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Lit Bourbon

#ebc123
Notes

Lit Bourbon (#EBC123) 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 (47°, 83%, 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 blue. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#ebc123
RGB
rgb(235, 193, 35)
HSL
hsl(47, 83%, 53%)
HWB
hwb(47 14% 8%)
OKLCH
oklch(82.4% 0.162 92.1)
P3
color(display-p3 0.8952 0.7631 0.2894)
HSV
hsv(47, 85%, 92%)
LAB
lab(79.57% 1.24 75.89)
LCH
lch(79.57% 75.90 89.07)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 18%, 85%, 8%)

Etymology

Lit
adjective

The past participle of light — short and modern. Used as a color word since the late twentieth century for hues that read as if they were illuminated. Lit yellow, lit pink: the implication is luminance combined with the slight optical impression of an internal light source. Sits in the bright-bucket extreme alongside electric.

Bourbon
noun

American corn-based whiskey — distilled and aged in new charred-oak barrels under U.S. federal regulation. The charring gives bourbon its characteristically saturated warm brown color. The color refers to a 10-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon: a saturated, slightly red-shifted warm brown with the optical depth of new-oak-aged spirit.

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.

#ebc123
Original
#d8be00
Protanopia
#e2ca30
Deuteranopia
#ffb0a5
Tritanopia
#bfbfbf
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
1.72:1
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
12.18:1

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
##EBC123
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.8952 0.7631 0.2894)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.162

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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