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Practical Chrysocolla

#5bd5b9
Notes

Practical Chrysocolla (#5BD5B9) 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 (166°, 59%, 60%) 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
#5bd5b9
RGB
rgb(91, 213, 185)
HSL
hsl(166, 59%, 60%)
HWB
hwb(166 36% 16%)
OKLCH
oklch(79.6% 0.117 175.6)
HSV
hsv(166, 57%, 84%)
LAB
lab(78.06% -40.80 3.63)
LCH
lch(78.06% 40.96 174.92)
CMYK
cmyk(57%, 0%, 13%, 16%)

Etymology

Practical
adjective

Greek praktikós, practical — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, practical implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-everyday quality where the hue carries the visual register of Shaker-and-Quaker utilitarian-and-functional everyday-life craft. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to functional and workmanlike in usage.

Chrysocolla
noun

A copper-aluminum hydrous silicate — saturated blue-green, mined principally in copper-mineral deposits of Arizona, Israel, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The color refers to a polished chrysocolla cabochon: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the matte finish of secondary copper mineral. Cooler than malachite.

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.

#5bd5b9
Original
#cec9b8
Protanopia
#bcbbbb
Deuteranopia
#00d7cd
Tritanopia
#b9b9b9
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
1.80:1
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
11.66:1

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