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Hyper Mater Goldenrod

#cb9f04
Notes

Hyper Mater Goldenrod (#CB9F04) 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 (47°, 96%, 41%) 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
#cb9f04
RGB
rgb(203, 159, 4)
HSL
hsl(47, 96%, 41%)
HWB
hwb(47 2% 20%)
OKLCH
oklch(72.3% 0.147 88.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7691 0.6303 0.2103)
HSV
hsv(47, 98%, 80%)
LAB
lab(67.65% 4.67 70.74)
LCH
lch(67.65% 70.89 86.22)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 22%, 98%, 20%)

Etymology

Hyper
adjective

Greek hyper, over / beyond — sharing root with Latin super. As a color modifier, hyper implies a saturated-and-over-the-top-active quality where the hue exceeds normal visual amplitude with maximum-stimulation register. Sits at the bright-and-over-active end of the grid, parallel to manic and frenetic in usage.

Mater
modifier

Latin mater, mother. As a color modifier, mater implies a Latin-mother-and-Stabat-Mater-and-Madonna quality, the visual register of Stabat-Mater-and-Pietà-mater hand-Latin-mother-and-Stabat-Mater-and-Madonna Stabat-Mater-and-Pietà-mater-and-Marian-iconography mater-and-Latin-mother surfaces under Stabat-Mater-and-Pietà-mater-and-Marian-iconography Roman-and-Counter-Reformation Madonna-iconographic-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to pater and amor in usage.

Goldenrod
noun

Solidago, the late-summer wildflower of North American meadows whose tall sprays of small yellow flowers signal the end of the growing season. The color refers to the flower head at full bloom: a warm, slightly muted yellow-orange with the matte finish of small clustered florets. Cooler than mustard, deeper than dandelion. The state flower of Kentucky and Nebraska, a pollinator magnet, and the original native dye for early American homespun.

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.

#cb9f04
Original
#b49e00
Protanopia
#beaa18
Deuteranopia
#dd8f87
Tritanopia
#9d9d9d
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
2.47:1
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
8.50:1

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
##CB9F04
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7691 0.6303 0.2103)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.147

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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