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Neon Wallflower

#c5b42d
Notes

Neon Wallflower (#C5B42D) 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 (53°, 63%, 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
#c5b42d
RGB
rgb(197, 180, 45)
HSL
hsl(53, 63%, 47%)
HWB
hwb(53 18% 23%)
OKLCH
oklch(76.2% 0.146 101.8)
HSV
hsv(53, 77%, 77%)
LAB
lab(72.70% -8.17 65.76)
LCH
lch(72.70% 66.27 97.08)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 9%, 77%, 23%)

Etymology

Neon
adjective

Greek néon, new — element-name (atomic-number 10), discovered by William Ramsay in 1898. As a color modifier, neon implies a saturated-and-electric-glow quality, the bright color of Las-Vegas-and-Times-Square neon-marquee gas-discharge-tube emission. Sits at the bright-and-electric end of the grid, parallel to electric and fluorescent in usage.

Wallflower
noun

Erysimum cheiri, the European biennial whose fragrant yellow-orange flowers cover medieval-castle walls (the source of the name) and cottage gardens in late spring. The color refers to a fresh wallflower bloom in May: a saturated, slightly red yellow with the satin finish of four-petaled mustard-family flower.

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.

#c5b42d
Original
#c5ae0b
Protanopia
#cab537
Deuteranopia
#d4a79b
Tritanopia
#aeaeae
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
2.11:1
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
9.94:1

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