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Quickening Plasma Goldenrod

#e0a80e
Notes

Quickening Plasma Goldenrod (#E0A80E) 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 (44°, 88%, 47%) 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
#e0a80e
RGB
rgb(224, 168, 14)
HSL
hsl(44, 88%, 47%)
HWB
hwb(44 5% 12%)
OKLCH
oklch(76.3% 0.154 84.0)
P3
color(display-p3 0.8448 0.6677 0.2350)
HSV
hsv(44, 94%, 88%)
LAB
lab(72.15% 9.22 73.72)
LCH
lch(72.15% 74.29 82.87)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 25%, 94%, 12%)

Etymology

Quickening
adjective

Old English cwic, living / lively — present-participle of quicken. As a color modifier, quickening implies a saturated-and-coming-alive-and-active quality where the hue accelerates visual engagement. Sits at the bright-and-active end of the grid, parallel to animated and invigorating in usage.

Plasma
modifier

Greek πλάσμα, something-molded-or-formed. As a color modifier, plasma implies an ionized-and-fourth-state-and-stellar-glow quality, the visual register of solar-corona-and-fluorescent-plasma hand-ionized-and-fourth-state-and-stellar-glow solar-corona-and-fluorescent-and-neon-tube plasma-and-ionized-and-fourth-state surfaces under solar-corona-and-fluorescent-and-neon-tube laboratory-and-stellar-and-aurora ionized-glow-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to corona and nova 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.

#e0a80e
Original
#c0a800
Protanopia
#cdb71d
Deuteranopia
#f4968f
Tritanopia
#a9a9a9
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
2.15:1
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
9.78:1

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
##E0A80E
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.8448 0.6677 0.2350)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.154

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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