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Easy Smithsonite

#055b4e
Notes

Easy Smithsonite (#055B4E) is a deep teal 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 (171°, 90%, 19%) places it in the highly saturated band at a dark 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
#055b4e
RGB
rgb(5, 91, 78)
HSL
hsl(171, 90%, 19%)
HWB
hwb(171 2% 64%)
OKLCH
oklch(42.3% 0.076 178.4)
P3
color(display-p3 0.1509 0.3512 0.3074)
HSV
hsv(171, 95%, 36%)
LAB
lab(34.12% -26.47 0.96)
LCH
lch(34.12% 26.49 177.92)
CMYK
cmyk(95%, 0%, 14%, 64%)

Etymology

Easy
adjective

Old French aisié, comfortable, at rest — used as a color modifier since the eighteenth century for hues that read as visually undemanding. Easy beige, easy gray: moderate saturation combined with optical restfulness. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside calm and settled.

Smithsonite
noun

A zinc carbonate mineral — named for English chemist James Smithson (founder of the Smithsonian Institution). The blue-green variety is mined principally in New Mexico's Magdalena Mountains. The color refers to a polished blue-green smithsonite cabochon: a soft, slightly cool deep blue-green with the satin finish of botryoidal zinc-carbonate mineral.

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.

#055b4e
Original
#57554d
Protanopia
#4c4d4f
Deuteranopia
#005d57
Tritanopia
#484848
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).
AAAon White
8.04:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon Black
2.61:1

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
##055B4E
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.1509 0.3512 0.3074)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.076

This color sits well within the sRGB cube. P3 and sRGB share the gray axis and most desaturated tones, so a P3 display renders this identically to an sRGB display.

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