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Burning Polynesia

#12b796
Notes

Burning Polynesia (#12B796) is a true teal with a cool character. It leans cool, sitting on the blue, green, and violet side of the wheel. Quiet and dependable, a fit for product UI and data visualization. Its HSL profile (168°, 82%, 39%) 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
#12b796
RGB
rgb(18, 183, 150)
HSL
hsl(168, 82%, 39%)
HWB
hwb(168 7% 28%)
OKLCH
oklch(69.6% 0.131 173.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3301 0.7070 0.5944)
HSV
hsv(168, 90%, 72%)
LAB
lab(66.67% -46.18 6.00)
LCH
lch(66.67% 46.57 172.60)
CMYK
cmyk(90%, 0%, 18%, 28%)

Etymology

Burning
adjective

The progressive participle of burn — used as a color modifier for hues that read as actively luminous, as if combustion is in progress. Burning red, burning orange: the implication is high saturation combined with thermal heat. Sits in the bright-and-warm corner alongside hot and flame. Slightly more active than smoldering.

Polynesia
noun

The vast triangle of Pacific islands — Hawaii, New Zealand, Easter Island, and the islands between. Polynesia refers to the unifying lagoon-blue-green of Polynesian atolls: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the optical clarity of warm Pacific lagoon water across thousands of cultural-cousin atolls.

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.

#12b796
Original
#b0aa94
Protanopia
#9e9c98
Deuteranopia
#00b9ad
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
2.55:1
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
8.24:1

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
##12B796
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3301 0.7070 0.5944)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.131

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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