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Prismatic Mayonnaise

#c4c005
Notes

Prismatic Mayonnaise (#C4C005) 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 (59°, 95%, 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
#c4c005
RGB
rgb(196, 192, 5)
HSL
hsl(59, 95%, 39%)
HWB
hwb(59 2% 23%)
OKLCH
oklch(78.5% 0.169 108.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7659 0.7535 0.2452)
HSV
hsv(59, 97%, 77%)
LAB
lab(75.73% -15.62 76.19)
LCH
lch(75.73% 77.78 101.59)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 2%, 97%, 23%)

Etymology

Prismatic
adjective

Greek prísma, prism — adjectival suffix -ic. As a color modifier, prismatic implies a saturated-and-multi-spectrum-decomposed quality, the bright color of crystal-prism and cut-glass-chandelier light-refraction-spectrum decomposition. Sits at the bright-and-shifting end of the grid, parallel to iridescent and spectral in usage.

Mayonnaise
noun

The egg-yolk-and-oil emulsion essential to French sauces (aïoli, rémoulade), American sandwiches, and Japanese Kewpie cuisine. The color refers to fresh-whisked mayonnaise as it sits in a glass jar, slightly mounded from the spoon: a soft, slightly warm pale yellow with the satin finish of high-fat emulsion. Lighter than yolk, warmer than buttermilk.

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.

#c4c005
Original
#d1b800
Protanopia
#d4bd24
Deuteranopia
#d3b2a3
Tritanopia
#b3b3b3
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
1.93:1
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
10.89:1

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
##C4C005
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7659 0.7535 0.2452)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.169

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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