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Invigorating Glee Goldenrod

#ce9a12
Notes

Invigorating Glee Goldenrod (#CE9A12) 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 (43°, 84%, 44%) 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
#ce9a12
RGB
rgb(206, 154, 18)
HSL
hsl(43, 84%, 44%)
HWB
hwb(43 7% 19%)
OKLCH
oklch(71.6% 0.144 83.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7766 0.6121 0.2193)
HSV
hsv(43, 91%, 81%)
LAB
lab(66.73% 8.87 68.18)
LCH
lch(66.73% 68.75 82.59)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 25%, 91%, 19%)

Etymology

Invigorating
adjective

Latin vigor, vigor — present-participle of invigorate, sharing root with vigil (watchfulness). As a color modifier, invigorating implies a saturated-and-life-giving-and-energizing quality where the hue increases visual-and-physical vitality. Sits at the bright-and-active end of the grid, parallel to stimulating and bracing in usage.

Glee
modifier

Old English glēo, music-or-merriment. As a color modifier, glee implies a singing-and-merry-and-bubbling quality, the visual register of Elizabethan-glee-club-and-madrigal-glee hand-singing-and-merry-and-bubbling Elizabethan-glee-club-and-madrigal-and-catch-singing gleeful-and-singing-and-merry-and-bubbling surfaces under Elizabethan-glee-club-and-madrigal-and-catch-singing parlor-and-tavern-and-court candlelit-music-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to mirth and merry 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.

#ce9a12
Original
#b09a00
Protanopia
#bca81d
Deuteranopia
#e08a83
Tritanopia
#9b9b9b
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
2.54:1
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
8.26:1

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
##CE9A12
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7766 0.6121 0.2193)
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.

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