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Plain Patina

#6b9d79
Notes

Plain Patina (#6B9D79) is a true green 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 (137°, 20%, 52%) 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 magenta. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#6b9d79
RGB
rgb(107, 157, 121)
HSL
hsl(137, 20%, 52%)
HWB
hwb(137 42% 38%)
OKLCH
oklch(65.0% 0.076 152.7)
P3
color(display-p3 0.4623 0.6104 0.4857)
HSV
hsv(137, 32%, 62%)
LAB
lab(60.44% -24.52 13.61)
LCH
lch(60.44% 28.04 150.97)
CMYK
cmyk(32%, 0%, 23%, 38%)

Etymology

Plain
adjective

Latin planus, flat, level — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues that read as undecorated and direct. Plain white, plain blue: moderate saturation, no shift, no surface effect. Sits in the crisp-bucket center, with the implication of restraint rather than absence.

Patina
noun

The thin corrosion layer that develops on copper, bronze, and other metals over time — sometimes copper carbonate (verdigris), sometimes copper sulfate, depending on environment. The color refers to mature exposed-bronze patina on a public statue: a soft, slightly muted blue-green with the powdery finish of mineral oxide. Drabber than verdigris, cooler than celadon, with the slow-time weight of a surface that records its age.

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.

#6b9d79
Original
#9d9577
Protanopia
#95907b
Deuteranopia
#639c93
Tritanopia
#909090
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
3.12:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAon Black
6.72:1

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
##6B9D79
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.4623 0.6104 0.4857)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.076

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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