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Sharp Yùhuáng

#ddd44e
Notes

Sharp Yùhuáng (#DDD44E) is a true yellow with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (56°, 68%, 59%) 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 blue. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#ddd44e
RGB
rgb(221, 212, 78)
HSL
hsl(56, 68%, 59%)
HWB
hwb(56 31% 13%)
OKLCH
oklch(85.3% 0.152 105.5)
HSV
hsv(56, 65%, 87%)
LAB
lab(83.45% -12.66 64.87)
LCH
lch(83.45% 66.09 101.04)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 4%, 65%, 13%)

Etymology

Sharp
adjective

Old English scearp, cutting, pointed — applied metaphorically to color since the seventeenth century for hues that read as definite and edge-defined. Sharp red, sharp green: the implication is saturation combined with high-contrast crispness. Sits in the bright-bucket center alongside crisp and clear, with a slightly more incisive edge.

Yùhuáng
noun

Literally jade-yellow in Chinese — a soft, slightly cool pale yellow used in ceremonial hetian nephrite jade and in the silks of Qing-dynasty consort robes. The color refers to a polished pale-yellow nephrite cabochon: a soft, slightly cool pale yellow with the satin finish of fine jade.

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.

#ddd44e
Original
#e6cd3c
Protanopia
#e9d356
Deuteranopia
#edc6b8
Tritanopia
#cccccc
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
1.54:1
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
13.60:1

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