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Throbbing Corona Goldenrod

#ddad2a
Notes

Throbbing Corona Goldenrod (#DDAD2A) 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°, 72%, 52%) 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
#ddad2a
RGB
rgb(221, 173, 42)
HSL
hsl(44, 72%, 52%)
HWB
hwb(44 16% 13%)
OKLCH
oklch(77.1% 0.147 86.7)
HSV
hsv(44, 81%, 87%)
LAB
lab(73.17% 5.86 68.01)
LCH
lch(73.17% 68.26 85.08)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 22%, 81%, 13%)

Etymology

Throbbing
adjective

Imitative-onomatopoeic origin — present-participle of throb, with sound-and-action mimicry. As a color modifier, throbbing implies a saturated-and-pulsing-and-resonant quality, the bright color of bass-drop-and-rave-light low-frequency rhythm-pulse emission. Sits at the bright-and-active end of the grid, parallel to pulsating and strobing in usage.

Corona
modifier

Latin corona, crown-or-circle-of-light. As a color modifier, corona implies a sun-corona-and-eclipse-halo quality, the visual register of total-solar-eclipse-corona hand-sun-corona-and-eclipse-halo total-solar-eclipse-and-Sun-corona-and-Bailey's-Beads corona-and-sun-corona-and-eclipse-halo surfaces under total-solar-eclipse-and-Sun-corona-and-Bailey's-Beads totality-and-Moon-shadow-and-pearl ring-of-fire-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to prism and nebula 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

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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.

#ddad2a
Original
#c3ac05
Protanopia
#ceb932
Deuteranopia
#f09d95
Tritanopia
#aeaeae
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
2.08:1
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
10.09:1

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