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Holographic Maple

#e9aa38
Notes

Holographic Maple (#E9AA38) 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 (39°, 80%, 57%) 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
#e9aa38
RGB
rgb(233, 170, 56)
HSL
hsl(39, 80%, 57%)
HWB
hwb(39 22% 9%)
OKLCH
oklch(77.9% 0.144 77.9)
HSV
hsv(39, 76%, 91%)
LAB
lab(73.78% 13.10 64.18)
LCH
lch(73.78% 65.51 78.46)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 27%, 76%, 9%)

Etymology

Holographic
adjective

Greek hólos (whole) and graphé (writing) — adjectival suffix -ic. As a color modifier, holographic implies a saturated-and-multi-angle-shifting quality, the bright color of holographic-credit-card and trading-card dichroic-film 3D-image-reflection. Sits at the bright-and-shifting end of the grid, parallel to iridescent and prismatic in usage.

Maple
noun

The genus Acer and the syrup made by boiling down the sap of A. saccharum — the sugar maple of eastern North America. Indigenous peoples were processing maple sap into syrup long before European contact; the color refers to grade-A medium amber syrup: a warm, slightly golden brown with the unmistakable mineral sweetness of boiled spring sap.

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.

#e9aa38
Original
#c2ac26
Protanopia
#d1bc3d
Deuteranopia
#fd9893
Tritanopia
#afafaf
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
2.04:1
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
10.27:1

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