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Alight Pyrite

#f6c659
Notes

Alight Pyrite (#F6C659) is a true amber with a warm character. It leans warm, pulling light toward red, orange, and yellow. Naturally inviting, it suits editorial and hospitality contexts. Its HSL profile (42°, 90%, 66%) 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
#f6c659
RGB
rgb(246, 198, 89)
HSL
hsl(42, 90%, 66%)
HWB
hwb(42 35% 4%)
OKLCH
oklch(84.9% 0.137 85.2)
HSV
hsv(42, 64%, 96%)
LAB
lab(82.22% 5.57 59.57)
LCH
lch(82.22% 59.83 84.66)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 20%, 64%, 4%)

Etymology

Alight
adjective

Old English ā-lihtan, to set alight — past-participle of alight. As a color modifier, alight implies a saturated-and-currently-illuminated quality, the bright color of Christmas-tree and Diwali-lamp festival-decoration illuminated-and-twinkling emission. Sits at the bright-and-warm end of the grid, parallel to aflame and aglow in usage.

Pyrite
noun

An iron sulfide mineral — fool's gold — whose brassy yellow metallic luster has fooled prospectors since the California Gold Rush. Mined principally in Spain (Rio Tinto), Peru, and Italy. The color refers to a polished pyrite cube: a saturated, slightly cool deep gold with the metallic finish of crystallized iron sulfide.

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.

#f6c659
Original
#dcc54d
Protanopia
#e7d25d
Deuteranopia
#ffb6ae
Tritanopia
#c8c8c8
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
1.60:1
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
13.14:1

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