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Wholesome Seagrass

#23a179
Notes

Wholesome Seagrass (#23A179) 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 (161°, 64%, 38%) 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
#23a179
RGB
rgb(35, 161, 121)
HSL
hsl(161, 64%, 38%)
HWB
hwb(161 14% 37%)
OKLCH
oklch(63.3% 0.122 166.1)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3077 0.6222 0.4847)
HSV
hsv(161, 78%, 63%)
LAB
lab(59.18% -42.97 11.47)
LCH
lch(59.18% 44.48 165.06)
CMYK
cmyk(78%, 0%, 25%, 37%)

Etymology

Wholesome
adjective

An adjectival form of whole — used as a color modifier since the sixteenth century for hues that read as healthy and unadulterated. Wholesome cream, wholesome wheat: moderate saturation combined with the optical impression of a natural origin. Sits at the crisp-bucket alongside genuine.

Seagrass
noun

Marine flowering plants — distinct from algae — that form underwater meadows in shallow coastal waters worldwide. Genera include Zostera, Posidonia, Thalassia. The color refers to a tropical seagrass meadow at low tide: a soft, slightly cool deep blue-green with the satin finish of submerged grass-leaves.

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.

#23a179
Original
#9d9577
Protanopia
#8e8a7c
Deuteranopia
#00a196
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
3.26:1
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
6.45:1

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
##23A179
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3077 0.6222 0.4847)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.122

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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