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Direct Savory Verdigris

#5cb7ab
Notes

Direct Savory Verdigris (#5CB7AB) 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 (172°, 39%, 54%) 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
#5cb7ab
RGB
rgb(92, 183, 171)
HSL
hsl(172, 39%, 54%)
HWB
hwb(172 36% 28%)
OKLCH
oklch(72.0% 0.089 184.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.4518 0.7093 0.6703)
HSV
hsv(172, 50%, 72%)
LAB
lab(68.81% -30.14 -2.26)
LCH
lch(68.81% 30.22 184.28)
CMYK
cmyk(50%, 0%, 7%, 28%)

Etymology

Direct
adjective

From the Latin directus, straight — used as a color modifier since the eighteenth century for hues that read as straightforward and unambiguous. Direct red, direct green: moderate-to-high saturation combined with optical clarity. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside clear and frank.

Savory
modifier

Latin satureia, peppery-Mediterranean-herb. As a color modifier, savory implies a peppery-Mediterranean-herb-and-Provençal-bouquet quality, the visual register of Provençal-bouquet-garni-and-summer-savory hand-peppery-Mediterranean-herb-and-Provençal-bouquet Provençal-bouquet-garni-and-summer-savory-and-herbes-de-Provence savory-and-peppery-Mediterranean-herb surfaces under Provençal-bouquet-garni-and-summer-savory-and-herbes-de-Provence Provençal-and-Tuscan-and-Catalan herb-garden-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to hyssop and lovage 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.

#5cb7ab
Original
#afaeab
Protanopia
#a1a3ac
Deuteranopia
#2cbab3
Tritanopia
#a3a3a3
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
2.38:1
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
8.82:1

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
##5CB7AB
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.4518 0.7093 0.6703)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.089

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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