colors
Back to gallery

Phosphoric Stir Goldenrod

#e2ad35
Notes

Phosphoric Stir Goldenrod (#E2AD35) 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 (42°, 75%, 55%) 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 azure. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#e2ad35
RGB
rgb(226, 173, 53)
HSL
hsl(42, 75%, 55%)
HWB
hwb(42 21% 11%)
OKLCH
oklch(77.7% 0.143 83.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.8541 0.6867 0.3048)
HSV
hsv(42, 77%, 89%)
LAB
lab(73.75% 8.40 65.01)
LCH
lch(73.75% 65.55 82.64)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 23%, 77%, 11%)

Etymology

Phosphoric
adjective

Greek phōsphóros, light-bringer — adjectival suffix -ic. As a color modifier, phosphoric implies a saturated-and-cool-glow quality, the bright color of match-tip-strike and firefly phosphorus-emission luminescence. Sits at the bright-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to phosphorescent and fluorescent in usage.

Stir
modifier

Old English styrian, to-move-or-agitate. As a color modifier, stir implies a slow-moved-and-rippled-and-agitated quality, the visual register of cauldron-and-tea-cup-stir hand-slow-moved-and-rippled-and-agitated cauldron-and-tea-cup-and-pot-au-feu stirred-and-slow-moved-and-rippled-and-agitated surfaces under cauldron-and-tea-cup-and-pot-au-feu kitchen-hearth-and-witch's-fire-and-parlor-tea-table simmer-and-eddy-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to swirl and eddy 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.

#e2ad35
Original
#c3ad20
Protanopia
#d0bb3b
Deuteranopia
#f59c96
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
2.05:1
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
10.26:1

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
##E2AD35
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.8541 0.6867 0.3048)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.143

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