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Brilliant Ginger

#c4a302
Notes

Brilliant Ginger (#C4A302) 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 (50°, 98%, 39%) 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
#c4a302
RGB
rgb(196, 163, 2)
HSL
hsl(50, 98%, 39%)
HWB
hwb(50 1% 23%)
OKLCH
oklch(72.4% 0.148 94.3)
HSV
hsv(50, 99%, 77%)
LAB
lab(67.97% -0.61 70.89)
LCH
lch(67.97% 70.90 90.49)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 17%, 99%, 23%)

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.

Ginger
noun

Zingiber officinale, the rhizome of a Southeast Asian ginger plant cultivated since prehistoric times in Maritime Asia. The color refers to fresh ginger root after its papery skin is peeled: a warm, slightly pink-toned gold-tan that's lighter than honey and warmer than wheat. Also the human hair color called ginger in British English — the same word covering the rhizome, the spice, and the Celtic-coded redhead.

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.

#c4a302
Original
#b6a000
Protanopia
#beaa19
Deuteranopia
#d5948a
Tritanopia
#9e9e9e
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
2.45:1
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
8.59:1

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