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Bracing Beeswing

#f3b656
Notes

Bracing Beeswing (#F3B656) 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°, 87%, 65%) 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
#f3b656
RGB
rgb(243, 182, 86)
HSL
hsl(37, 87%, 65%)
HWB
hwb(37 34% 5%)
OKLCH
oklch(81.5% 0.132 76.2)
HSV
hsv(37, 65%, 95%)
LAB
lab(77.99% 12.49 56.17)
LCH
lch(77.99% 57.54 77.46)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 25%, 65%, 5%)

Etymology

Bracing
adjective

Old French bracier, to embrace — present-participle of brace. As a color modifier, bracing implies a saturated-and-cool-and-energizing quality, the bright color of Atlantic-Cornish-coast and Hebridean-island fresh-sea-air visual-stimulation. Sits at the bright-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to invigorating and crisp in usage.

Beeswing
noun

The thin, glassy crust that forms on the inside of a long-aged port or sherry bottle — fragments break loose like the wings of bees as the wine ages. The color refers to a beeswing-rich vintage port: a deep, slightly muted warm gold-brown with the optical complexity of long-cellar-aged fortified wine.

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.

#f3b656
Original
#cdb84c
Protanopia
#dbc759
Deuteranopia
#ffa6a1
Tritanopia
#bcbcbc
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
1.80:1
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
11.64:1

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