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Cleansed Galapagos

#42b28a
Notes

Cleansed Galapagos (#42B28A) 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 (159°, 46%, 48%) 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
#42b28a
RGB
rgb(66, 178, 138)
HSL
hsl(159, 46%, 48%)
HWB
hwb(159 26% 30%)
OKLCH
oklch(68.9% 0.118 165.9)
HSV
hsv(159, 63%, 70%)
LAB
lab(65.62% -41.34 11.21)
LCH
lch(65.62% 42.84 164.83)
CMYK
cmyk(63%, 0%, 22%, 30%)

Etymology

Cleansed
adjective

Old English clǣnsian, to make clean — past-participle of cleanse. As a color modifier, cleansed implies a clear-and-purified quality where the hue has been stripped of any contaminating tint. Sits at the crisp-and-clear end of the grid, parallel to fresh and pristine in usage.

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

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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.

#42b28a
Original
#aea688
Protanopia
#9f9b8d
Deuteranopia
#00b2a7
Tritanopia
#979797
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
2.64:1
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
7.97:1

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