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Practical Pater Verdigris

#2bb2b2
Notes

Practical Pater Verdigris (#2BB2B2) is a true cyan with a cool character. It leans cool, sitting on the blue, green, and violet side of the wheel. Quiet and dependable, a fit for product UI and data visualization. Its HSL profile (180°, 61%, 43%) 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
#2bb2b2
RGB
rgb(43, 178, 178)
HSL
hsl(180, 61%, 43%)
HWB
hwb(180 17% 30%)
OKLCH
oklch(69.6% 0.110 194.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3473 0.6881 0.6929)
HSV
hsv(180, 76%, 70%)
LAB
lab(66.19% -34.11 -10.15)
LCH
lch(66.19% 35.59 196.58)
CMYK
cmyk(76%, 0%, 0%, 30%)

Etymology

Practical
adjective

Greek praktikós, practical — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, practical implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-everyday quality where the hue carries the visual register of Shaker-and-Quaker utilitarian-and-functional everyday-life craft. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to functional and workmanlike in usage.

Pater
modifier

Latin pater, father. As a color modifier, pater implies a Latin-father-and-paterfamilias-and-Pater-Noster quality, the visual register of Pater-Noster-and-Roman-paterfamilias hand-Latin-father-and-paterfamilias-and-Pater-Noster Pater-Noster-and-Roman-paterfamilias-and-Catholic-prayer pater-and-Latin-father surfaces under Pater-Noster-and-Roman-paterfamilias-and-Catholic-prayer Roman-Senate-and-Catholic-liturgy paterfamilias-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to mater and dux in usage.

Verdigris
noun

The basic copper carbonate that forms on weathered copper and bronze — the pigment scraped from oxidized metal and used in Renaissance painting before being supplanted by more stable greens. The color refers to a thick verdigris on aged copper roofing or the Statue of Liberty's surface: a soft, slightly muted blue-green with the powdery finish of mineral oxide. Cooler than patina, warmer than seafoam, with the archaeological weight of a mineral made by time.

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.

#2bb2b2
Original
#a6a9b2
Protanopia
#939bb3
Deuteranopia
#00b8b2
Tritanopia
#959595
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
2.59:1
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
8.11:1

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
##2BB2B2
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3473 0.6881 0.6929)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.110

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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