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Even Smithsonite

#4fb9a6
Notes

Even Smithsonite (#4FB9A6) is a true teal 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 (169°, 43%, 52%) 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
#4fb9a6
RGB
rgb(79, 185, 166)
HSL
hsl(169, 43%, 52%)
HWB
hwb(169 31% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(71.9% 0.102 179.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.4242 0.7164 0.6528)
HSV
hsv(169, 57%, 73%)
LAB
lab(68.83% -35.14 0.47)
LCH
lch(68.83% 35.14 179.23)
CMYK
cmyk(57%, 0%, 10%, 27%)

Etymology

Even
adjective

Old English efen, flat, equal — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues that read as uniformly distributed across a surface. Even gray, even tan: the implication is moderate saturation combined with optical uniformity. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside steady and balanced.

Smithsonite
noun

A zinc carbonate mineral — named for English chemist James Smithson (founder of the Smithsonian Institution). The blue-green variety is mined principally in New Mexico's Magdalena Mountains. The color refers to a polished blue-green smithsonite cabochon: a soft, slightly cool deep blue-green with the satin finish of botryoidal zinc-carbonate mineral.

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.

#4fb9a6
Original
#b2afa5
Protanopia
#a2a3a8
Deuteranopia
#00bcb3
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
2.38:1
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
8.82:1

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
##4FB9A6
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.4242 0.7164 0.6528)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.102

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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