colors
Back to gallery

Spectral Omen Goldenrod

#e1b022
Notes

Spectral Omen Goldenrod (#E1B022) 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 (45°, 76%, 51%) 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 blue. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#e1b022
RGB
rgb(225, 176, 34)
HSL
hsl(45, 76%, 51%)
HWB
hwb(45 13% 12%)
OKLCH
oklch(78.1% 0.152 87.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.8523 0.6977 0.2691)
HSV
hsv(45, 85%, 88%)
LAB
lab(74.30% 5.78 71.41)
LCH
lch(74.30% 71.64 85.37)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 22%, 85%, 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.

Omen
modifier

Latin omen, prophetic-sign-or-portent. As a color modifier, omen implies a prophetic-sign-and-augur-and-portent quality, the visual register of Roman-augur-omen-and-Etruscan-haruspex hand-prophetic-sign-and-augur-and-portent Roman-augur-omen-and-Etruscan-haruspex-and-bird-flight omen-and-prophetic-sign-and-augur surfaces under Roman-augur-omen-and-Etruscan-haruspex-and-bird-flight Capitoline-Hill-and-Etruscan-templum prophetic-sign-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to sigil and rune 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.

#e1b022
Original
#c7af00
Protanopia
#d2bc2c
Deuteranopia
#f59f97
Tritanopia
#b0b0b0
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
2.01:1
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
10.43:1

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
##E1B022
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.8523 0.6977 0.2691)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.152

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.

Related Colors

Canvas