Honey palettes and pairings
HEX
#EB9605
RGB
235, 150, 5
HSL
38°, 96%, 47%
HSV
38°, 98%, 92%
Honey (#EB9605) lands in deep amber territory — glowing, sticky, and unmistakably warm. It suggests translucency and depth, making it effective for food, wellness, and artisanal packaging where "natural richness" is the story. Bold enough to lead a palette, it still reads as organic rather than neon.
Best for
Corporate branding, executive reports, and enterprise-level web design.
Accessibility
Check contrast before using honey for text-heavy layouts, especially on low-contrast backgrounds.
How does honey compare to nearby colors?
What is the difference between honey and goldenrod?
Goldenrod (#DAA520) carries less pigment punch than Honey (#EB9605), so the pair separates by finish as much as hue. Honey is more useful when the color itself needs to do some signaling; Goldenrod is easier to keep in longer-running surfaces. Start with honey when the palette wants more highlighter-bright; switch to goldenrod when the better fit is sunlit and optimistic.
What color is honey?
Named for concentrated flower nectar stored by bees. Widely used in breakfast branding, apiculture labels, botanical skincare ranges, and rustic UI themes.
What is the hex code for honey?
| Format | Value |
|---|---|
| HEX | #EB9605 |
| RGB | rgb(235, 150, 5) |
| HSL | hsl(38°, 96%, 47%) |
| HSV / HSB | hsv(38°, 98%, 92%) |
| CMYK (approx.) | cmyk(0%, 36%, 98%, 8%) |
Convert Honey to other color formats
Open the color converter with Honey (#EB9605) prefilled to copy RGB, HSL, HSV, CMYK, or OKLCH values.
Convert Honey in the color converter →What does honey mean in design?
People often connect honey to sweetness, healing, or wholesomeness. Next to amber, honey is often deeper and more brown-orange; next to saffron, it is typically more amber and less purely yellow.
How do I use honey in code?
| CSS (hex) | color: #EB9605; |
| CSS (rgb) | color: rgb(235, 150, 5); |
| CSS (hsl) | color: hsl(38, 96%, 47%); |
| RGB % | rgb(92%, 59%, 2%) |
| Tailwind | text-[#EB9605] |
| SwiftUI | Color(red: 0.922, green: 0.588, blue: 0.020) |
| UIKit | UIColor(red: 0.922, green: 0.588, blue: 0.020, alpha: 1.0) |
| Android | Color.rgb(235, 150, 5) |
| Compose | Color(0xFFEB9605) |
| Web Safe | #FF9900 |
Is honey accessible?
| Combination | Ratio | AA | AA lg | AAA | AAA lg | UI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AaWhite text on this color | 2.36:1 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AaBlack text on this color | 8.9:1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AaThis color as text on white | 2.36:1 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AaThis color as text on black | 8.9:1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
WCAG 2.1: AA normal ≥ 4.5:1, AA large text ≥ 3:1, AAA normal ≥ 7:1, AAA large ≥ 4.5:1, UI components ≥ 3:1.
How does honey look with color blindness?
Simulated appearance for common types of color vision deficiency. Actual perception varies by individual.
What colors go with honey
With a bright color like honey, white acts like clean paper around the swatch and prevents the palette from feeling packed too tightly.
Navy blue makes honey easier to control on slides, charts, and marketing surfaces where yellows otherwise run hot.
Cream lets honey stay expressive without turning the whole composition stark; the result feels closer to editorial or packaging work than to raw UI default.
What colors clash with honey
With honey, Neon Green pushes the work toward novelty or screen-effect territory faster than most brand or editorial systems can tolerate.
With honey, magenta introduces a second emotional story instead of reinforcing the first one, so the palette can feel internally split.
With honey, cyan introduces a colder display-driven cast that strips away some of the source color's tactile character.
Light Gray is gentle enough that honey loses some of its structure beside it; the pair can feel underbuilt rather than intentionally quiet.
How should I use honey in design?
- •Honey has the saturation to lead a brand palette — strong enough for buttons, headers, and packaging without drifting into pastel or dark territory.
- •Pair honey with cool accents (navy, sage, steel blue) for sharp contrast, or keep it with other warm tones (cream, gold, tan) for a cohesive, editorial feel.
- •Vivid colors like honey work best as punctuation in a layout: CTAs, key metrics, or a single hero element. Surrounding neutrals keep it from fatiguing the viewer.
What are good honey palettes?
Noir refinement
Corporate branding, executive reports, and enterprise-level web design.
Design with honey in Moda
Create a presentation or document using honey as your accent color. Moda's AI applies your color palette automatically.
Create a design with honey →What are the shades and tints of honey?
Shades (darker)
Tints (lighter)
Tones (desaturated)
Hue variations
What are the color harmonies for honey?
Harmonies are calculated from the base swatch. When a harmony matches a named color page, it links there; otherwise it appears here as a computed reference swatch.
Similar colors
Orange
Orange is near enough to honey to swap into the same palette, yet the undertone shift still decides whether the family reads warmer or cooler overall.
Goldenrod
Goldenrod sits close to honey on the wheel, but it carries less chroma, which makes it better for steadier surfaces and calmer long-form use than for sharper emphasis and quicker visual pickup.
Amber
Amber lives in the same neighborhood as honey, but the finish shift is enough to make one feel better for alerts, signage, and data callouts and the other for a different visual context.
Saffron
Saffron is almost the same hue as honey; the real difference is value, with saffron feeling more open and surface-friendly.
Pumpkin
Pumpkin stays very close to honey in hue, but it lands lighter, which makes it better for backgrounds, tints, and softer supporting areas than for accents, stronger hierarchy, and firmer structure.
Frequently asked questions
What is the hex code for honey?
The hex code for honey is #EB9605. In RGB, that's 235 red, 150 green, and 5 blue. The approximate CMYK equivalent is 0% cyan, 36% magenta, 98% yellow, and 8% key (black).
Is honey a warm or cool color?
Honey reads as warm. It feels most natural with creams, golds, rusts, and other warm accents, while cooler partners like navy or teal create sharper contrast.
Is honey better as an accent or a full-palette color?
Honey is usually best when it leads in short bursts rather than covering everything. It can headline a palette, but most layouts work better when the color handles accents, highlights, or one main hero role instead of every surface.
How should I use honey in a design?
Honey is vivid enough to work best in controlled doses such as CTAs, highlighted metrics, chart accents, or a single hero element. Surround it with quieter neutrals so it does not exhaust the layout.
Can I use honey for text or backgrounds?
Honey works better with dark text than white text. Black text reaches 8.9:1 contrast on the swatch, which makes the color more usable as a background or highlight surface than as a dark panel.
More yellow colors
Keep exploring color resources
All color pages
Browse the full library of color references, pairings, and palettes.
Yellow colors
Compare honey with other yellow tones.
Brown colors
Explore nearby color families to build stronger palettes and contrasts.
Green colors
Explore nearby color families to build stronger palettes and contrasts.
Neutral colors
Explore nearby color families to build stronger palettes and contrasts.
Last updated April 6, 2026
Color values are computed from the listed hex code using standard conversion formulas. RGB, HSL, and HSV are exact screen-ready conversions. CMYK is an approximate on-screen reference, not a press-ready print specification. Pairings, palettes, and use-case guidance are heuristic recommendations derived from color relationships, contrast behavior, and common presentation, document, and UI patterns.