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Brilliant Pondweed

#32ae59
Notes

Brilliant Pondweed (#32AE59) is a true green 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 (139°, 55%, 44%) 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 magenta. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#32ae59
RGB
rgb(50, 174, 89)
HSL
hsl(139, 55%, 44%)
HWB
hwb(139 20% 32%)
OKLCH
oklch(66.4% 0.163 149.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3515 0.6728 0.3843)
HSV
hsv(139, 71%, 68%)
LAB
lab(63.07% -52.34 33.96)
LCH
lch(63.07% 62.39 147.03)
CMYK
cmyk(71%, 0%, 49%, 32%)

Etymology

Brilliant
adjective

From the Italian brillante, sparkling — used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for hues that read as optically active beyond their literal saturation. Brilliant green, brilliant blue: the implication is luminance combined with the slight sparkle of a high-refractive surface. Sits at the bright-bucket center alongside vivid and bright.

Pondweed
noun

The genus Potamogeton — submerged aquatic plants of freshwater ponds and slow streams. The color refers to a clump of fresh pondweed seen through pond water: a soft, slightly cool deep yellow-green-blue with the optical complexity of submerged leaf scattering filtered sunlight.

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.

#32ae59
Original
#af9f52
Protanopia
#a0945f
Deuteranopia
#00ab9a
Tritanopia
#8e8e8e
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
2.86:1
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
7.33:1

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
##32AE59
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3515 0.6728 0.3843)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.163

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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