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Utilitarian Tit

#0cb89b
Notes

Utilitarian Tit (#0CB89B) is a true 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 (170°, 88%, 38%) 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
#0cb89b
RGB
rgb(12, 184, 155)
HSL
hsl(170, 88%, 38%)
HWB
hwb(170 5% 28%)
OKLCH
oklch(70.0% 0.130 175.8)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3284 0.7108 0.6124)
HSV
hsv(170, 93%, 72%)
LAB
lab(67.07% -45.55 3.82)
LCH
lch(67.07% 45.71 175.21)
CMYK
cmyk(93%, 0%, 16%, 28%)

Etymology

Utilitarian
adjective

Latin ūtilitās, usefulness — adjectival suffix -ian. As a color modifier, utilitarian implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-stripped-down quality, the crisp color of Shaker-and-Quaker anti-ornamental functional-and-no-frills craft tradition. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to functional and workmanlike in usage.

Tit
noun

The family Paridae — small woodland songbirds — particularly Cyanistes caeruleus (Eurasian blue tit) whose males display turquoise crowns and yellow underparts. The color refers to a male blue tit's crown: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the satin finish of structural-and-pigment feather color.

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.

#0cb89b
Original
#b1ab9a
Protanopia
#9d9d9d
Deuteranopia
#00bbaf
Tritanopia
#919191
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
2.52:1
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
8.35:1

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
##0CB89B
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3284 0.7108 0.6124)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.130

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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