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Acidic Mocha

#e18a07
Notes

Acidic Mocha (#E18A07) 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 (36°, 94%, 45%) 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
#e18a07
RGB
rgb(225, 138, 7)
HSL
hsl(36, 94%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(36 3% 12%)
OKLCH
oklch(70.9% 0.156 66.3)
HSV
hsv(36, 97%, 88%)
LAB
lab(65.12% 25.59 69.78)
LCH
lch(65.12% 74.32 69.86)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 39%, 97%, 12%)

Etymology

Acidic
adjective

Latin acidus, sour — adjectival suffix -ic, sharing root with acetic and acerbic. As a color modifier, acidic implies a saturated-and-citric-and-sour quality, the bright color of lime-zest-and-pickled-lime citrus-fruit pulp surface. Sits at the bright-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to acid and electric in usage.

Mocha
noun

A variety of agate from the Yemeni port of al-Mukhā — characterized by tree-like dendritic inclusions in a yellow-tan ground. Also the Yemeni coffee that gave its name to the chocolate-coffee drink. The color refers to a polished mocha-agate cabochon: a soft, slightly muted warm tan with the matte finish of cryptocrystalline silica.

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.

#e18a07
Original
#a69200
Protanopia
#bba60d
Deuteranopia
#f67576
Tritanopia
#939393
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
2.68:1
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
7.84:1

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