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Lurid Inlaid Goldenrod

#e3c320
Notes

Lurid Inlaid Goldenrod (#E3C320) 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 (50°, 78%, 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
#e3c320
RGB
rgb(227, 195, 32)
HSL
hsl(50, 78%, 51%)
HWB
hwb(50 13% 11%)
OKLCH
oklch(82.1% 0.163 96.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.8696 0.7693 0.2845)
HSV
hsv(50, 86%, 89%)
LAB
lab(79.31% -3.31 76.05)
LCH
lch(79.31% 76.12 92.49)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 14%, 86%, 11%)

Etymology

Lurid
adjective

Latin lūridus, pale-yellow / sickly — sharing root with lūror (yellowish-pallor). As a color modifier, lurid implies a saturated-and-shocking-and-sickly-bright quality, the bright color of Penny-Dreadful-and-Pulp-Fiction sensational-cover-art bright-and-pulpy printing. Sits at the bright-and-shocking end of the grid, parallel to garish and gaudy in usage.

Inlaid
modifier

Old French enlaissier, to-set-in. As a color modifier, inlaid implies a hand-set-and-decorative quality, the visual register of Florentine-and-Italian-Renaissance-pietra-dura hand-set-and-decorative inlaid-stone-and-wood-and-mother-of-pearl pietra-dura-and-marquetry surfaces under Florentine-and-Renaissance hand-inlaid pietra-dura-and-marquetry light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to carved and tooled 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.

#e3c320
Original
#d8bf00
Protanopia
#e0c92f
Deuteranopia
#f6b3a7
Tritanopia
#bebebe
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
1.74:1
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
12.09:1

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
##E3C320
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.8696 0.7693 0.2845)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.163

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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