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Fluorescent Snapdragon

#bdbe34
Notes

Fluorescent Snapdragon (#BDBE34) is a true yellow 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 (60°, 57%, 47%) 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
#bdbe34
RGB
rgb(189, 190, 52)
HSL
hsl(60, 57%, 47%)
HWB
hwb(60 20% 25%)
OKLCH
oklch(77.7% 0.153 109.9)
HSV
hsv(60, 73%, 75%)
LAB
lab(74.76% -16.44 65.10)
LCH
lch(74.76% 67.15 104.17)
CMYK
cmyk(1%, 0%, 73%, 25%)

Etymology

Fluorescent
adjective

Latin fluēre, to flow — adjectival suffix -escent. As a color modifier, fluorescent implies a saturated-and-UV-stimulated-glow quality, the bright color of fluorite-and-ZnS mineral-pigment fluorescent-lamp emission. Sits at the bright-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to phosphorescent and neon in usage.

Snapdragon
noun

The genus Antirrhinum — particularly A. majus, the cottage-garden biennial whose tall flower spikes feature snapping dragon-mouth blooms in pinks, oranges, and yellows. The color refers to a yellow snapdragon bloom: a saturated, slightly red-shifted bright yellow with the matte finish of bee-pollinated flower stack.

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.

#bdbe34
Original
#cdb618
Protanopia
#cfba3f
Deuteranopia
#cab2a4
Tritanopia
#b4b4b4
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
1.99:1
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
10.58:1

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