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Serviceable Spa

#55c5a2
Notes

Serviceable Spa (#55C5A2) 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 (161°, 49%, 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 red. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#55c5a2
RGB
rgb(85, 197, 162)
HSL
hsl(161, 49%, 55%)
HWB
hwb(161 33% 23%)
OKLCH
oklch(74.9% 0.115 169.7)
HSV
hsv(161, 57%, 77%)
LAB
lab(72.54% -40.34 8.04)
LCH
lch(72.54% 41.13 168.73)
CMYK
cmyk(57%, 0%, 18%, 23%)

Etymology

Serviceable
adjective

Latin servītium, service — adjectival suffix -able. As a color modifier, serviceable implies a clear-and-fit-for-purpose-and-durable quality where the hue carries the visual register of long-lasting-and-functional everyday-use design. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to practical and utilitarian in usage.

Spa
noun

A mineral-spring resort — named for the Belgian town of Spa whose iron-rich springs have drawn visitors since the sixteenth century. Spa color refers to a thermal spring pool at Saturnia in Tuscany: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the optical complexity of mineral-saturated 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

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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.

#55c5a2
Original
#c0b9a0
Protanopia
#b0ada4
Deuteranopia
#13c6bb
Tritanopia
#ababab
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
2.12:1
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
9.89:1

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