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Spectral Umbria

#bb990e
Notes

Spectral Umbria (#BB990E) is a true amber 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 (48°, 86%, 39%) 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
#bb990e
RGB
rgb(187, 153, 14)
HSL
hsl(48, 86%, 39%)
HWB
hwb(48 5% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(69.4% 0.139 92.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7120 0.6050 0.2077)
HSV
hsv(48, 93%, 73%)
LAB
lab(64.47% 0.87 66.29)
LCH
lch(64.47% 66.30 89.25)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 18%, 93%, 27%)

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.

Umbria
noun

The Italian region — and the terra di Siena and terra d'ombra (umber) earth pigments mined there since the Renaissance. Umbria refers to a freshly ground raw umber pigment in oil: a soft, slightly muted warm dark brown with the matte finish of iron-and-manganese earth. Cooler than sienna, deeper than tabacco.

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.

#bb990e
Original
#ac9700
Protanopia
#b4a01d
Deuteranopia
#cb8b82
Tritanopia
#969696
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
2.74:1
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
7.68:1

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
##BB990E
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7120 0.6050 0.2077)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.139

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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