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Spotlit Park Goldenrod

#cd9907
Notes

Spotlit Park Goldenrod (#CD9907) 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 (44°, 93%, 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
#cd9907
RGB
rgb(205, 153, 7)
HSL
hsl(44, 93%, 42%)
HWB
hwb(44 3% 20%)
OKLCH
oklch(71.3% 0.145 83.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7727 0.6082 0.2073)
HSV
hsv(44, 97%, 80%)
LAB
lab(66.35% 8.83 69.52)
LCH
lch(66.35% 70.08 82.76)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 25%, 97%, 20%)

Etymology

Spotlit
adjective

English compound spot + lit — past-participle of spotlight. As a color modifier, spotlit implies a saturated-and-narrow-beam-illuminated quality, the bright color of theatrical-stage-and-museum-display directed-spotlight focused-beam illumination. Sits at the bright-and-saturated end of the grid, parallel to sunlit and brilliant in usage.

Park
modifier

Old French parc, enclosed-game-preserve. As a color modifier, park implies a landscaped-and-managed-greenspace quality, the visual register of Stowe-and-Versailles hand-landscaped-and-managed enclosed deer-park-and-pleasure-garden surfaces under designed-landscape Stowe-and-Versailles formal-pleasure-garden light. Sits at the modifier-and-place end of the grid, parallel to garden and court 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.

#cd9907
Original
#af9900
Protanopia
#bba717
Deuteranopia
#e08982
Tritanopia
#9a9a9a
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
2.57:1
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
8.16:1

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
##CD9907
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7727 0.6082 0.2073)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.145

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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