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Spotlit Haldi

#f9b557
Notes

Spotlit Haldi (#F9B557) 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 (35°, 93%, 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
#f9b557
RGB
rgb(249, 181, 87)
HSL
hsl(35, 93%, 66%)
HWB
hwb(35 34% 2%)
OKLCH
oklch(81.9% 0.135 72.7)
P3
color(display-p3 0.9363 0.7208 0.4050)
HSV
hsv(35, 65%, 98%)
LAB
lab(78.39% 15.56 56.34)
LCH
lch(78.39% 58.45 74.56)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 27%, 65%, 2%)

Etymology

Spotlit
adjective

English compound spot + lit — past-participle of spotlight. As a color modifier, spotlit implies a saturated-and-narrow-beam-illuminated quality, the bright color of theatrical-stage-and-museum-display directed-spotlight focused-beam illumination. Sits at the bright-and-saturated end of the grid, parallel to sunlit and brilliant in usage.

Haldi
noun

The Hindi word for turmeric — the South Asian spice and ceremonial pigment used in Hindu haldi pre-wedding rituals and in gor-haldi (turmeric milk). The color refers to fresh haldi paste applied to skin in a wedding ritual: a saturated, slightly red-shifted yellow with the dusty finish of fresh-ground rhizome. Warmer than turmeric.

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.

#f9b557
Original
#cdb84d
Protanopia
#ddc859
Deuteranopia
#ffa4a0
Tritanopia
#bdbdbd
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
1.78:1
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
11.78:1

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
##F9B557
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.9363 0.7208 0.4050)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.135

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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