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Shimmering Mead

#f2ad33
Notes

Shimmering Mead (#F2AD33) 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°, 88%, 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
#f2ad33
RGB
rgb(242, 173, 51)
HSL
hsl(38, 88%, 57%)
HWB
hwb(38 20% 5%)
OKLCH
oklch(79.4% 0.151 76.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.9086 0.6897 0.3047)
HSV
hsv(38, 79%, 95%)
LAB
lab(75.46% 15.16 67.92)
LCH
lch(75.46% 69.59 77.42)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 29%, 79%, 5%)

Etymology

Shimmering
adjective

Old English scimerian, to glisten — present-participle of shimmer, sharing root with shine. As a color modifier, shimmering implies a saturated-and-soft-flicker-reflective quality, the bright color of moonlit-water-and-silken-fabric surface-reflection. Sits at the bright-and-reflective end of the grid, parallel to glistening and glimmering in usage.

Mead
noun

Honey wine — fermented honey-and-water, one of the oldest known alcoholic beverages, central to Norse and Anglo-Saxon halls. The color refers to a young Polish miód pitny: a soft, slightly cool warm gold-yellow with the optical clarity of honey-derived alcohol. Warmer than champagne, lighter than whiskey.

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.

#f2ad33
Original
#c7b01b
Protanopia
#d7c138
Deuteranopia
#ff9a96
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
1.94:1
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
10.80:1

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
##F2AD33
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.9086 0.6897 0.3047)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.151

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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