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Saffron Core Bright
Color detail

Saffron Core Bright

Yellow · Hue 45
Hex
#E1AE14
RGB
rgb(225, 174, 20)
HSL
hsl(45, 84%, 48%)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 23%, 91%, 12%)
Metrics
S 84% · L 48%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
2:1Fail
on black
10.3:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Saffron Core Bright (#E1AE14) belongs to the yellow family — hue 45°, 84% 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-saffron-core-bright: #E1AE14;
  --colorarchive-saffron-core-bright-hsl: hsl(45, 84%, 48%);
  --colorarchive-saffron-core-bright-rgb: rgb(225, 174, 20);
}

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 vivid mid-tone — distinctive enough to anchor an identity, saturated enough to demand a quiet supporting palette.

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: At this saturation the color is doing work. It reads as a brand statement, a sport accessory, or a UI signal. It should be used in small, deliberate doses against quieter neighbors; large fields at this saturation will exhaust the eye.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #E1AE14.

  • Slackaccent
    Slack Yellow · #ECB22E
    →
  • Googleprimary
    Google Yellow · #FBBC04
    →
  • Microsoftprimary
    Yellow · #FFB900
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #E1AE14.

  • IndiaMarigold
    #F2A516 · Tagetes — temple offerings
    →
  • Turkey (Istanbul)Byzantine Gold
    #D4AF37 · Hagia Sophia mosaic ground
    →
  • VietnamTurmeric
    #D89B2E · Curcuma longa root dye
    →

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
Saffron Radiant Bright
#ECBB27 · hsl(45, 84%, 54%)
Darker companion
Saffron Velvet Bright
#C59811 · hsl(45, 84%, 42%)
Complementary counterpoint
Cobalt Core Bright
#1458E1 · hsl(220, 84%, 48%)
Analogous lead
Honey Core Bright
#BFE114 · hsl(70, 84%, 48%)
Analogous echo
Ember Core Bright
#E15814 · hsl(20, 84%, 48%)
Triadic +120°
Teal Core Bright
#14E19D · hsl(160, 84%, 48%)
Triadic +240°
Mulberry Core Bright
#9D14E1 · hsl(280, 84%, 48%)
Split-comp +150°
Cerulean Core Bright
#14BFE1 · hsl(190, 84%, 48%)
Split-comp +210°
Violet Core Bright
#3614E1 · hsl(250, 84%, 48%)
Export preview
Base: Saffron Core Bright #E1AE14
Lighter companion: Saffron Radiant Bright #ECBB27
Darker companion: Saffron Velvet Bright #C59811
Complementary counterpoint: Cobalt Core Bright #1458E1
Analogous lead: Honey Core Bright #BFE114
Analogous echo: Ember Core Bright #E15814
Triadic +120°: Teal Core Bright #14E19D
Triadic +240°: Mulberry Core Bright #9D14E1
Split-comp +150°: Cerulean Core Bright #14BFE1
Split-comp +210°: Violet Core Bright #3614E1

Compare

See how Saffron Core Bright compares side by side with related colors.

vsSaffron Radiant BrightvsSaffron Velvet BrightvsCobalt Core BrightvsHoney Core BrightvsEmber Core BrightvsTeal Core Bright

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Saffron Core Pure
#EBB30A · hsl(45, 92%, 48%)
Nearby match
Saffron Velvet Bright
#C59811 · hsl(45, 84%, 42%)
Nearby match
Saffron Radiant Bright
#ECBB27 · hsl(45, 84%, 54%)
Nearby match
Saffron Core Vivid
#D5A820 · hsl(45, 74%, 48%)
Nearby match
Apricot Core Bright
#E19D14 · hsl(40, 84%, 48%)
Nearby match
Amber Core Bright
#E1BF14 · hsl(50, 84%, 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
AAA7.1:1
Cobalt Nocturne Vivid
#0D2659
AAA7.1:1
Cobalt Nocturne Bright
#08255E
AAA7.2:1
Cobalt Nocturne Pure
#042362
AAA7.7:1
Cobalt Ink Faint
#202327
AAA7.8:1
Cobalt Ink Muted
#1D222A
AAA7.9:1
Cobalt Ink Dust
#1A212D

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#D0D366
Protanopia
#CDCD5C
Tritanopia
#DF787D
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Saffron Ink Faint#272520 · hsl(45, 10%, 14%)Saffron Nocturne Faint#38362E · hsl(45, 10%, 20%)Saffron Shadow Faint#4F4B40 · hsl(45, 10%, 28%)Saffron Dusk Faint#5F5B4E · hsl(45, 10%, 34%)Saffron Velvet Faint#767060 · hsl(45, 10%, 42%)Saffron Core Faint#87816E · hsl(45, 10%, 48%)Saffron Radiant Faint#95907E · hsl(45, 10%, 54%)Saffron Tone Faint#A39E8F · hsl(45, 10%, 60%)