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Vibrant Bronze

#bb9f0a
Notes

Vibrant Bronze (#BB9F0A) 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 (51°, 90%, 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
#bb9f0a
RGB
rgb(187, 159, 10)
HSL
hsl(51, 90%, 39%)
HWB
hwb(51 4% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(70.7% 0.144 96.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7154 0.6276 0.2101)
HSV
hsv(51, 95%, 73%)
LAB
lab(66.05% -2.41 68.06)
LCH
lch(66.05% 68.11 92.03)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 15%, 95%, 27%)

Etymology

Vibrant
adjective

From the Latin vibrare, to shake — used as a color word since the seventeenth century for hues that read as alive and resonant. Vibrant orange, vibrant green: the implication is saturation combined with the optical impression of slight motion or energy. Sits at the bright-bucket center alongside vivid and lively.

Bronze
noun

The alloy of copper and tin — humanity's first deliberate metallurgical breakthrough, dated to roughly 3,300 BCE in Anatolia and Mesopotamia. The color refers to polished or aged bronze before patination: a warm, slightly muted gold-brown with the satin finish of cast metal. Warmer than brass, more golden than copper, with the institutional weight of statuary, coinage, and ancient warfare.

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.

#bb9f0a
Original
#b19b00
Protanopia
#b8a41d
Deuteranopia
#cb9187
Tritanopia
#9a9a9a
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
2.60:1
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
8.08:1

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
##BB9F0A
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7154 0.6276 0.2101)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.144

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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