F5F5DC (beige) — RGB, HSL, CMYK and Contrast

Q: What text colour should sit on F5F5DC?

Black gives 18.98:1 and white gives 1.11:1, so black wins at 18.98:1. That clears the 4.5:1 AA threshold for normal text and the 7:1 AAA threshold as well.

Every value recomputed from the hex code · WCAG 2.1 contrast ratios

A yellow at 91% lightness and 56% saturation, which puts it at 1.11:1 against white and 18.98:1 against black. The tables below give the notation conversions, the tints and shades that keep the hue intact, and the harmonies that pair with it.

F5F5DC

Notation conversions

Notation	Value
HEX	`F5F5DC`
RGB	rgb(245, 245, 220)
HSL	hsl(60, 56%, 91%)
CMYK	cmyk(0%, 0%, 10%, 4%)
Relative luminance	0.8988
Perceived brightness	95.0 / 100

R=245 G=245 B=220 · hue 60.0° · saturation 55.6% · lightness 91.2%

Contrast against pure white and pure black

Pair this colour with the two extremes to see which is the safer text partner. AA needs 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text; AAA raises that to 7:1 and 4.5:1.

Against	Hex	Ratio	AA text	AA large	AAA text
#FFFFFF	`white`	1.11:1	fail	fail	fail
#000000	`black`	18.98:1	pass	pass	pass

Tints and shades

Lightness moves in ten-point steps while hue and saturation stay fixed, which keeps the colour recognisable in a scale. The last column is the ratio against white text, useful for deciding where a scale stops working as a background.

Step	Hex	HSL	vs white text
shade -30	`#d3d365`	hsl(60, 56%, 61%)	1.58:1
shade -20	`#dede8d`	hsl(60, 56%, 71%)	1.41:1
shade -10	`#eaeab4`	hsl(60, 56%, 81%)	1.24:1
tint +10	`#ffffff`	hsl(60, 56%, 100%)	1.00:1
tint +20	`#ffffff`	hsl(60, 56%, 100%)	1.00:1
tint +30	`#ffffff`	hsl(60, 56%, 100%)	1.00:1

Harmonies

Scheme	Hex
Complementary	`#dcdcf5`
Analogous −30	`#f5e9dc`
Analogous +30	`#e9f5dc`
Triadic −120	`#f5dcf5`
Triadic +120	`#dcf5f5`

Measured rather than eyeballed: hue 60.0°, saturation 55.6%, lightness 91.2%, relative luminance 0.8988 — four decimals is the precision the WCAG formula actually needs — and perceived brightness 95.0 out of 100. Entry 20 of 69 in this library, it scores 1.11:1 on white and 18.98:1 on black, a 17.87 spread. The complementary #dcdcf5 sits 180° away on the wheel, and the scale brackets it with #d3d365 below and #ffffff above.

Nearby colours

CDDC39 Lime 500 FFEB3B Yellow 500 F0E68C khaki FFFFF0 ivory 006400 darkgreen 008000 green

Frequently asked questions

What text colour should sit on F5F5DC?
Black gives 18.98:1 and white gives 1.11:1, so black wins at 18.98:1. That clears the 4.5:1 AA threshold for normal text and the 7:1 AAA threshold as well.

Do the CMYK numbers match a print workflow?
They are the naive conversion from RGB, which assumes no ink limit, no colour profile and no black generation strategy. Real print work needs a profile-aware conversion; the values here are the ones the converter reports and are best used as a starting point for a designer rather than a press-ready separations file.

Convert any other colour, or test a pair against each other, in the ColrShift colour converter and contrast checker. The colour library groups every entry on this site by hue family.