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Twinkling Seagrass

#38c28e
Notes

Twinkling Seagrass (#38C28E) 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 (157°, 55%, 49%) 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
#38c28e
RGB
rgb(56, 194, 142)
HSL
hsl(157, 55%, 49%)
HWB
hwb(157 22% 24%)
OKLCH
oklch(72.8% 0.140 163.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3934 0.7502 0.5713)
HSV
hsv(157, 71%, 76%)
LAB
lab(70.44% -48.82 15.76)
LCH
lch(70.44% 51.31 162.11)
CMYK
cmyk(71%, 0%, 27%, 24%)

Etymology

Twinkling
adjective

Old English twinclian, to wink rapidly — present-participle of twinkle. As a color modifier, twinkling implies a saturated-and-rapid-flicker-reflective quality, the bright color of Christmas-fairy-light and night-sky-star atmospheric-scintillation. Sits at the bright-and-reflective end of the grid, parallel to sparkling and glittering in usage.

Seagrass
noun

Marine flowering plants — distinct from algae — that form underwater meadows in shallow coastal waters worldwide. Genera include Zostera, Posidonia, Thalassia. The color refers to a tropical seagrass meadow at low tide: a soft, slightly cool deep blue-green with the satin finish of submerged grass-leaves.

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.

#38c28e
Original
#bfb48b
Protanopia
#ada791
Deuteranopia
#00c2b4
Tritanopia
#a1a1a1
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
2.26:1
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
9.28:1

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
##38C28E
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3934 0.7502 0.5713)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.140

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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