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Utilitarian Hauyne

#38b389
Notes

Utilitarian Hauyne (#38B389) 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 (160°, 52%, 46%) 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
#38b389
RGB
rgb(56, 179, 137)
HSL
hsl(160, 52%, 46%)
HWB
hwb(160 22% 30%)
OKLCH
oklch(68.9% 0.125 166.0)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3696 0.6923 0.5479)
HSV
hsv(160, 69%, 70%)
LAB
lab(65.66% -43.76 11.78)
LCH
lch(65.66% 45.32 164.93)
CMYK
cmyk(69%, 0%, 23%, 30%)

Etymology

Utilitarian
adjective

Latin ūtilitās, usefulness — adjectival suffix -ian. As a color modifier, utilitarian implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-stripped-down quality, the crisp color of Shaker-and-Quaker anti-ornamental functional-and-no-frills craft tradition. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to functional and workmanlike in usage.

Hauyne
noun

A blue-to-green variety of the lazurite mineral group — used in classical Egyptian and Mesoamerican blue pigments and modern fine jewelry. The color refers to a polished hauyne specimen: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the matte finish of sodium-aluminum silicate.

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.

#38b389
Original
#afa687
Protanopia
#9f9b8c
Deuteranopia
#00b3a7
Tritanopia
#969696
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
2.63:1
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
7.98:1

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
##38B389
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3696 0.6923 0.5479)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.125

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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