colors
Back to gallery

Showy Sagittarius Goldenrod

#d6b72b
Notes

Showy Sagittarius Goldenrod (#D6B72B) 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 (49°, 68%, 50%) 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
#d6b72b
RGB
rgb(214, 183, 43)
HSL
hsl(49, 68%, 50%)
HWB
hwb(49 17% 16%)
OKLCH
oklch(78.4% 0.150 95.6)
HSV
hsv(49, 80%, 84%)
LAB
lab(75.04% -2.41 69.08)
LCH
lch(75.04% 69.12 92.00)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 14%, 80%, 16%)

Etymology

Showy
adjective

Old English scēawian, to look at — adjectival suffix -y. As a color modifier, showy implies a saturated-and-attention-grabbing quality, the bright color of Las-Vegas-and-Broadway neon-and-marquee theatrical-display lighting. Sits at the bright-and-flamboyant end of the grid, parallel to flamboyant and splashy in usage.

Sagittarius
modifier

Latin sagittarius, archer-of-the-zodiac. As a color modifier, sagittarius implies a centaur-archer-and-fire-sign-and-Jupiter-ruled-mutable-fire quality, the visual register of Hellenic-Sagittarius-and-Chiron-centaur-archer hand-centaur-archer-and-fire-sign-and-Jupiter-ruled-mutable-fire Hellenic-Sagittarius-and-Chiron-centaur-archer-and-galactic-center sagittarius-and-centaur-archer-and-fire-sign surfaces under Hellenic-Sagittarius-and-Chiron-centaur-archer-and-galactic-center late-autumn-and-November-and-December mutable-fire-sign-light. Sits at the modifier-and-zodiac end of the grid, parallel to scorpio and capricorn 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.

#d6b72b
Original
#cbb300
Protanopia
#d3bd35
Deuteranopia
#e8a89d
Tritanopia
#b3b3b3
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
1.97:1
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
10.67:1

Related Colors

Canvas