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Glowy Phosphor

#d3c237
Notes

Glowy Phosphor (#D3C237) is a true amber with a warm character. It leans warm, pulling light toward red, orange, and yellow. Naturally inviting, it suits editorial and hospitality contexts. Its HSL profile (53°, 64%, 52%) 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
#d3c237
RGB
rgb(211, 194, 55)
HSL
hsl(53, 64%, 52%)
HWB
hwb(53 22% 17%)
OKLCH
oklch(80.5% 0.152 102.1)
HSV
hsv(53, 74%, 83%)
LAB
lab(77.70% -8.94 67.51)
LCH
lch(77.70% 68.10 97.54)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 8%, 74%, 17%)

Etymology

Glowy
adjective

Old English glōwan, to glow — adjectival suffix -y. As a color modifier, glowy implies a saturated-and-soft-emitting-and-warm quality, the bright color of fireside-and-candle-lit interior atmospheric-warmth surface emission. Sits at the bright-and-warm end of the grid, parallel to glowing and luminous in usage.

Phosphor
noun

A chemical that emits light when excited by an external energy source — the green-and-yellow phosphors of cathode-ray tubes, the yellow phosphor coatings of fluorescent tubes, and the white-LED yellow phosphor over a blue LED. The color refers to a yellow-phosphor-coated LED at full brightness: a saturated, slightly cool yellow with the optical brightness of electroluminescent emission.

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

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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.

#d3c237
Original
#d4bc1c
Protanopia
#d9c341
Deuteranopia
#e3b4a7
Tritanopia
#bcbcbc
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
1.82:1
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
11.54:1

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