colors
Back to gallery

Direct Chrysocolla

#50a091
Notes

Direct Chrysocolla (#50A091) 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 (169°, 33%, 47%) 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
#50a091
RGB
rgb(80, 160, 145)
HSL
hsl(169, 33%, 47%)
HWB
hwb(169 31% 37%)
OKLCH
oklch(65.1% 0.082 179.8)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3935 0.6201 0.5700)
HSV
hsv(169, 50%, 63%)
LAB
lab(60.68% -28.32 0.29)
LCH
lch(60.68% 28.32 179.42)
CMYK
cmyk(50%, 0%, 9%, 37%)

Etymology

Direct
adjective

From the Latin directus, straight — used as a color modifier since the eighteenth century for hues that read as straightforward and unambiguous. Direct red, direct green: moderate-to-high saturation combined with optical clarity. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside clear and frank.

Chrysocolla
noun

A copper-aluminum hydrous silicate — saturated blue-green, mined principally in copper-mineral deposits of Arizona, Israel, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The color refers to a polished chrysocolla cabochon: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the matte finish of secondary copper mineral. Cooler than malachite.

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.

#50a091
Original
#9a9890
Protanopia
#8d8e92
Deuteranopia
#2aa29b
Tritanopia
#8e8e8e
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
3.10:1
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
6.78:1

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
##50A091
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3935 0.6201 0.5700)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.082

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.

Related Colors

Canvas