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Aflame Ki-iro

#bbb202
Notes

Aflame Ki-iro (#BBB202) is a true yellow with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (57°, 98%, 37%) 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
#bbb202
RGB
rgb(187, 178, 2)
HSL
hsl(57, 98%, 37%)
HWB
hwb(57 1% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(74.7% 0.159 106.0)
HSV
hsv(57, 99%, 73%)
LAB
lab(71.15% -12.48 72.81)
LCH
lch(71.15% 73.87 99.72)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 5%, 99%, 27%)

Etymology

Aflame
adjective

Old English on-flamme, on-fire. As a color modifier, aflame implies a saturated-and-burning-bright quality, the bright color of autumn-Maple-and-Oak peak-color deciduous-foliage and Bonfire-Night large-flame fire emission. Sits at the bright-and-warm end of the grid, parallel to flaming and blazing in usage.

Ki-iro
noun

The Japanese word for yellow — built from ki (yellow) and iro (color). Used in the warm palette of ukiyo-e woodblock prints, kintsugi-repaired ceramics, and the gold-leafed wallpaper of Heian-period palaces. The color refers to ki-iro-painted byōbu folding screens: a saturated, slightly cool pure yellow with the matte finish of mineral-pigment-on-paper. The Japanese cousin of yellow.

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.

#bbb202
Original
#c3ab00
Protanopia
#c6b11f
Deuteranopia
#caa597
Tritanopia
#a7a7a7
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
2.21:1
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
9.48:1

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