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Showy Tsuchi

#f9ae33
Notes

Showy Tsuchi (#F9AE33) 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°, 94%, 59%) 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
#f9ae33
RGB
rgb(249, 174, 51)
HSL
hsl(37, 94%, 59%)
HWB
hwb(37 20% 2%)
OKLCH
oklch(80.4% 0.155 74.4)
HSV
hsv(37, 80%, 98%)
LAB
lab(76.47% 17.59 69.13)
LCH
lch(76.47% 71.33 75.73)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 30%, 80%, 2%)

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.

Tsuchi
noun

The Japanese word for earth or soil — used for the warm pink-tan of clay-walled tsuchi-kabe of Japanese farmhouses and the unfinished plaster of Kyoto teahouses. The color refers to a freshly applied tsuchi-kabe wall: a soft, slightly muted warm pink-tan with the matte finish of mud-and-straw plaster. Drier than terracotta.

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.

#f9ae33
Original
#c9b21b
Protanopia
#dac438
Deuteranopia
#ff9a96
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
1.89:1
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
11.13:1

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