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Showy Beige

#f0aa30
Notes

Showy Beige (#F0AA30) is a true amber with a neon character. It sits at the high-saturation edge of its family. Use it sparingly, as signage, accent, or highlight against darker surfaces. Its HSL profile (38°, 86%, 56%) 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
#f0aa30
RGB
rgb(240, 170, 48)
HSL
hsl(38, 86%, 56%)
HWB
hwb(38 19% 6%)
OKLCH
oklch(78.6% 0.151 76.0)
HSV
hsv(38, 80%, 94%)
LAB
lab(74.50% 15.79 68.01)
LCH
lch(74.50% 69.82 76.93)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 29%, 80%, 6%)

Etymology

Showy
adjective

Old English scēawian, to look at — adjectival suffix -y. As a color modifier, showy implies a saturated-and-attention-grabbing quality, the bright color of Las-Vegas-and-Broadway neon-and-marquee theatrical-display lighting. Sits at the bright-and-flamboyant end of the grid, parallel to flamboyant and splashy in usage.

Beige
noun

The French word for natural-colored unbleached wool — borrowed into English in the late nineteenth century as a generic name for the soft warm tan of undyed natural fiber. The color refers to undyed Saxon merino: a soft, slightly muted warm tan with the matte finish of natural plant-and-animal fiber. Lighter than tan, warmer than linen.

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.

#f0aa30
Original
#c4ad17
Protanopia
#d4be35
Deuteranopia
#ff9793
Tritanopia
#b0b0b0
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
2.00:1
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
10.50:1

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