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Manic Spica Goldenrod

#da9f0d
Notes

Manic Spica Goldenrod (#DA9F0D) is a true amber with a neon character. It sits at the high-saturation edge of its family. Use it sparingly, as signage, accent, or highlight against darker surfaces. Its HSL profile (43°, 89%, 45%) 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
#da9f0d
RGB
rgb(218, 159, 13)
HSL
hsl(43, 89%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(43 5% 15%)
OKLCH
oklch(73.9% 0.150 81.4)
P3
color(display-p3 0.8199 0.6330 0.2230)
HSV
hsv(43, 94%, 85%)
LAB
lab(69.28% 11.39 71.48)
LCH
lch(69.28% 72.38 80.94)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 27%, 94%, 15%)

Etymology

Manic
adjective

Greek manikós, raving / mad — sharing root with mania. As a color modifier, manic implies a saturated-and-overstimulated-and-extreme quality, the bright color of Andy-Warhol-and-Pop-Art late-Pop-Art repeated-and-multiplied portrait color schemes. Sits at the bright-and-active end of the grid, parallel to hyper and frenetic in usage.

Spica
modifier

Latin spīca, ear-of-grain. As a color modifier, spica implies a Virgin-and-grain-ear-and-blue-white-star quality, the visual register of Virgo-constellation-and-spring-Spica hand-Virgin-and-grain-ear-and-blue-white-star Virgo-constellation-and-spring-and-Bortle-1-sky spica-and-Virgin-and-grain-ear-and-blue-white-star surfaces under Virgo-constellation-and-spring-and-Bortle-1-sky April-and-May-spring-southern-vista grain-bearing-stellar-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to vega and altair 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.

#da9f0d
Original
#b7a000
Protanopia
#c4af1a
Deuteranopia
#ee8d88
Tritanopia
#a1a1a1
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
2.35:1
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
8.95:1

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
##DA9F0D
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.8199 0.6330 0.2230)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.150

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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