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Effective Axis Mint

#7abab3
Notes

Effective Axis Mint (#7ABAB3) 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 (173°, 32%, 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
#7abab3
RGB
rgb(122, 186, 179)
HSL
hsl(173, 32%, 60%)
HWB
hwb(173 48% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(74.4% 0.066 187.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.5344 0.7228 0.7009)
HSV
hsv(173, 34%, 73%)
LAB
lab(71.22% -21.99 -2.96)
LCH
lch(71.22% 22.19 187.65)
CMYK
cmyk(34%, 0%, 4%, 27%)

Etymology

Effective
adjective

Latin effectīvus, productive — adjectival suffix -ive. As a color modifier, effective implies a clear-and-purpose-achieving quality where the hue carries the visual register of successful-task-completion design-element. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to practical and useful in usage.

Axis
modifier

Latin axis, axle-or-pivot. As a color modifier, axis implies a rotational-pole-and-polar-spin quality, the visual register of Earth-axial-tilt-and-Polaris-axis hand-rotational-pole-and-polar-spin Earth-axial-tilt-and-Polaris-and-celestial-pole axis-and-rotational-pole-and-polar-spin surfaces under Earth-axial-tilt-and-Polaris-and-celestial-pole 23.5-degree-and-precession-and-celestial-mechanics polar-pivot-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to orbit and zenith in usage.

Mint
noun

The genus Mentha — peppermint, spearmint, apple mint, water mint — the cooling herb whose menthol gives it that quality at the molecular level. The color refers to fresh peppermint leaves before drying: a clean, slightly cool green with the matte finish of trichome-rich leaf surface. Lighter than basil, cooler than parsley, with the mojito-and-Pimm's association of a herb tied to summer drinks across two continents.

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.

#7abab3
Original
#b4b3b3
Protanopia
#a8abb4
Deuteranopia
#63bdb8
Tritanopia
#acacac
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
2.21:1
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
9.50:1

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
##7ABAB3
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.5344 0.7228 0.7009)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.066

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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