The brightest hue
Yellow is the lightest of the main hues, which makes it eye-catching and tricky at once. The CSS keyword yellow is #FFFF00: full red and green, no blue.
Families of yellow
- Lemon and canary: cool, bright yellows.
- Golden and saffron: warmer yellows leaning orange.
- Butter and pale yellow: soft tones for backgrounds. See pastel yellow.
Styling yellow
Yellow pairs well with navy, charcoal, gray, teal and white. Small amounts go a long way; use it for highlights, stickers and call-outs.
On screen
Yellow text on white is nearly unreadable. Use dark text on yellow instead, which gives very high contrast. Yellow also tends to look different on phones and print, so test it. For warmer shades, see gold and mustard yellow.