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Lit Brioche

#c98d0b
Notes

Lit Brioche (#C98D0B) 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 (41°, 90%, 42%) 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 azure. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#c98d0b
RGB
rgb(201, 141, 11)
HSL
hsl(41, 90%, 42%)
HWB
hwb(41 4% 21%)
OKLCH
oklch(68.5% 0.141 77.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7533 0.5629 0.1974)
HSV
hsv(41, 95%, 79%)
LAB
lab(62.92% 13.62 66.31)
LCH
lch(62.92% 67.69 78.39)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 30%, 95%, 21%)

Etymology

Lit
adjective

The past participle of light — short and modern. Used as a color word since the late twentieth century for hues that read as if they were illuminated. Lit yellow, lit pink: the implication is luminance combined with the slight optical impression of an internal light source. Sits in the bright-bucket extreme alongside electric.

Brioche
noun

The French enriched bread — egg- and butter-rich dough that produces a soft, golden, slightly sweet loaf used in brioche à tête, pain au lait, and kouign-amann. The color refers to the inside of a freshly baked brioche: a soft, slightly warm pale yellow with the matte finish of egg-rich crumb.

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.

#c98d0b
Original
#a38f00
Protanopia
#b29e16
Deuteranopia
#dc7c78
Tritanopia
#909090
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
2.88:1
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
7.30:1

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
##C98D0B
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7533 0.5629 0.1974)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.141

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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