Black and Yellow color palette
black
When you need something to be seen from across a room or down a street, this is the pairing designers reach for. The 10.32 to 1 ratio puts it well past AAA, which is why it shows up on warning signs, taxi cabs, and construction gear. Black #0A0A0A reads as deep and flat, while Yellow #EAB308 is a warm, saturated mid-tone that almost glows against it.
For branding, the combination signals energy and confidence without feeling corporate. On posters, headlines in yellow on a black field hold their shape at any size. On the web, you can flip the roles for body text on light backgrounds, or use a muted olive-brown (#6F571D) as a quieter accent between them.
See Black and Yellow in use
better
Black Tailwind scale (50-900)
Yellow Tailwind scale (50-900)
Black to Yellow blend
A continuous interpolation from Black to Yellow, sampled into the 10 steps below. Tap any swatch to copy its hex.
Why Black and Yellow blend best in OKLab
The same two colors blended three ways. This site uses OKLab, which keeps the blend smooth and evenly lit. The other two are shown so you can see what to avoid: sRGB darkens and muddies the middle, and HSL detours through colors that are not in your palette.
Accessibility
Black and Yellow can be used together as text and background.
Contrast pairing grid
Rows are Black steps, columns are Yellow steps. Each mark is a Black step shown on a Yellow step: a check means it clears WCAG AA for text (4.5:1). If you can read the mark, the pairing is legible.
| 50 | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 | 600 | 700 | 800 | 900 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 100 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 200 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 300 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| 400 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 500 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 600 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 700 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 800 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 900 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
✓ passes AA ✗ fails AA
Copy for Tailwind
Tailwind v4 — @theme (paste into your CSS)
@theme {
--color-black-50: #EEEEEE;
--color-black-100: #DDDDDD;
--color-black-200: #C1C1C1;
--color-black-300: #9C9C9C;
--color-black-400: #6C6C6C;
--color-black-500: #0A0A0A;
--color-black-600: #060606;
--color-black-700: #030303;
--color-black-800: #010101;
--color-black-900: #000000;
--color-yellow-50: #FEFBF4;
--color-yellow-100: #FDF6E9;
--color-yellow-200: #FBEFD6;
--color-yellow-300: #F8E5BB;
--color-yellow-400: #F4D695;
--color-yellow-500: #EAB308;
--color-yellow-600: #BF9205;
--color-yellow-700: #916E03;
--color-yellow-800: #553F01;
--color-yellow-900: #241900;
}
Tailwind v3 — tailwind.config.js
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'black': {
50: '#EEEEEE',
100: '#DDDDDD',
200: '#C1C1C1',
300: '#9C9C9C',
400: '#6C6C6C',
500: '#0A0A0A',
600: '#060606',
700: '#030303',
800: '#010101',
900: '#000000',
},
'yellow': {
50: '#FEFBF4',
100: '#FDF6E9',
200: '#FBEFD6',
300: '#F8E5BB',
400: '#F4D695',
500: '#EAB308',
600: '#BF9205',
700: '#916E03',
800: '#553F01',
900: '#241900',
},
},
},
},
};
CSS variables
:root {
--black-50: #EEEEEE;
--black-100: #DDDDDD;
--black-200: #C1C1C1;
--black-300: #9C9C9C;
--black-400: #6C6C6C;
--black-500: #0A0A0A;
--black-600: #060606;
--black-700: #030303;
--black-800: #010101;
--black-900: #000000;
--yellow-50: #FEFBF4;
--yellow-100: #FDF6E9;
--yellow-200: #FBEFD6;
--yellow-300: #F8E5BB;
--yellow-400: #F4D695;
--yellow-500: #EAB308;
--yellow-600: #BF9205;
--yellow-700: #916E03;
--yellow-800: #553F01;
--yellow-900: #241900;
}SCSS variables
$black-50: #EEEEEE; $black-100: #DDDDDD; $black-200: #C1C1C1; $black-300: #9C9C9C; $black-400: #6C6C6C; $black-500: #0A0A0A; $black-600: #060606; $black-700: #030303; $black-800: #010101; $black-900: #000000; $yellow-50: #FEFBF4; $yellow-100: #FDF6E9; $yellow-200: #FBEFD6; $yellow-300: #F8E5BB; $yellow-400: #F4D695; $yellow-500: #EAB308; $yellow-600: #BF9205; $yellow-700: #916E03; $yellow-800: #553F01; $yellow-900: #241900;
JSON tokens
{
"black": {
"50": "#EEEEEE",
"100": "#DDDDDD",
"200": "#C1C1C1",
"300": "#9C9C9C",
"400": "#6C6C6C",
"500": "#0A0A0A",
"600": "#060606",
"700": "#030303",
"800": "#010101",
"900": "#000000"
},
"yellow": {
"50": "#FEFBF4",
"100": "#FDF6E9",
"200": "#FBEFD6",
"300": "#F8E5BB",
"400": "#F4D695",
"500": "#EAB308",
"600": "#BF9205",
"700": "#916E03",
"800": "#553F01",
"900": "#241900"
}
}How we name colors
There is no single official authority for naming colors. We use the common, widely recognized name as the primary label for each color (here, Black and Yellow); many common names are themselves W3C CSS named colors. For transparency we also show the nearest W3C CSS named color and the perceptual distance, ΔE, measured in OKLab. A small ΔE means the name is essentially exact; a larger one means it is the closest standard name rather than a perfect match.
Sources: W3C CSS Color Module Level 4 and the open color-name-list dataset, used to verify every color sits near a recognized name.