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Acid Woven Goldenrod

#e5b22a
Notes

Acid Woven Goldenrod (#E5B22A) 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%, 53%) 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
#e5b22a
RGB
rgb(229, 178, 42)
HSL
hsl(44, 78%, 53%)
HWB
hwb(44 16% 10%)
OKLCH
oklch(78.9% 0.151 86.0)
HSV
hsv(44, 82%, 90%)
LAB
lab(75.25% 6.68 70.13)
LCH
lch(75.25% 70.45 84.56)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 22%, 82%, 10%)

Etymology

Acid
adjective

Latin acidus, sour — sharing root with English acrid and acerbic. As a color modifier, acid implies a saturated-and-citric-and-zingy quality, the bright color of lemon-and-lime citrus-fruit-flesh and acid-yellow fluorescent-pigment surfaces. Sits at the bright-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to acidic and electric in usage.

Woven
modifier

Old English wefan, to-weave. As a color modifier, woven implies a hand-loomed-warp-and-weft quality, the visual register of hand-loom-and-jacquard-loom hand-woven-and-loomed warp-and-weft hand-woven-and-loomed-textile surfaces under hand-woven-and-loomed-textile workshop-light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to spun and knit 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.

#e5b22a
Original
#c9b100
Protanopia
#d5bf32
Deuteranopia
#f9a199
Tritanopia
#b3b3b3
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
1.96:1
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
10.73:1

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