Sunlight#FFF500, a warm vivid lemon
Sunlight in RGB, HSL, OKLCH & more
Ready to ship: every line pastes straight into your codebase, and the whole file copies at once.
ART is Rhapsody's perceptual model. How ART works
Why is it called Sunlight?
Sunlight's meaning, origin, and pronunciation, with sources.
Old English sunne, "sun" + lēoht, "light" → sunlight. About as English as a word can be.
The color science earns the anchor its place. In good light, the human eye is most sensitive to wavelengths around 555 nanometers, and this yellow sits close to that peak. Of every hue on this wheel, sunlight is the one your eye is literally best at seeing. The brightest-feeling anchor is bright for a measurable reason.
etymonline s.v. sun, light; CIE photopic luminosity function. Etymological dictionaries, cross-checked. Audio: Neskaya, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Shades of Sunlight, lighter and darker
For hover states, washed backgrounds, and dark surfaces that still read as #FFF500. 13 steps, spaced evenly by eye, with the color itself sitting at its natural depth, sunlight-300.
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)
Most tools mix. Rhapsody measures.
Paste any color. The whole system comes back, contrast-checked before you see it.
The window on the right was generated from #FFF500, like this whole page.
Is Sunlight 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 #FFF500 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 · 64 of 210 pairings reach WCAG 2.2 AAA, shown here.
Ship the audit, not screenshots.
Run #FFF500 against the colors you actually ship, every pairing and any target, and export it: exact ratios, the AA tier, APCA, in one file.
The audit on the right was calibrated from #FFF500, like this whole page.
Sunlight in CMYK: one value for files, one per press
This color shifts further than a press run can hold, so expect a visible difference. The pairs below show where each standard lands.
In CMYK, #FFF500 is . That is the value design tools and file formats use when no press is involved.
On press (what each standard prints)
shifts ΔE00 6.8, 2.7× the 2.5 a run varies by
shifts ΔE00 4.1, 1.6× the 2.5 a run varies by
shifts ΔE00 2.9, 1.2× the 2.5 a run varies by
shifts ΔE00 1.5, under the 2.5 a press run varies by
shifts ΔE00 2.7, 1.1× the 2.5 a run varies by
Press values computed through the ICC characterization data each standard proofs against. Each CMYK above is the closest that standard can get.
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.
The strip shows this page's tints and shades on screen, then through a standard GRACoL 2013 conversion.
Colors similar to Sunlight
Sun + light
Here are other colors similar to Sunlight along with accessible text pairings and whether or not they're print-safe. Explore The Lemons
| Sunny Yellow | Sunny Yellow | #FFF917 | black text · AAA | lighter than the paper |
| Golden Fizz | Golden Fizz | #F5FB3D | black text · AAA | lighter than the paper |
| Broom | Broom | #FFEC13 | black text · AAA | ! within tolerance |
| Off Yellow | Off Yellow | #F1F33F | black text · AAA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Lemon | Lemon | #FFE900 | black text · AAA | ✓ prints exactly |
| Gorse | Gorse | #FFF14F | black text · AAA | ! within tolerance |
| Starship | Starship | #ECF245 | black text · AAA | ✕ shifts on press |
| Turbo | Turbo | #FAE600 | black text · AAA | ✓ prints exactly |
| Candy Corn | Candy Corn | #FBEC5D | black text · AAA | ✓ prints exactly |
| Paris Daisy | Paris Daisy | #FFF46E | black text · AAA | lighter than the paper |
| Yellowish | Yellowish | #FAEE66 | black text · AAA | ! within tolerance |
| Straw | Straw | #FCF679 | black text · AAA | lighter than the paper |
| Sandy Yellow | Sandy Yellow | #FDEE73 | black text · AAA | ✓ prints exactly |
| Manilla | Manilla | #FFFA86 | black text · AAA | lighter than the paper |
| Texas | Texas | #F8F99C | black text · AAA | lighter than the paper |
| Barberry | Barberry | #DED717 | black text · AAA | ✓ prints exactly |
| Dark Cream | Dark Cream | #FFF39A | black text · AAA | lighter than the paper |
| Buff | Buff | #FEF69E | black text · AAA | lighter than the paper |
| Picasso | Picasso | #FFF39D | black text · AAA | lighter than the paper |
| Drover | Drover | #FDF7AD | black text · AAA | lighter than the paper |
Colors that go with Sunlight
The complementary color, straight across the wheel, is a cool vivid indigo #5242CE. 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.
Take Sunlight 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.
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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