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Pulsating Burlap

#c8ac26
Notes

Pulsating Burlap (#C8AC26) is a true amber with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (50°, 68%, 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
#c8ac26
RGB
rgb(200, 172, 38)
HSL
hsl(50, 68%, 47%)
HWB
hwb(50 15% 22%)
OKLCH
oklch(74.8% 0.144 96.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7663 0.6785 0.2657)
HSV
hsv(50, 81%, 78%)
LAB
lab(70.82% -2.92 66.36)
LCH
lch(70.82% 66.42 92.52)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 14%, 81%, 22%)

Etymology

Pulsating
adjective

Latin pulsātio, beating — present-participle of pulsate, sharing root with pellere (to drive). As a color modifier, pulsating implies a saturated-and-beating-and-rhythmic quality, the bright color of rave-and-festival light-show synchronized-pulse rhythmic-emission. Sits at the bright-and-active end of the grid, parallel to throbbing and strobing in usage.

Burlap
noun

A coarse fabric woven from jute or hemp fiber — used historically for sacking, packing, and rough farm-clothing. The color refers to undyed natural burlap: a soft, slightly muted warm tan with the textured matte finish of bast-fiber weave. Drier than hemp, warmer than canvas.

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.

#c8ac26
Original
#bfa800
Protanopia
#c6b130
Deuteranopia
#d89e93
Tritanopia
#a8a8a8
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
2.24:1
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
9.38:1

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
##C8AC26
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7663 0.6785 0.2657)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.144

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.

Related Colors

Canvas