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Substantial Kale

#4ca42b
Notes

Substantial Kale (#4CA42B) is a true green with a cool character. It leans cool, sitting on the blue, green, and violet side of the wheel. Quiet and dependable, a fit for product UI and data visualization. Its HSL profile (104°, 58%, 41%) 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 violet. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#4ca42b
RGB
rgb(76, 164, 43)
HSL
hsl(104, 58%, 41%)
HWB
hwb(104 17% 36%)
OKLCH
oklch(64.0% 0.177 138.7)
HSV
hsv(104, 74%, 64%)
LAB
lab(60.12% -48.12 51.66)
LCH
lch(60.12% 70.60 132.97)
CMYK
cmyk(54%, 0%, 74%, 36%)

Etymology

Substantial
adjective

Latin substantia, substance — adjectival suffix -al, derived from sub-stāre (to stand under). As a color modifier, substantial implies a saturated-and-weighty-and-material quality where the hue carries visual mass and presence. Sits at the bold-and-weighty end of the grid, parallel to weighty and hefty in usage.

Kale
noun

Brassica oleracea var. acephala — the loose-leaved cabbage variety eaten as a leafy green in northern European, Tuscan, and Portuguese cuisine. Kale color refers to fresh raw curly kale: a saturated, slightly cool deep green with the matte finish of leathery brassica leaf. Cooler than spinach.

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.

#4ca42b
Original
#a99515
Protanopia
#9e8e37
Deuteranopia
#449e8d
Tritanopia
#898989
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).
AA Largeon White
3.16:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAon Black
6.65:1

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