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Straightforward Knell Verdigris

#5ab2ad
Notes

Straightforward Knell Verdigris (#5AB2AD) is a true cyan 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 (177°, 36%, 53%) 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
#5ab2ad
RGB
rgb(90, 178, 173)
HSL
hsl(177, 36%, 53%)
HWB
hwb(177 35% 30%)
OKLCH
oklch(70.8% 0.085 190.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.4406 0.6900 0.6759)
HSV
hsv(177, 49%, 70%)
LAB
lab(67.30% -27.64 -5.59)
LCH
lch(67.30% 28.20 191.44)
CMYK
cmyk(49%, 0%, 3%, 30%)

Etymology

Straightforward
adjective

English compound straight + forward — sharing root with German geradeaus. As a color modifier, straightforward implies a clear-and-direct-and-unencumbered quality where the hue carries the visual register of clear-aim-and-uncomplicated character. Sits at the crisp-and-honest end of the grid, parallel to candid and direct in usage.

Knell
modifier

Old English cnyll, funeral-bell. As a color modifier, knell implies a funeral-and-passing-bell quality, the visual register of English-funeral-and-passing-bell slow-and-tolling-funeral mourning-bell-and-bell-tower-tolling slow-and-mourning surfaces under slow-tolling-funeral-bell mourning candlelight. Sits at the modifier-and-time end of the grid, parallel to bell and vesper in usage.

Verdigris
noun

The basic copper carbonate that forms on weathered copper and bronze — the pigment scraped from oxidized metal and used in Renaissance painting before being supplanted by more stable greens. The color refers to a thick verdigris on aged copper roofing or the Statue of Liberty's surface: a soft, slightly muted blue-green with the powdery finish of mineral oxide. Cooler than patina, warmer than seafoam, with the archaeological weight of a mineral made by time.

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.

#5ab2ad
Original
#a9aaad
Protanopia
#9a9fae
Deuteranopia
#26b6b0
Tritanopia
#9f9f9f
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
2.50:1
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
8.41:1

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
##5AB2AD
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.4406 0.6900 0.6759)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.085

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.

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