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Hot Tsuchi

#dd9c0e
Notes

Hot Tsuchi (#DD9C0E) 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 (41°, 88%, 46%) 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
#dd9c0e
RGB
rgb(221, 156, 14)
HSL
hsl(41, 88%, 46%)
HWB
hwb(41 5% 13%)
OKLCH
oklch(73.7% 0.151 78.3)
HSV
hsv(41, 94%, 87%)
LAB
lab(68.88% 14.32 71.20)
LCH
lch(68.88% 72.62 78.63)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 29%, 94%, 13%)

Etymology

Hot
adjective

Old English hāt, of high temperature — applied metaphorically to color since the eighteenth century for warm hues at high saturation. Hot pink, hot red: the implication is luminous intensity combined with thermal warmth. Sits in the bright-and-warm corner of the grid, alongside burning and vivid.

Tsuchi
noun

The Japanese word for earth or soil — used for the warm pink-tan of clay-walled tsuchi-kabe of Japanese farmhouses and the unfinished plaster of Kyoto teahouses. The color refers to a freshly applied tsuchi-kabe wall: a soft, slightly muted warm pink-tan with the matte finish of mud-and-straw plaster. Drier than terracotta.

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

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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.

#dd9c0e
Original
#b49f00
Protanopia
#c4af19
Deuteranopia
#f18a85
Tritanopia
#a0a0a0
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
2.38:1
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
8.84:1

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