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Lambent Malt Goldenrod

#d3e85c
Notes

Lambent Malt Goldenrod (#D3E85C) is a true yellow with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (69°, 75%, 64%) 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
#d3e85c
RGB
rgb(211, 232, 92)
HSL
hsl(69, 75%, 64%)
HWB
hwb(69 36% 9%)
OKLCH
oklch(88.9% 0.165 117.1)
P3
color(display-p3 0.8429 0.9072 0.4455)
HSV
hsv(69, 60%, 91%)
LAB
lab(88.13% -25.58 63.89)
LCH
lch(88.13% 68.82 111.82)
CMYK
cmyk(9%, 0%, 60%, 9%)

Etymology

Lambent
adjective

Latin lambēns, licking-lightly — present-participle of lambere (to lick). As a color modifier, lambent implies a saturated-and-soft-flickering quality, the bright color of candle-flame-and-firefly gentle-flickering light-emission against the surrounding darkness. Sits at the bright-and-soft end of the grid, parallel to glimmering and flickering in usage.

Malt
modifier

Old English mealt, germinated-grain. As a color modifier, malt implies a kilned-grain-and-amber-stout quality, the visual register of Burton-on-Trent-and-Bavarian-malt hand-kilned-grain-and-amber-stout Burton-on-Trent-and-Bavarian-malt-and-Munich-and-Pilsen malt-and-kilned-grain surfaces under Burton-on-Trent-and-Bavarian-malt-and-Munich-and-Pilsen Burton-and-Munich-and-Pilsen brewery-and-kiln-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to syrup and zest 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.

#d3e85c
Original
#f7dd4b
Protanopia
#f5de65
Deuteranopia
#dfdcca
Tritanopia
#d9d9d9
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
1.36:1
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
15.47:1

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
##D3E85C
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.8429 0.9072 0.4455)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.165

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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