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Surveyed Algae

#2acab2
Notes

Surveyed Algae (#2ACAB2) 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 (171°, 66%, 48%) 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
#2acab2
RGB
rgb(42, 202, 178)
HSL
hsl(171, 66%, 48%)
HWB
hwb(171 16% 21%)
OKLCH
oklch(75.5% 0.130 179.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3869 0.7808 0.7004)
HSV
hsv(171, 79%, 79%)
LAB
lab(73.51% -44.98 0.65)
LCH
lch(73.51% 44.98 179.17)
CMYK
cmyk(79%, 0%, 12%, 21%)

Etymology

Surveyed
adjective

Old French surveer, to look upon — past-participle of survey. As a color modifier, surveyed implies a clear-and-measured-and-coordinated quality, the crisp color of Mason-Dixon-Line-and-Royal-Navy-Hydrographic scientific-and-cadastral land-and-sea surveying tradition. Sits at the crisp-and-mapped end of the grid, parallel to mapped and plotted in usage.

Algae
noun

A vast collection of photosynthetic eukaryotes — green algae (Chlorophyta), kelps (Phaeophyceae), and dozens of other lineages — that gave rise to all land plants and still produce roughly half of Earth's oxygen. The color refers to a green algal bloom on a still pond: a saturated, slightly muted yellow-green with the matte chlorophyll finish of cellular density. Brighter than moss, cooler than spinach, with the geological weight of a kingdom three billion years old.

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.

#2acab2
Original
#c1bdb1
Protanopia
#adaeb4
Deuteranopia
#00cdc3
Tritanopia
#a6a6a6
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
2.06:1
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
10.19:1

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
##2ACAB2
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3869 0.7808 0.7004)
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.

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