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Direct Maui

#278175
Notes

Direct Maui (#278175) is a deep teal with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (172°, 54%, 33%) 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
#278175
RGB
rgb(39, 129, 117)
HSL
hsl(172, 54%, 33%)
HWB
hwb(172 15% 49%)
OKLCH
oklch(54.8% 0.085 182.4)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2616 0.4988 0.4592)
HSV
hsv(172, 70%, 51%)
LAB
lab(48.78% -29.11 -1.16)
LCH
lch(48.78% 29.13 182.29)
CMYK
cmyk(70%, 0%, 9%, 49%)

Etymology

Direct
adjective

From the Latin directus, straight — used as a color modifier since the eighteenth century for hues that read as straightforward and unambiguous. Direct red, direct green: moderate-to-high saturation combined with optical clarity. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside clear and frank.

Maui
noun

The Hawaiian island — and the saturated turquoise of Maui's Molokini Crater snorkeling-lagoon water. Maui refers to Molokini Crater at midday: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the optical clarity of cold Pacific water filtered through volcanic black-sand and white coral.

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.

#278175
Original
#7b7975
Protanopia
#6e7076
Deuteranopia
#00847d
Tritanopia
#6d6d6d
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
4.68:1
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
4.48:1

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
##278175
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2616 0.4988 0.4592)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.085

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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