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Luminous Mesh Goldenrod

#e9b22a
Notes

Luminous Mesh Goldenrod (#E9B22A) 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 (43°, 81%, 54%) 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
#e9b22a
RGB
rgb(233, 178, 42)
HSL
hsl(43, 81%, 54%)
HWB
hwb(43 16% 9%)
OKLCH
oklch(79.3% 0.152 84.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.8804 0.7066 0.2876)
HSV
hsv(43, 82%, 91%)
LAB
lab(75.66% 8.40 70.65)
LCH
lch(75.66% 71.15 83.22)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 24%, 82%, 9%)

Etymology

Luminous
adjective

Latin lūminōsus, full of light — adjectival suffix -ous, derived from lūmen (light). As a color modifier, luminous implies a saturated-and-light-emitting quality where the hue carries internal-glow visual register. Sits at the bright-and-saturated end of the grid, parallel to radiant and resplendent in usage.

Mesh
modifier

Old English mæscre, netting. As a color modifier, mesh implies a netted-and-woven-network quality, the visual register of hand-knotted-and-woven-mesh hand-knotted-and-woven-net wire-and-fiber-and-cord-mesh hand-knotted-and-woven-mesh-and-net surfaces under hand-knotted-and-woven-mesh-and-net working light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to wire and web 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.

#e9b22a
Original
#cab200
Protanopia
#d7c032
Deuteranopia
#fda099
Tritanopia
#b4b4b4
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
1.93:1
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
10.87:1

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
##E9B22A
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.8804 0.7066 0.2876)
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.

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