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Brilliant Yùhuáng

#c3bf3f
Notes

Brilliant Yùhuáng (#C3BF3F) 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 (58°, 52%, 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
#c3bf3f
RGB
rgb(195, 191, 63)
HSL
hsl(58, 52%, 51%)
HWB
hwb(58 25% 24%)
OKLCH
oklch(78.5% 0.146 107.6)
HSV
hsv(58, 68%, 76%)
LAB
lab(75.59% -13.84 62.06)
LCH
lch(75.59% 63.58 102.57)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 2%, 68%, 24%)

Etymology

Brilliant
adjective

From the Italian brillante, sparkling — used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for hues that read as optically active beyond their literal saturation. Brilliant green, brilliant blue: the implication is luminance combined with the slight sparkle of a high-refractive surface. Sits at the bright-bucket center alongside vivid and bright.

Yùhuáng
noun

Literally jade-yellow in Chinese — a soft, slightly cool pale yellow used in ceremonial hetian nephrite jade and in the silks of Qing-dynasty consort robes. The color refers to a polished pale-yellow nephrite cabochon: a soft, slightly cool pale yellow with the satin finish of fine jade.

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.

#c3bf3f
Original
#cfb82c
Protanopia
#d1bc48
Deuteranopia
#d1b3a5
Tritanopia
#b7b7b7
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
1.94:1
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
10.84:1

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