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Amber Core Muted
Color detail

Amber Core Muted

Yellow · Hue 50
Hex
#908964
RGB
rgb(144, 137, 100)
HSL
hsl(50, 18%, 48%)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 5%, 31%, 44%)
Metrics
S 18% · L 48%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
3.5:1AA Large
on black
5.9:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Amber Core Muted (#908964) belongs to the yellow family — hue 50°, 18% saturation, 48% lightness. Copy the hex, RGB, or HSL value above, or paste the CSS custom property below into your stylesheet to reference this color directly.

CSS
:root {
  --colorarchive-amber-core-muted: #908964;
  --colorarchive-amber-core-muted-hsl: hsl(50, 18%, 48%);
  --colorarchive-amber-core-muted-rgb: rgb(144, 137, 100);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Design Context

OptimisticAttention-GrabbingEnergizing
Common in

Delivery Services · Construction · Education

Pairs well with

Black for maximum visibility, deep purple for creative tension, navy for trust

Design tip

Use for highlight elements, badges, and warning states. Yellow draws the eye instantly — perfect for notifications and wayfinding.

Cultural context ▶

Yellow is the most visible color in daylight. It signals caution (traffic signs) and joy (smiley faces) across cultures.

Color Origins

Yellow family

The color of attention, sunlight, and contradiction.

Heritage

Yellow ochre is, with red ochre, one of the two pigments humans have used continuously for the longest time. Indian Yellow — historically made from the urine of cows fed only mango leaves — reached its peak in 17th–18th century Mughal painting before falling out of use. Cadmium yellow, introduced in the 1840s, gave Van Gogh his sunflowers; chrome yellow gave him the wheat fields he died in. Modern PY83 (a hansa yellow) is the durable workhorse of contemporary printing.

Across cultures

In Imperial China yellow was the emperor's color, off-limits to commoners. In medieval Europe yellow was simultaneously sacred (gold halos) and stigmatized (forced-yellow garments imposed on Jews and 'heretics' — the precedent the Nazis revived). In Japan yellow is courage; in Egypt it was the color of mourning. Few colors carry such contradictory meanings across regions.

In the wild

McDonald's golden arches were calibrated for highway visibility — the M is yellow because yellow is the most-recognized color at distance. The Yellow Pages, the New York taxi, the school bus, and the Post-it note are all the same engineered yellow (PMS 116) for the same reason: maximum legibility at minimum cost. Coldplay's 'Yellow' put the color into the cultural mood vocabulary in 2000. IKEA pairs yellow with blue in a deliberate echo of the Swedish flag.

How it reads

Yellow demands attention more aggressively than any other color — the eye's L-cones and M-cones both peak nearby, so yellow appears bright at lower luminance than other hues. It works as an accent, a warning, or a child-friendly primary; it almost never works as a body-text color (contrast against white is too low). At low saturation yellow becomes cream, butter, parchment — quiet and warm; at high saturation it becomes a hazard sign or a sport drink.

This particular tone

A grounded mid-tone — sober, considered, well-suited to body text accents, editorial layouts, or any context where restraint reads as quality.

Lightness band: At mid-lightness the hue carries its full character. This is the band where most identity colors live: bright enough to be distinctive at small sizes, deep enough to sit cleanly on a white canvas.

Saturation band: The low saturation pulls this color toward earthen, vintage, or editorial palettes. It reads as confident and grown-up rather than playful, and it tolerates being used in large blocks without becoming visually noisy.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #908964.

  • Notionneutral
    Notion Gray · #787774
    →
  • Microsoftneutral
    Slate Gray · #737373
    →
  • GitHubaccent
    Attention Yellow · #9A6700
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #908964.

  • AustraliaBush Khaki
    #8E895C · Outback grassland in dry season
    →
  • France (Paris)Seine Steel
    #7E8A93 · River reflectivity in winter
    →
  • IrelandPasture Green
    #7C9A4C · Limestone-base pastureland, the West
    →

Tonal strip

All lightness levels at this hue and saturation. Click any to navigate.

Palette moves

Instead of stopping at one swatch, use nearby, opposite, and tonal neighbors to branch into a broader palette.

Lighter companion
Amber Radiant Muted
#9F9875 · hsl(50, 18%, 54%)
Darker companion
Amber Velvet Muted
#7E7858 · hsl(50, 18%, 42%)
Complementary counterpoint
Indigo Core Muted
#646C90 · hsl(230, 18%, 48%)
Analogous lead
Chartreuse Core Muted
#859064 · hsl(75, 18%, 48%)
Analogous echo
Tangerine Core Muted
#907764 · hsl(25, 18%, 48%)
Triadic +120°
Lagoon Core Muted
#649089 · hsl(170, 18%, 48%)
Triadic +240°
Magenta Core Muted
#896490 · hsl(290, 18%, 48%)
Split-comp +150°
Azure Core Muted
#648290 · hsl(200, 18%, 48%)
Split-comp +210°
Orchid Core Muted
#736490 · hsl(260, 18%, 48%)
Export preview
Base: Amber Core Muted #908964
Lighter companion: Amber Radiant Muted #9F9875
Darker companion: Amber Velvet Muted #7E7858
Complementary counterpoint: Indigo Core Muted #646C90
Analogous lead: Chartreuse Core Muted #859064
Analogous echo: Tangerine Core Muted #907764
Triadic +120°: Lagoon Core Muted #649089
Triadic +240°: Magenta Core Muted #896490
Split-comp +150°: Azure Core Muted #648290
Split-comp +210°: Orchid Core Muted #736490

Compare

See how Amber Core Muted compares side by side with related colors.

vsAmber Radiant MutedvsAmber Velvet MutedvsIndigo Core MutedvsChartreuse Core MutedvsTangerine Core MutedvsLagoon Core Muted

Nearest neighbors

The closest archive matches by hue, saturation, and lightness.

Search by hex
Nearby match
Amber Core Faint
#87836E · hsl(50, 10%, 48%)
Nearby match
Amber Core Dust
#9A905B · hsl(50, 26%, 48%)
Nearby match
Amber Velvet Muted
#7E7858 · hsl(50, 18%, 42%)
Nearby match
Amber Radiant Muted
#9F9875 · hsl(50, 18%, 54%)
Nearby match
Saffron Core Muted
#908564 · hsl(45, 18%, 48%)
Nearby match
Canary Core Muted
#908D64 · hsl(55, 18%, 48%)

Accessible pairings

Archive colors that meet WCAG contrast standards when paired with this color. Use as text-on-background or background-on-text.

Contrast checker
AA4.5:1
Indigo Nocturne Vivid
#0D1A59
AA4.6:1
Indigo Nocturne Bright
#08165E
AA4.6:1
Indigo Nocturne Pure
#041462
AA4.5:1
Indigo Ink Faint
#202127
AA4.6:1
Indigo Ink Muted
#1D1F2A
AA4.7:1
Indigo Ink Dust
#1A1E2D

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#8D8E71
Protanopia
#8D8D6E
Tritanopia
#907677
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Appears in collections
Kodachrome Memory