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Direct Topazio

#bb9954
Notes

Direct Topazio (#BB9954) 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 (40°, 43%, 53%) 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 azure. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#bb9954
RGB
rgb(187, 153, 84)
HSL
hsl(40, 43%, 53%)
HWB
hwb(40 33% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(69.9% 0.097 83.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7120 0.6050 0.3692)
HSV
hsv(40, 55%, 73%)
LAB
lab(64.95% 4.20 40.63)
LCH
lch(64.95% 40.85 84.10)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 18%, 55%, 27%)

Etymology

Direct
adjective

From the Latin directus, straight — used as a color modifier since the eighteenth century for hues that read as straightforward and unambiguous. Direct red, direct green: moderate-to-high saturation combined with optical clarity. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside clear and frank.

Topazio
noun

The Italian word for topaz — used in Renaissance jewelry vocabulary and Italian fashion writing for the warm gold-yellow of imperial topaz. The color refers to a faceted Italian-cut topazio: a saturated, slightly cool deep gold-yellow with the gem's signature internal warmth. The Italian cousin of topaz.

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.

#bb9954
Original
#a8984e
Protanopia
#b0a156
Deuteranopia
#c98e89
Tritanopia
#9b9b9b
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
2.69:1
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
7.80:1

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
##BB9954
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7120 0.6050 0.3692)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.097

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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