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Plumb Beryl

#12a390
Notes

Plumb Beryl (#12A390) 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 (172°, 80%, 35%) 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
#12a390
RGB
rgb(18, 163, 144)
HSL
hsl(172, 80%, 35%)
HWB
hwb(172 7% 36%)
OKLCH
oklch(64.3% 0.113 180.4)
HSV
hsv(172, 89%, 64%)
LAB
lab(60.19% -39.27 -0.04)
LCH
lch(60.19% 39.27 180.06)
CMYK
cmyk(89%, 0%, 12%, 36%)

Etymology

Plumb
adjective

Latin plumbum, lead — referring to the lead-weighted plumb-line of pre-modern carpentry. As a color modifier, plumb implies a clear-and-vertical-true quality where the hue carries the visual register of gravity-aligned-and-perfectly-vertical surface. Sits at the crisp-and-balanced end of the grid, parallel to level and squared in usage.

Beryl
noun

The mineral Be₃Al₂(SiO₃)₆ — the gem family that includes emerald (chromium-tinted), aquamarine (iron-tinted), and morganite (manganese-tinted). The color beryl refers to the transparent yellow-green variety heliodor or pale common beryl: a soft, slightly muted yellow-green with the high refractive index of a faceted gem. Cleaner than sage, lighter than emerald, with the gem-trade specificity of a single mineral name.

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

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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.

#12a390
Original
#9b998f
Protanopia
#8a8c92
Deuteranopia
#00a69d
Tritanopia
#838383
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).
AA Largeon White
3.15:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAon Black
6.67:1

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