Olive Yellow
- HEX
- RGB
- CMYK
The palette applied to simple layouts. Colors are assigned to roles automatically; try other arrangements.
Color study
A dictionary of color
Background, surface, text and accent, taken from one of Wada’s combinations.
Painted following the 60-30-10 rule: about 60% wall color, 30% for the sofa, 10% for cushions, throw and vase. A fourth color goes to the rug and curtains; otherwise they stay undyed. Floor and ceiling stay neutral; the print shows the whole palette.
No pair of colors in this combination reaches a contrast of 3:1, so it is best used without text.
Medium & moderate
Lightness 63 (range 45–70)
Colorfulness 0.104
Average OKLCH lightness (0–100) and chroma (colorfulness).
Complementary
Includes hues from opposite sides of the color wheel.
A heuristic based on the painter’s color wheel. Wada’s combinations often ignore textbook rules, which is part of their appeal.
Warm & cool
Reds, oranges and yellows count as warm; greens, blues and violets as cool.
ΔE 27
Closest pair ΔE 27.2 · average ΔE 42.6
CIEDE2000 color difference. Below about 10 colors look related; above 30 they are clearly distinct.
AaBest text pair: Sea Green on Helvetia Blue (2.8:1)
| Contrast | WCAG | APCA Lc |
|---|---|---|
| AaAaOlive Yellow · Sea Green | 1.0:1Low | 0 / 0 |
| AaAaOlive Yellow · Helvetia Blue | 2.7:1Low | 32 / 31 |
| AaAaOlive Yellow · Lilac | 1.1:1Low | 0 / 0 |
| AaAaSea Green · Helvetia Blue | 2.8:1Low | 33 / 32 |
| AaAaSea Green · Lilac | 1.2:1Low | 0 / 0 |
| AaAaHelvetia Blue · Lilac | 2.4:1Low | 26 / 27 |
WCAG 2 contrast ratio for text, and APCA lightness contrast (Lc) for each text/background direction.
The closest palettes in perceptual color space (OKLab).
Copy the palette as code or download it as an image.
/* Sanzo Wada, combination No. 347 */
:root {
--olive-yellow: #a6a159; /* Olive Yellow */
--sea-green: #00b49b; /* Sea Green */
--helvetia-blue: #005b8d; /* Helvetia Blue */
--lilac: #b984af; /* Lilac */
}
/* Tailwind CSS v4 – Sanzo Wada, combination No. 347 */
@theme {
--color-olive-yellow: #a6a159;
--color-sea-green: #00b49b;
--color-helvetia-blue: #005b8d;
--color-lilac: #b984af;
}
{
"id": 347,
"source": "Sanzo Wada, A Dictionary of Color Combinations",
"colors": [
{
"name": "Olive Yellow",
"hex": "#a6a159",
"rgb": [
166,
161,
89
],
"cmyk": [
40,
30,
80,
0
]
},
{
"name": "Sea Green",
"hex": "#00b49b",
"rgb": [
0,
180,
155
],
"cmyk": [
80,
0,
51,
0
]
},
{
"name": "Helvetia Blue",
"hex": "#005b8d",
"rgb": [
0,
91,
141
],
"cmyk": [
100,
62,
19,
10
]
},
{
"name": "Lilac",
"hex": "#b984af",
"rgb": [
185,
132,
175
],
"cmyk": [
28,
54,
8,
0
]
}
]
}