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Citrine Whisper Muted
Color detail

Citrine Whisper Muted

Yellow · Hue 60
Metrics
S 18% · L 94%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white1.1:1Failon black18.7:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Citrine Whisper Muted (#F2F2ED) belongs to the yellow family — hue 60°, 18% saturation, 94% 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-whisper-muted: #F2F2ED;
  --colorarchive-citrine-whisper-muted-hsl: hsl(60, 18%, 94%);
  --colorarchive-citrine-whisper-muted-rgb: rgb(242, 242, 237);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

GentleHopefulFresh
Common in

Baby Products · Organic Food · Stationery

Pairs well with

Lavender for whimsy, soft gray for sophistication, mint for freshness

Design tip

Excellent for backgrounds that need warmth without weight. Be cautious with text readability — always ensure sufficient contrast.

Cultural context ▶

Pale yellows suggest gentleness and new beginnings. Associated with spring, youth, and innocence in Western 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 pale, gentle tone — pastel territory, where the hue acts more like a tinted neutral than a stated color.

Lightness band: At this lightness the hue almost recedes into the surface around it — useful for backgrounds, hover states, and any surface where the color should suggest a mood without competing with content.

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 #F2F2ED.

  • Lululemonneutral
    Off White · #F5F5F5
    →
  • Anthropicbackground
    Cream Canvas · #F0EEE6
    →
  • Stripeneutral
    Off White · #F6F9FC
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #F2F2ED.

  • ScandinaviaSnow White
    #F4F0EA · Limewashed plaster, Nordic interiors
    →
  • Korea (Obangsaek)Obangsaek White (백 / baek)
    #F5F5F2 · West — metal element, hemp linen
    →
  • Greece (Aegean)Limewashed White
    #F8F4EE · Calcium hydroxide on stone
    →

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 NeutralsBrand & MarketingBrand Color Palette Ideas That Hold Up Beyond the Launch

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 Veil Muted
#FBFBF9 · hsl(60, 18%, 98%)
Darker companion
Citrine Mist Muted
#EAEAE1 · hsl(60, 18%, 90%)
Complementary counterpoint
Iris Whisper Muted
#EDEDF2 · hsl(240, 18%, 94%)
Analogous lead
Olive Whisper Muted
#F1F2ED · hsl(80, 18%, 94%)
Analogous echo
Apricot Whisper Muted
#F2F1ED · hsl(40, 18%, 94%)
Triadic +120°
Aqua Whisper Muted
#EDF2F2 · hsl(180, 18%, 94%)
Triadic +240°
Fuchsia Whisper Muted
#F2EDF2 · hsl(300, 18%, 94%)
Split-comp +150°
Sapphire Whisper Muted
#EDF0F2 · hsl(210, 18%, 94%)
Split-comp +210°
Plum Whisper Muted
#F0EDF2 · hsl(270, 18%, 94%)
Export preview
Base: Citrine Whisper Muted #F2F2ED
Lighter companion: Citrine Veil Muted #FBFBF9
Darker companion: Citrine Mist Muted #EAEAE1
Complementary counterpoint: Iris Whisper Muted #EDEDF2
Analogous lead: Olive Whisper Muted #F1F2ED
Analogous echo: Apricot Whisper Muted #F2F1ED
Triadic +120°: Aqua Whisper Muted #EDF2F2
Triadic +240°: Fuchsia Whisper Muted #F2EDF2
Split-comp +150°: Sapphire Whisper Muted #EDF0F2
Split-comp +210°: Plum Whisper Muted #F0EDF2

Compare

See how Citrine Whisper Muted compares side by side with related colors.

vsCitrine Veil MutedvsCitrine Mist MutedvsIris Whisper MutedvsOlive Whisper MutedvsApricot Whisper MutedvsAqua Whisper Muted

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Citrine Mist Muted
#EAEAE1 · hsl(60, 18%, 90%)
Nearby match
Citrine Veil Muted
#FBFBF9 · hsl(60, 18%, 98%)
Nearby match
Citrine Whisper Faint
#F1F1EE · hsl(60, 10%, 94%)
Nearby match
Citrine Whisper Dust
#F4F4EC · hsl(60, 26%, 94%)
Nearby match
Canary Whisper Muted
#F2F2ED · hsl(55, 18%, 94%)
Nearby match
Citrine Mist Faint
#E8E8E3 · hsl(60, 10%, 90%)

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
AAA7.2:1
Iris Radiant Bright
#2727EC
AAA7.3:1
Iris Radiant Pure
#1E1EF6
AAA7.6:1
Iris Core Clear
#3838BC
AAA8.4:1
Iris Core Vivid
#2020D5
AAA8.4:1
Iris Core Bright
#1414E1
AAA8.3:1
Iris Core Pure
#0A0AEB

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#F2F2EF
Protanopia
#F2F2EE
Tritanopia
#F2EFEF
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Citrine Whisper Faint#F1F1EE · hsl(60, 10%, 94%)Citrine Whisper Muted#F2F2ED · hsl(60, 18%, 94%)Citrine Whisper Dust#F4F4EC · hsl(60, 26%, 94%)Citrine Whisper Soft#F5F5EA · hsl(60, 34%, 94%)Citrine Whisper Clear#F8F8E7 · hsl(60, 54%, 94%)Citrine Whisper Vivid#FBFBE4 · hsl(60, 74%, 94%)Citrine Whisper Bright#FDFDE3 · hsl(60, 84%, 94%)Citrine Whisper Pure#FEFEE2 · hsl(60, 92%, 94%)
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