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Acidic Zenith Goldenrod

#dcab32
Notes

Acidic Zenith Goldenrod (#DCAB32) 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 (43°, 71%, 53%) 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
#dcab32
RGB
rgb(220, 171, 50)
HSL
hsl(43, 71%, 53%)
HWB
hwb(43 20% 14%)
OKLCH
oklch(76.6% 0.142 85.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.8328 0.6781 0.2949)
HSV
hsv(43, 77%, 86%)
LAB
lab(72.61% 6.76 64.80)
LCH
lch(72.61% 65.15 84.04)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 22%, 77%, 14%)

Etymology

Acidic
adjective

Latin acidus, sour — adjectival suffix -ic, sharing root with acetic and acerbic. As a color modifier, acidic implies a saturated-and-citric-and-sour quality, the bright color of lime-zest-and-pickled-lime citrus-fruit pulp surface. Sits at the bright-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to acid and electric in usage.

Zenith
modifier

Arabic samt-al-ra's, path-overhead. As a color modifier, zenith implies an overhead-pointing-and-high-point quality, the visual register of celestial-sphere-and-overhead-Zenith hand-overhead-pointing-and-high-point celestial-sphere-and-overhead-and-Zenith-pole zenith-and-overhead-pointing-and-high-point surfaces under celestial-sphere-and-overhead-and-Zenith-pole astronomical-and-celestial-mechanics overhead-axis-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to nadir and axis 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.

#dcab32
Original
#c1ab1b
Protanopia
#ccb738
Deuteranopia
#ef9b94
Tritanopia
#adadad
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
2.12:1
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
9.91:1

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
##DCAB32
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.8328 0.6781 0.2949)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.142

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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