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Functional Zephyr Teal

#20b3a3
Notes

Functional Zephyr Teal (#20B3A3) is a true teal with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (173°, 70%, 41%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. 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
#20b3a3
RGB
rgb(32, 179, 163)
HSL
hsl(173, 70%, 41%)
HWB
hwb(173 13% 30%)
OKLCH
oklch(69.1% 0.117 183.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3352 0.6917 0.6393)
HSV
hsv(173, 82%, 70%)
LAB
lab(65.90% -39.97 -2.29)
LCH
lch(65.90% 40.03 183.27)
CMYK
cmyk(82%, 0%, 9%, 30%)

Etymology

Functional
adjective

Latin fūnctiō, performance — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, functional implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-utilitarian quality, the crisp color of Mid-Century-Modern and Bauhaus form-follows-function design-aesthetic. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to practical and utilitarian in usage.

Zephyr
modifier

Greek ζέφυρος, gentle-west-wind. As a color modifier, zephyr implies a gentle-west-wind-and-Mediterranean-breeze quality, the visual register of Greek-Zephyrus-and-Botticelli-Primavera-zephyr hand-gentle-west-wind-and-Mediterranean-breeze Greek-Zephyrus-and-Botticelli-Primavera-zephyr-and-Hellenic-Anemoi zephyr-and-gentle-west-wind surfaces under Greek-Zephyrus-and-Botticelli-Primavera-zephyr-and-Hellenic-Anemoi Hellenic-Mediterranean-and-Florentine-spring gentle-Mediterranean-breeze-light. Sits at the modifier-and-weather end of the grid, parallel to gust and mistral in usage.

Teal
noun

Anas crecca, the small dabbling duck whose male in breeding plumage sports a chestnut head crossed by a glossy green-blue stripe. The color refers to that stripe — the iridescent panel just behind the eye: a saturated, slightly muted blue-green with the optical depth of structural color rather than pigment. Cooler than cypress, warmer than cerulean, with the ornithological specificity of a color named for one feather of one bird.

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.

#20b3a3
Original
#aaa8a2
Protanopia
#979aa5
Deuteranopia
#00b7ae
Tritanopia
#939393
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
2.61:1
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
8.04:1

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
##20B3A3
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3352 0.6917 0.6393)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.117

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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