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Saffron Nocturne Vivid
Color detail

Saffron Nocturne Vivid

Yellow · Hue 45
Metrics
S 74% · L 20%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white9.1:1AAon black2.3:1Fail
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Saffron Nocturne Vivid (#59460D) belongs to the yellow family — hue 45°, 74% saturation, 20% 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-nocturne-vivid: #59460D;
  --colorarchive-saffron-nocturne-vivid-hsl: hsl(45, 74%, 20%);
  --colorarchive-saffron-nocturne-vivid-rgb: rgb(89, 70, 13);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

WarmMatureLuxurious
Common in

Jewelry · Gourmet Food · Architecture

Pairs well with

Charcoal, deep emerald, or rich brown for elegant compositions

Design tip

Dark yellows and golds work beautifully in premium interfaces. Use for headings, icons, and accent borders on dark backgrounds.

Cultural context ▶

Gold and amber tones represent wealth, wisdom, and prestige. Central to Buddhist and Egyptian visual traditions.

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 jewel tone — saturated and dark at once. This is the register of velvet, deep enamel, and old-world luxury.

Lightness band: At this depth the hue starts behaving like a neutral — it can substitute for black in many contexts while still carrying a faint chromatic temperature. It pairs especially well with off-whites and warm metallics.

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 #59460D.

  • Aesopprimary
    Aesop Amber · #5C2E1F
    →
  • Airbnbneutral
    Hof Gray · #484848
    →
  • Xiaohongshu 小红书neutral
    Slate Text · #333333
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #59460D.

  • IrelandPeat Brown
    #604024 · Cut turf bog, Mayo + Connemara
    →
  • VietnamPho Broth Brown
    #5C3A21 · Anise-and-cinnamon star, slow simmer
    →
  • France (Paris)Bordeaux Wine
    #5C2E2A · Bordeaux region red wine
    →

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 SystemsDocumenting Color Systems: The Three Layers Every Design System Needs

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 Shadow Vivid
#7C6213 · hsl(45, 74%, 28%)
Darker companion
Saffron Ink Vivid
#3E3109 · hsl(45, 74%, 14%)
Complementary counterpoint
Cobalt Nocturne Vivid
#0D2659 · hsl(220, 74%, 20%)
Analogous lead
Honey Nocturne Vivid
#4C590D · hsl(70, 74%, 20%)
Analogous echo
Ember Nocturne Vivid
#59260D · hsl(20, 74%, 20%)
Triadic +120°
Teal Nocturne Vivid
#0D5940 · hsl(160, 74%, 20%)
Triadic +240°
Mulberry Nocturne Vivid
#400D59 · hsl(280, 74%, 20%)
Split-comp +150°
Cerulean Nocturne Vivid
#0D4C59 · hsl(190, 74%, 20%)
Split-comp +210°
Violet Nocturne Vivid
#1A0D59 · hsl(250, 74%, 20%)
Export preview
Base: Saffron Nocturne Vivid #59460D
Lighter companion: Saffron Shadow Vivid #7C6213
Darker companion: Saffron Ink Vivid #3E3109
Complementary counterpoint: Cobalt Nocturne Vivid #0D2659
Analogous lead: Honey Nocturne Vivid #4C590D
Analogous echo: Ember Nocturne Vivid #59260D
Triadic +120°: Teal Nocturne Vivid #0D5940
Triadic +240°: Mulberry Nocturne Vivid #400D59
Split-comp +150°: Cerulean Nocturne Vivid #0D4C59
Split-comp +210°: Violet Nocturne Vivid #1A0D59

Compare

See how Saffron Nocturne Vivid compares side by side with related colors.

vsSaffron Shadow VividvsSaffron Ink VividvsCobalt Nocturne VividvsHoney Nocturne VividvsEmber Nocturne VividvsTeal Nocturne Vivid

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Saffron Ink Vivid
#3E3109 · hsl(45, 74%, 14%)
Nearby match
Saffron Nocturne Bright
#5E4808 · hsl(45, 84%, 20%)
Nearby match
Apricot Nocturne Vivid
#59400D · hsl(40, 74%, 20%)
Nearby match
Amber Nocturne Vivid
#594C0D · hsl(50, 74%, 20%)
Nearby match
Saffron Shadow Vivid
#7C6213 · hsl(45, 74%, 28%)
Nearby match
Saffron Nocturne Pure
#624A04 · hsl(45, 92%, 20%)

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
AAA8.7:1
Cobalt Veil Faint
#F9FAFA
AAA8.7:1
Cobalt Veil Muted
#F9FAFB
AAA8.7:1
Cobalt Veil Dust
#F9F9FB
AAA8.6:1
Cobalt Veil Soft
#F8F9FC
AAA8.6:1
Cobalt Veil Clear
#F7F9FD
AAA8.6:1
Cobalt Veil Vivid
#F6F9FE

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#525428
Protanopia
#515124
Tritanopia
#582F31
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Saffron Nocturne Faint#38362E · hsl(45, 10%, 20%)Saffron Nocturne Muted#3C382A · hsl(45, 18%, 20%)Saffron Nocturne Dust#403A26 · hsl(45, 26%, 20%)Saffron Nocturne Soft#443C22 · hsl(45, 34%, 20%)Saffron Nocturne Clear#4F4117 · hsl(45, 54%, 20%)Saffron Nocturne Vivid#59460D · hsl(45, 74%, 20%)Saffron Nocturne Bright#5E4808 · hsl(45, 84%, 20%)Saffron Nocturne Pure#624A04 · hsl(45, 92%, 20%)
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