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Acidic Neptune Goldenrod

#fcae13
Notes

Acidic Neptune Goldenrod (#FCAE13) 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 (40°, 97%, 53%) 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
#fcae13
RGB
rgb(252, 174, 19)
HSL
hsl(40, 97%, 53%)
HWB
hwb(40 7% 1%)
OKLCH
oklch(80.6% 0.166 75.8)
P3
color(display-p3 0.9433 0.6954 0.2557)
HSV
hsv(40, 92%, 99%)
LAB
lab(76.69% 18.14 77.66)
LCH
lch(76.69% 79.75 76.85)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 31%, 92%, 1%)

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.

Neptune
modifier

Latin Neptunus, Roman-god-of-sea-and-eighth-planet. As a color modifier, neptune implies a Roman-god-of-sea-and-deep-blue-eighth-planet quality, the visual register of Roman-Neptune-and-Voyager-2-deep-blue hand-Roman-god-of-sea-and-deep-blue-eighth-planet Roman-Neptune-and-Voyager-2-deep-blue-and-Trevi-Fountain neptune-and-Roman-god-of-sea surfaces under Roman-Neptune-and-Voyager-2-deep-blue-and-Trevi-Fountain Voyager-2-flyby-and-Trevi-Fountain deep-blue-planet-light. Sits at the modifier-and-zodiac end of the grid, parallel to uranus and saturn in usage.

Goldenrod
noun

Solidago, the late-summer wildflower of North American meadows whose tall sprays of small yellow flowers signal the end of the growing season. The color refers to the flower head at full bloom: a warm, slightly muted yellow-orange with the matte finish of small clustered florets. Cooler than mustard, deeper than dandelion. The state flower of Kentucky and Nebraska, a pollinator magnet, and the original native dye for early American homespun.

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.

#fcae13
Original
#cab200
Protanopia
#ddc51e
Deuteranopia
#ff9995
Tritanopia
#b3b3b3
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
1.87:1
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
11.20:1

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
##FCAE13
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.9433 0.6954 0.2557)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.166

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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