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Pragmatic Caper Teal

#02b9b3
Notes

Pragmatic Caper Teal (#02B9B3) is a true cyan with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (178°, 98%, 37%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary red. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#02b9b3
RGB
rgb(2, 185, 179)
HSL
hsl(178, 98%, 37%)
HWB
hwb(178 1% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(70.9% 0.122 190.7)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3257 0.7146 0.6983)
HSV
hsv(178, 99%, 73%)
LAB
lab(67.99% -39.53 -8.05)
LCH
lch(67.99% 40.34 191.52)
CMYK
cmyk(99%, 0%, 3%, 27%)

Etymology

Pragmatic
adjective

Greek pragmatikós, of business / practical — adjectival suffix -ic. As a color modifier, pragmatic implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-no-nonsense quality where the hue carries the visual register of straightforward-utilitarian-and-functional decision-making. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to practical and functional in usage.

Caper
modifier

Greek κάππαρις, Mediterranean-pickled-bud. As a color modifier, caper implies a Mediterranean-pickled-bud-and-briny-tang quality, the visual register of Pantelleria-and-Sicilian-caper hand-Mediterranean-pickled-bud-and-briny-tang Pantelleria-and-Sicilian-caper-and-Aeolian-Islands caper-and-Mediterranean-pickled-bud surfaces under Pantelleria-and-Sicilian-caper-and-Aeolian-Islands Pantelleria-and-Aeolian-and-Sicilian Mediterranean-brine-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to anise and tang in usage.

Teal
noun

Anas crecca, the small dabbling duck whose male in breeding plumage sports a chestnut head crossed by a glossy green-blue stripe. The color refers to that stripe — the iridescent panel just behind the eye: a saturated, slightly muted blue-green with the optical depth of structural color rather than pigment. Cooler than cypress, warmer than cerulean, with the ornithological specificity of a color named for one feather of one bird.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

Click any swatch to explore

Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#02b9b3
Original
#adafb3
Protanopia
#989fb4
Deuteranopia
#00bfb7
Tritanopia
#929292
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon White
2.44:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
8.59:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

The CSS Color 4 wide-gamut form of this color. Both swatches render the same color on every display — the P3 form only diverges from sRGB when a designer pushes channels outside sRGB's reach.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##02B9B3
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3257 0.7146 0.6983)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.122

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

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