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Clear Galapagos

#38ae98
Notes

Clear Galapagos (#38AE98) is a true 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 (169°, 51%, 45%) 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
#38ae98
RGB
rgb(56, 174, 152)
HSL
hsl(169, 51%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(169 22% 32%)
OKLCH
oklch(68.0% 0.109 177.8)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3618 0.6730 0.5989)
HSV
hsv(169, 68%, 68%)
LAB
lab(64.47% -37.84 1.78)
LCH
lch(64.47% 37.88 177.30)
CMYK
cmyk(68%, 0%, 13%, 32%)

Etymology

Clear
adjective

From the Latin clarus, bright, distinct — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues without haze or mixing. Clear blue sky, clear green water: the implication is moderate saturation combined with optical clarity. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside clean and true.

Galapagos
noun

The Ecuadorian volcanic archipelago — Darwin's evolutionary laboratory — and the saturated blue-green of Galapagos lagoon water at Bartolomé Island. Galapagos refers to the cove at Bartolomé: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the optical clarity of cold Pacific upwelling waters.

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.

#38ae98
Original
#a7a397
Protanopia
#97979a
Deuteranopia
#00b1a7
Tritanopia
#939393
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
2.74:1
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
7.68:1

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
##38AE98
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3618 0.6730 0.5989)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.109

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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