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Utilitarian Ptah Moss

#196955
Notes

Utilitarian Ptah Moss (#196955) 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 (165°, 62%, 25%) places it in the balanced band at a dark lightness. It works well as a headline, icon, or deep background in an otherwise light layout, pairing cleanly with cream, bone, and warm neutrals. 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
#196955
RGB
rgb(25, 105, 85)
HSL
hsl(165, 62%, 25%)
HWB
hwb(165 10% 59%)
OKLCH
oklch(46.8% 0.082 172.0)
P3
color(display-p3 0.1999 0.4057 0.3373)
HSV
hsv(165, 76%, 41%)
LAB
lab(39.52% -28.82 4.49)
LCH
lch(39.52% 29.17 171.14)
CMYK
cmyk(76%, 0%, 19%, 59%)

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.

Ptah
modifier

Egyptian Ptah, Memphis-creator-god. As a color modifier, ptah implies a Memphis-creator-and-craftsman-god quality, the visual register of Egyptian-Ptah-and-Memphis-temple hand-Memphis-creator-and-craftsman-god Egyptian-Ptah-and-Memphis-temple-and-Apis-bull ptah-and-Memphis-creator-and-craftsman-god surfaces under Egyptian-Ptah-and-Memphis-temple-and-Apis-bull Memphis-Saqqara-and-craftsman-workshop creator-craftsman-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to thoth and isis in usage.

Moss
noun

Bryophyta — the nonvascular plants that colonized land 470 million years ago, before vascular plants and far before flowers. The color refers to a thick mat of Hypnum or sphagnum on a temperate forest floor: a soft, slightly yellow-shifted green with the velvet texture of millimeter-scale leaves. Dustier than fern, deeper than lichen, with the slow patience of a plant that lives by absorbing rain through its surface.

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.

#196955
Original
#666254
Protanopia
#5b5a56
Deuteranopia
#006a63
Tritanopia
#575757
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).
AAon White
6.58:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AA Largeon Black
3.19:1

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
##196955
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.1999 0.4057 0.3373)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.082

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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