colors
Back to gallery

Squared Selkie

#21b189
Notes

Squared Selkie (#21B189) 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 (163°, 69%, 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
#21b189
RGB
rgb(33, 177, 137)
HSL
hsl(163, 69%, 41%)
HWB
hwb(163 13% 31%)
OKLCH
oklch(67.9% 0.130 168.4)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3328 0.6840 0.5467)
HSV
hsv(163, 81%, 69%)
LAB
lab(64.62% -45.89 10.26)
LCH
lch(64.62% 47.03 167.40)
CMYK
cmyk(81%, 0%, 23%, 31%)

Etymology

Squared
adjective

Latin quadrātus, four-sided — past-participle of square. As a color modifier, squared implies a clear-and-rectilinear-and-orthogonal quality where the hue carries the visual register of right-angle architectural-and-grid alignment. Sits at the crisp-and-balanced end of the grid, parallel to aligned and plumb in usage.

Selkie
noun

The seal-people of Celtic folklore — particularly Scottish, Irish, and Faroese mythology — beings who shed sealskin to take human form. Selkie color refers to the deep blue-green of Atlantic waters where the seal-folk are said to live: a deep, slightly cool deep blue-green with the optical complexity of cold Atlantic open water.

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.

#21b189
Original
#aca487
Protanopia
#9b988c
Deuteranopia
#00b2a6
Tritanopia
#8f8f8f
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
2.72:1
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
7.71:1

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
##21B189
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3328 0.6840 0.5467)
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.

Related Colors

Canvas