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Acidic Bath

#f3ae41
Notes

Acidic Bath (#F3AE41) 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 (37°, 88%, 60%) 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
#f3ae41
RGB
rgb(243, 174, 65)
HSL
hsl(37, 88%, 60%)
HWB
hwb(37 25% 5%)
OKLCH
oklch(79.8% 0.145 74.8)
HSV
hsv(37, 73%, 95%)
LAB
lab(75.89% 15.60 63.08)
LCH
lch(75.89% 64.98 76.11)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 28%, 73%, 5%)

Etymology

Acidic
adjective

Latin acidus, sour — adjectival suffix -ic, sharing root with acetic and acerbic. As a color modifier, acidic implies a saturated-and-citric-and-sour quality, the bright color of lime-zest-and-pickled-lime citrus-fruit pulp surface. Sits at the bright-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to acid and electric in usage.

Bath
noun

The English Roman-spa city — and the cream-tan of Bath stone, the oolitic limestone used in the city's Georgian terraces and the Royal Crescent. The color refers to the south-facing facade of the Royal Crescent at midday: a soft, slightly cool warm cream-tan with the matte finish of Bath stone. Lighter than Cotswold, cooler than honey.

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

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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.

#f3ae41
Original
#c7b132
Protanopia
#d7c245
Deuteranopia
#ff9c98
Tritanopia
#b5b5b5
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
1.92:1
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
10.94:1

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