colors
Back to gallery

Effervescent Oro

#c9a12b
Notes

Effervescent Oro (#C9A12B) 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 (45°, 65%, 48%) 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
#c9a12b
RGB
rgb(201, 161, 43)
HSL
hsl(45, 65%, 48%)
HWB
hwb(45 17% 21%)
OKLCH
oklch(72.6% 0.136 88.7)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7634 0.6374 0.2666)
HSV
hsv(45, 79%, 79%)
LAB
lab(68.08% 3.55 62.36)
LCH
lch(68.08% 62.46 86.75)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 20%, 79%, 21%)

Etymology

Effervescent
adjective

Latin effervēscēns, boiling-out — present-participle of effervesce, sharing root with fervere (to boil). As a color modifier, effervescent implies a saturated-and-bubbling-and-active quality, the bright color of Champagne-and-Prosecco effervescent-wine carbonation-bubble-light reflection. Sits at the bright-and-effervescent end of the grid, parallel to fizzy and sparkling in usage.

Oro
noun

The Spanish and Italian word for gold — used in heraldic vocabulary, religious art, and fashion for the metallic warm yellow of Renaissance gilding. The color refers to a freshly gilded Spanish altarpiece: a saturated, slightly cool deep gold with the metallic finish of beaten gold leaf. The Romance-language cousin of jīn and kogane.

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.

#c9a12b
Original
#b4a012
Protanopia
#beaa32
Deuteranopia
#da928b
Tritanopia
#a1a1a1
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
2.44:1
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
8.62:1

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
##C9A12B
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7634 0.6374 0.2666)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.136

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