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Sharp Topazio

#bd9d2b
Notes

Sharp Topazio (#BD9D2B) 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 (47°, 63%, 45%) 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
#bd9d2b
RGB
rgb(189, 157, 43)
HSL
hsl(47, 63%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(47 17% 26%)
OKLCH
oklch(70.6% 0.131 92.4)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7209 0.6204 0.2603)
HSV
hsv(47, 77%, 74%)
LAB
lab(65.83% 0.39 59.85)
LCH
lch(65.83% 59.85 89.63)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 17%, 77%, 26%)

Etymology

Sharp
adjective

Old English scearp, cutting, pointed — applied metaphorically to color since the seventeenth century for hues that read as definite and edge-defined. Sharp red, sharp green: the implication is saturation combined with high-contrast crispness. Sits in the bright-bucket center alongside crisp and clear, with a slightly more incisive edge.

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.

#bd9d2b
Original
#af9b14
Protanopia
#b7a432
Deuteranopia
#cd9087
Tritanopia
#9c9c9c
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
2.62:1
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
8.02:1

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
##BD9D2B
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7209 0.6204 0.2603)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.131

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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