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Untroubled Diatom

#5a8d7c
Notes

Untroubled Diatom (#5A8D7C) 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 (160°, 22%, 45%) 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
#5a8d7c
RGB
rgb(90, 141, 124)
HSL
hsl(160, 22%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(160 35% 45%)
OKLCH
oklch(60.2% 0.061 171.1)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3979 0.5477 0.4896)
HSV
hsv(160, 36%, 55%)
LAB
lab(54.74% -21.12 3.68)
LCH
lch(54.74% 21.44 170.13)
CMYK
cmyk(36%, 0%, 12%, 45%)

Etymology

Untroubled
adjective

Latin turbāre, to disturb — negative-prefix un- plus past-participle of trouble. As a color modifier, untroubled implies a clear-and-calm-and-undisturbed quality where the hue carries no visual agitation. Sits at the crisp-and-calm end of the grid, parallel to serene and placid in usage.

Diatom
noun

Single-celled algae with intricate silica cell walls — among the most numerous photosynthetic organisms on Earth, producing roughly a quarter of global oxygen. The color refers to a diatom-bloom-tinted lake at midday: a soft, slightly cool deep blue-green with the optical complexity of suspended single-celled algae.

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.

#5a8d7c
Original
#8a877b
Protanopia
#81807d
Deuteranopia
#4c8e88
Tritanopia
#818181
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
3.79:1
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
5.54:1

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
##5A8D7C
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3979 0.5477 0.4896)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.061

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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