Showa era
Raw Sienna & Pale Lemon Yellow
Plate 3 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Raw Sienna, Pale Lemon Yellow.
#ffefae
yellow · 19 palettes
Pale Lemon Yellow
About Pale Lemon Yellow
Pale Lemon Yellow is a light, vivid yellow tone. Its hex value is #ffefae — that is
RGB 255, 239, 174, or HSL 48°, 100%, 84%.
It holds 18.2:1 contrast against dark, so Pale Lemon Yellow works best for body text, headings, and UI labels. (On white it scores 1.2:1; on black 18.2:1.)
Across Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations, Pale Lemon Yellow appears in 19 combinations — most often paired with Warm Gray, Red Orange and Blackish Olive.
Colours that go with Pale Lemon Yellow
From a standard colour wheel, Pale Lemon Yellow anchors these four classic schemes. Each swatch is computed from its exact hue, so every hex is a real, usable pairing.
Complementary
#ffefae #AEBEFF
the hue directly opposite — the highest-contrast pairing, good for a single bold accent.
Analogous
#ffefae #FFC7AE #E7FFAE
the two neighbours on the wheel — a calm, cohesive scheme that feels effortless.
Triadic
#ffefae #AEFFEF #EFAEFF
two hues an even third of the wheel away — balanced and lively without clashing.
Split-complementary
#ffefae #AEE7FF #C7AEFF
the two colours either side of the complement — the contrast of a complement, softened.
How to use Pale Lemon Yellow
Pale Lemon Yellow is a light, vivid tone (HSL 48°, 100%, 84%), which makes it a soft background or a light accent. For text it passes WCAG AA for body text against a dark background (18.2:1) — safe for paragraphs, buttons and labels. When you do set type on it, use dark lettering. Pair it with its complement (#AEBEFF) for a focal accent, or with its analogous neighbours (#FFC7AE and #E7FFAE) for a quieter, harmonious feel.
Palettes with Pale Lemon Yellow
Pale Lemon Yellow appears in 19 combinations from the archive. Each pairing reveals how the same color shifts character depending on its neighbours.
From the archive
Support the archive The full catalog, on your disk, as a thank-you.
- All 378 palettes (348 Wada + 30 editorial) in five formats
- Figma design tokens (W3C-spec JSON, drag into any file)
- Tailwind v4 + v3 configs — drop into any project
- CSS custom properties — every plate, one stylesheet
- 378 museum SVG plates — print-ready at any size
- Full JSON — colors, names, eras, moods, dominant hues
See what's inside
Launching soon. The free archive stays free, always.