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Phosphorescent Glare Goldenrod

#d9a722
Notes

Phosphorescent Glare Goldenrod (#D9A722) 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°, 73%, 49%) 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 azure. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#d9a722
RGB
rgb(217, 167, 34)
HSL
hsl(44, 73%, 49%)
HWB
hwb(44 13% 15%)
OKLCH
oklch(75.5% 0.147 85.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.8206 0.6627 0.2586)
HSV
hsv(44, 84%, 85%)
LAB
lab(71.22% 7.07 68.51)
LCH
lch(71.22% 68.88 84.11)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 23%, 84%, 15%)

Etymology

Phosphorescent
adjective

Greek phōsphóros, light-bringer — adjectival suffix -escent. As a color modifier, phosphorescent implies a saturated-and-cool-glow-after-stimulation quality, the bright cool-green-blue color of Cu-doped-ZnS glow-in-the-dark photoluminescent surfaces. Sits at the bright-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to fluorescent and luminous in usage.

Glare
modifier

Middle English glaren, to-shine-brightly. As a color modifier, glare implies a harsh-and-bright-and-overwhelming quality, the visual register of desert-noon-and-snow-field-glare hand-harsh-and-bright-and-overwhelming desert-noon-and-snow-field-and-salt-flat glared-and-harsh-and-bright-and-overwhelming surfaces under desert-noon-and-snow-field-and-salt-flat overhead-sun-and-snow-blind-and-bleached harsh-noon-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to flash and blaze 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.

#d9a722
Original
#bda700
Protanopia
#c9b42b
Deuteranopia
#ec978f
Tritanopia
#a8a8a8
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
2.21:1
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
9.50:1

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
##D9A722
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.8206 0.6627 0.2586)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.147

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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