Buttercup#F3AD16, a warm bold amber

At a glanceButtercup is #F3AD16, oklch(79.4% 0.161 78.6), a warm bold amber. Pair it with a cool brilliant blue #4E98DF as an accent, a warm bold scarlet #CC4B3C for harmony, and a warm grayish gold #CBC4B9 as a neutral. Put it to work as a brand or accent color, and it takes black text at AA contrast and prints exactly on coated presses.
Color codes

Buttercup in RGB, HSL, OKLCH & more

Ready to ship: every line pastes straight into your codebase, and the whole file copies at once.

f3ad16.css
:root { /* how your code speaks it */ /* how your eyes measure it */ /* how the lab measures it, D65 2° */}/* tailwind v4 */

ART is Rhapsody's perceptual model. How ART works

Color family

What kind of yellow is Buttercup?

Every color has a place in the standard vocabulary. This is Buttercup's, measured rather than asserted.

Buttercup's Munsell numbers: hue 0.1Y, value 7.5 (how light), chroma 11.9 (how vivid). That places it in ISCC-NBS block strong orange yellow, one of 267 named ranges the standard sorts every color into. Chroma 11.9 is moderate. Clearly colored, but not so saturated it fights the colors around it.

It reaches 95% of the way to the edge of your screen's gamut (the palette a screen can actually show) for this hue. Strong, with some headroom left before the screen runs out.

Munsell coordinates and block from the ISCC-NBS system, computed by Rhapsody's own renotation inversion.

Tints & shades

Shades of Buttercup, lighter and darker

For hover states, washed backgrounds, and dark surfaces that still read as #F3AD16. 13 steps, spaced evenly by eye, with the color itself sitting at its natural depth, buttercup-400.

Tints (light surfaces; dark text passes on every one)

Midtones (the color at full strength, for brand & accent work)

Shades (dark surfaces; light text passes on every one)

Rhapsody Palette

Most tools mix. Rhapsody measures.

Paste any color. The whole system comes back, contrast-checked before you see it.

Build your palette free

The window on the right was generated from #F3AD16, like this whole page.

Accessibility

Is Buttercup accessible? Contrast with white & black

Strong contrast makes your work readable by everyone, and meets the WCAG standard accessibility law points at. AA is the floor; AAA is the tier worth aiming for in body text. Black text on #F3AD16 clears WCAG AAA. Every strip below is one surface, and the marks are the steps that reach AAA on it.

Rows are text, columns are background · 68 of 210 pairings reach WCAG 2.2 AAA, shown here.

Rhapsody Palette

Ship the audit, not screenshots.

Run #F3AD16 against the colors you actually ship, every pairing and any target, and export it: exact ratios, the AA tier, APCA, in one file.

Get the full audit

The audit on the right was calibrated from #F3AD16, like this whole page.

Print

Buttercup in CMYK: one value for files, one per press

Every held press standard prints this color exactly as it is.

In CMYK, #F3AD16 is . That is the value design tools and file formats use when no press is involved.

On press (what each standard prints)

CGATS21 CRPC1 (coldset news) shifts on press
on screenon press

shifts ΔE00 8.3, 3.3× the 2.5 a run varies by

GRACoL 2013 Uncoated (CRPC3) shifts on press
on screenon press

shifts ΔE00 4.5, 1.8× the 2.5 a run varies by

GRACoL 2013 (CRPC6) prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

PSO Coated v3 (FOGRA51) prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

Coated FOGRA39 prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

Japan Color 2011 Coated prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

APTEC Flexo Coated prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

CGATS21 CRPC7 (extended gamut) prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

Press values computed through the ICC characterization data each standard proofs against. Each CMYK held to prints the color exactly.

Rhapsody Converter · coming soon

No surprises at the printer.

Run any color through the major press standards: FOGRA51, GRACoL, Japan Color, FOGRA39. It's coming soon. Create a free account and you'll get a note the moment it's live.

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The strip shows this page's tints and shades on screen, then through a standard GRACoL 2013 conversion.

The Buttercups

Colors similar to Buttercup

Here are other colors similar to Buttercup along with accessible text pairings and whether or not they're print-safe. Explore The Ambers

SquashSquash#F2AB15black text · AAA✓ prints exactly
SunSun#FBAC13black text · AAA! within tolerance
Fuel YellowFuel Yellow#ECA927black text · AAA✓ prints exactly
Yellow OrangeYellow Orange#FCB001black text · AAA! within tolerance
Yellow SeaYellow Sea#FEA904black text · AAA! within tolerance
AmberAmber#FFAC00black text · AAA! within tolerance
Orange YellowOrange Yellow#FFAD01black text · AAA! within tolerance
Yellowish OrangeYellowish Orange#FFAB0Fblack text · AAA! within tolerance
OrangeOrange#FFA500black text · AAA! within tolerance
My SinMy Sin#FFB31Fblack text · AAA! within tolerance
MangoMango#FFA62Bblack text · AAA! within tolerance
ButterscotchButterscotch#FDB147black text · AAA! within tolerance
Orange PeelOrange Peel#FFA000black text · AAA! within tolerance
Sea BuckthornSea Buckthorn#FBA129black text · AAA! within tolerance
Orangey YellowOrangey Yellow#FDB915black text · AAA! within tolerance
QuinceQuince#FFB800black text · AAA! within tolerance
Light OrangeLight Orange#FDAA48black text · AAA! within tolerance
SaffronSaffron#FF9F00black text · AAA! within tolerance
Selective YellowSelective Yellow#FFBA00black text · AAA! within tolerance
GambogeGamboge#E49B0Fblack text · AAA! within tolerance
Fire BushFire Bush#E89928black text · AAA✓ prints exactly
DixieDixie#E29418black text · AAA✓ prints exactly
Pairings

Colors that go with Buttercup

The complementary color, straight across the wheel, is a cool vivid blue #2757C3. Rhapsody's pick is the split complement, just to one side of it, a livelier pair.

The accent is for the moments that need attention, the harmony for the ones that need calm; the neutral carries the text and surfaces in between.

Downloads

Take Buttercup with you

The work on this page doesn't stay here. Save a card and the color arrives in your file, your deck or your board already decided.

Buttercup color codes: hex #F3AD16, RGB, HSL, CMYK, and OKLCH, from Rhapsody
Paste it anywhere without coming back for it.
The full tonal scale of Buttercup, 13 steps from light to dark with every hex, from Rhapsody
Reach for the right depth instead of the one you have.
Buttercup paired with a cool brilliant blue #4E98DF, a warm bold scarlet #CC4B3C, a warm grayish gold #CBC4B9: hex values and roles, from Rhapsody
Open a palette that already works together.
One free account

Your system is already built.

Rhapsody built it before you even asked: the scale, the neutrals, the utilities, every pairing calibrated.

This page's whole theme is built from one color. Palette does the same for yours: every step calibrated, every pairing checked, press included.

Every color on this page was calibrated, not mixed.

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