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Trustworthy Estuary

#55847a
Notes

Trustworthy Estuary (#55847A) 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 (167°, 22%, 43%) places it in the muted 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
#55847a
RGB
rgb(85, 132, 122)
HSL
hsl(167, 22%, 43%)
HWB
hwb(167 33% 48%)
OKLCH
oklch(57.6% 0.054 179.4)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3745 0.5128 0.4794)
HSV
hsv(167, 36%, 52%)
LAB
lab(51.65% -18.39 0.32)
LCH
lch(51.65% 18.39 178.99)
CMYK
cmyk(36%, 0%, 8%, 48%)

Etymology

Trustworthy
adjective

Old English trēow, trust — adjectival suffix -worthy. As a color modifier, trustworthy implies a clear-and-reliable-and-honest quality where the hue carries the visual register of confidence-deserving-and-faithful-performance design-element. Sits at the crisp-and-honest end of the grid, parallel to reliable and dependable in usage.

Estuary
noun

The mixing zone where freshwater rivers meet saltwater seas — the Chesapeake, the Thames, the Hudson — environments of unique salinity and biodiversity. Estuary color refers to mid-depth estuary water at high tide: a soft, slightly cool deep blue-green with the optical complexity of brackish water.

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.

#55847a
Original
#807f7a
Protanopia
#78797b
Deuteranopia
#468581
Tritanopia
#797979
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
4.23:1
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
4.97:1

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
##55847A
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3745 0.5128 0.4794)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.054

This color sits well within the sRGB cube. P3 and sRGB share the gray axis and most desaturated tones, so a P3 display renders this identically to an sRGB display.

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