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Spectral Stole Goldenrod

#e0ad1b
Notes

Spectral Stole Goldenrod (#E0AD1B) 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°, 78%, 49%) 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
#e0ad1b
RGB
rgb(224, 173, 27)
HSL
hsl(44, 78%, 49%)
HWB
hwb(44 11% 12%)
OKLCH
oklch(77.3% 0.153 86.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.8474 0.6863 0.2552)
HSV
hsv(44, 88%, 88%)
LAB
lab(73.43% 6.78 72.33)
LCH
lch(73.43% 72.65 84.65)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 23%, 88%, 12%)

Etymology

Spectral
adjective

Latin spectrum, appearance — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, spectral implies a saturated-and-rainbow-decomposed-and-pure quality, the bright color of Newton-prism sunlight-decomposed seven-color spectrum band. Sits at the bright-and-pure end of the grid, parallel to prismatic and pure in usage.

Stole
modifier

Latin stola, Roman-women's-and-priestly-robe. As a color modifier, stole implies a Roman-women's-and-priestly-robe quality, the visual register of Roman-stola-and-Catholic-priestly-stole hand-Roman-women's-and-priestly-robe Roman-stola-and-Catholic-priestly-stole-and-Anglican-tippet stole-and-Roman-women's-and-priestly-robe surfaces under Roman-stola-and-Catholic-priestly-stole-and-Anglican-tippet Republican-Rome-and-Catholic-Mass-and-Anglican-Vespers Roman-and-Mass-light. Sits at the modifier-and-textile end of the grid, parallel to cope and robe 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.

#e0ad1b
Original
#c4ac00
Protanopia
#d0ba26
Deuteranopia
#f49c94
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
2.07:1
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
10.16:1

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
##E0AD1B
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.8474 0.6863 0.2552)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.153

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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