110.76)
CMYK
cmyk(8%, 0%, 64%, 20%)

Etymology

Splashy
adjective

Imitative-onomatopoeic origin — adjectival suffix -y, evoking the sound of liquid impact. As a color modifier, splashy implies a saturated-and-attention-grabbing-and-bold quality, the bright color of Pop-Art-and-1950s-Tiki mid-century-modern showy-decor advertising-and-display. Sits at the bright-and-flamboyant end of the grid, parallel to showy and flamboyant in usage.

Primrose
noun

Primula vulgaris, the European primrose whose pale yellow flowers appear in early spring — prima rosa (first rose) for its early bloom. The color refers to a fresh primrose in March: a soft, slightly cool pale yellow with the satin finish of five-petaled flower with darker yellow center. Cooler than cowslip.

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.

#bacb49
Original
#d8c138
Protanopia
#d7c252
Deuteranopia
#c5c0b0
Tritanopia
#bebebe
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
1.79:1
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
11.73:1

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