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Citrine Core Faint
Color detail

Citrine Core Faint

Yellow · Hue 60
Metrics
S 10% · L 48%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white3.7:1AA Largeon black5.7:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Citrine Core Faint (#87876E) belongs to the yellow family — hue 60°, 10% 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-citrine-core-faint: #87876E;
  --colorarchive-citrine-core-faint-hsl: hsl(60, 10%, 48%);
  --colorarchive-citrine-core-faint-rgb: rgb(135, 135, 110);
}

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, among the oldest pigments humans have used. Indian Yellow — historically made from the urine of cows fed only mango leaves — is best known from Rajput and Mughal miniatures of the 16th to 19th centuries, before falling out of use. Chrome yellow, an early-19th-century pigment, gave Van Gogh his sunflowers (and is slowly darkening in them); cadmium yellow followed in the 1840s. Synthetic diarylide yellows are now the workhorses of process-color 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). Few colors carry such contradictory meanings across regions.

In the wild

McDonald's golden arches were designed to be noticed from the road, a simple shape readable over long distances. The American school bus was standardized on yellow in 1939 because it was judged easiest to see; the Post-it note got its canary yellow by accident, from scrap paper in a neighboring lab. 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 is the lightest saturated hue — the eye is most sensitive near the yellow-green of the spectrum, where its L- and M-cones overlap, so a full yellow carries more luminance than any other saturated hue. 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 many 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 #87876E.

  • Anthropicaccent
    Anthropic Green · #788C5D
    →
  • Notionneutral
    Notion Gray · #787774
    →
  • Microsoftneutral
    Slate Gray · #737373
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #87876E.

  • 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
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using yellow and color in design.

Color History1950s Pastel Color Palettes: Mid-Century Mint, Coral Pink & Butter YellowColor TheoryWarm Color Palette Guide: Reds, Oranges, Yellows, and Their NeutralsColor TheoryHow to Choose Color Combinations That Work

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
Citrine Radiant Faint
#95957E · hsl(60, 10%, 54%)
Darker companion
Citrine Velvet Faint
#767660 · hsl(60, 10%, 42%)
Complementary counterpoint
Iris Core Faint
#6E6E87 · hsl(240, 10%, 48%)
Analogous lead
Olive Core Faint
#7E876E · hsl(80, 10%, 48%)
Analogous echo
Apricot Core Faint
#877E6E · hsl(40, 10%, 48%)
Triadic +120°
Aqua Core Faint
#6E8787 · hsl(180, 10%, 48%)
Triadic +240°
Fuchsia Core Faint
#876E87 · hsl(300, 10%, 48%)
Split-comp +150°
Sapphire Core Faint
#6E7A87 · hsl(210, 10%, 48%)
Split-comp +210°
Plum Core Faint
#7A6E87 · hsl(270, 10%, 48%)
Export preview
Base: Citrine Core Faint #87876E
Lighter companion: Citrine Radiant Faint #95957E
Darker companion: Citrine Velvet Faint #767660
Complementary counterpoint: Iris Core Faint #6E6E87
Analogous lead: Olive Core Faint #7E876E
Analogous echo: Apricot Core Faint #877E6E
Triadic +120°: Aqua Core Faint #6E8787
Triadic +240°: Fuchsia Core Faint #876E87
Split-comp +150°: Sapphire Core Faint #6E7A87
Split-comp +210°: Plum Core Faint #7A6E87

Compare

See how Citrine Core Faint compares side by side with related colors.

vsCitrine Radiant FaintvsCitrine Velvet FaintvsIris Core FaintvsOlive Core FaintvsApricot Core FaintvsAqua Core Faint

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Citrine Core Muted
#909064 · hsl(60, 18%, 48%)
Nearby match
Citrine Velvet Faint
#767660 · hsl(60, 10%, 42%)
Nearby match
Citrine Radiant Faint
#95957E · hsl(60, 10%, 54%)
Nearby match
Canary Core Faint
#87856E · hsl(55, 10%, 48%)
Nearby match
Citrine Core Dust
#9A9A5B · hsl(60, 26%, 48%)
Nearby match
Citrine Velvet Muted
#7E7E58 · hsl(60, 18%, 42%)

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
Iris Nocturne Clear
#17174F
AA4.7:1
Iris Nocturne Vivid
#0D0D59
AA4.7:1
Iris Nocturne Bright
#08085E
AA4.8:1
Iris Nocturne Pure
#040462
AA4.5:1
Iris Ink Muted
#1D1D2A
AA4.7:1
Iris Ink Dust
#1A1A2D

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#878776
Protanopia
#878775
Tritanopia
#877A7B
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Citrine Core Faint#87876E · hsl(60, 10%, 48%)Citrine Core Muted#909064 · hsl(60, 18%, 48%)Citrine Core Dust#9A9A5B · hsl(60, 26%, 48%)Citrine Core Soft#A4A451 · hsl(60, 34%, 48%)Citrine Core Clear#BCBC38 · hsl(60, 54%, 48%)Citrine Core Vivid#D5D520 · hsl(60, 74%, 48%)Citrine Core Bright#E1E114 · hsl(60, 84%, 48%)Citrine Core Pure#EBEB0A · hsl(60, 92%, 48%)
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