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Rousing Hiwa

#bfcd39
Notes

Rousing Hiwa (#BFCD39) 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 (66°, 60%, 51%) 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
#bfcd39
RGB
rgb(191, 205, 57)
HSL
hsl(66, 60%, 51%)
HWB
hwb(66 22% 20%)
OKLCH
oklch(81.2% 0.165 114.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7591 0.8022 0.3325)
HSV
hsv(66, 72%, 80%)
LAB
lab(79.06% -22.79 67.55)
LCH
lch(79.06% 71.29 108.64)
CMYK
cmyk(7%, 0%, 72%, 20%)

Etymology

Rousing
adjective

Old English rūsan, to rush — present-participle of rouse. As a color modifier, rousing implies a saturated-and-wakening-and-active quality, the bright color of dawn-chorus-and-morning-bell atmospheric-and-aural stimulation. Sits at the bright-and-active end of the grid, parallel to awakening and invigorating in usage.

Hiwa
noun

The Japanese name for the Eurasian siskinSpinus spinus — and for the bright yellow-green of its plumage. Hiwa-iro refers to the saturated yellow-green color used in kosode kimono linings and woodblock prints. The color refers to a freshly molted siskin: a saturated, slightly green-shifted yellow with the matte finish of carotenoid feathers.

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.

#bfcd39
Original
#dcc31c
Protanopia
#dbc545
Deuteranopia
#cbc1b1
Tritanopia
#bfbfbf
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
1.75:1
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
12.01:1

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
##BFCD39
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7591 0.8022 0.3325)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.165

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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