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Spectral Polynesia

#51c66d
Notes

Spectral Polynesia (#51C66D) 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 (134°, 51%, 55%) 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
#51c66d
RGB
rgb(81, 198, 109)
HSL
hsl(134, 51%, 55%)
HWB
hwb(134 32% 22%)
OKLCH
oklch(73.8% 0.165 148.7)
HSV
hsv(134, 59%, 78%)
LAB
lab(71.72% -52.08 34.91)
LCH
lch(71.72% 62.70 146.16)
CMYK
cmyk(59%, 0%, 45%, 22%)

Etymology

Spectral
adjective

Latin spectrum, appearance — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, spectral implies a saturated-and-rainbow-decomposed-and-pure quality, the bright color of Newton-prism sunlight-decomposed seven-color spectrum band. Sits at the bright-and-pure end of the grid, parallel to prismatic and pure in usage.

Polynesia
noun

The vast triangle of Pacific islands — Hawaii, New Zealand, Easter Island, and the islands between. Polynesia refers to the unifying lagoon-blue-green of Polynesian atolls: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the optical clarity of warm Pacific lagoon water across thousands of cultural-cousin atolls.

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.

#51c66d
Original
#c8b666
Protanopia
#b8ac73
Deuteranopia
#33c2b1
Tritanopia
#a7a7a7
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
2.18:1
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
9.65:1

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