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Pragmatic Risotto

#8a9e3b
Notes

Pragmatic Risotto (#8A9E3B) is a true yellow with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (72°, 46%, 43%) 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 indigo. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#8a9e3b
RGB
rgb(138, 158, 59)
HSL
hsl(72, 46%, 43%)
HWB
hwb(72 23% 38%)
OKLCH
oklch(66.3% 0.126 119.7)
P3
color(display-p3 0.5561 0.6172 0.2911)
HSV
hsv(72, 63%, 62%)
LAB
lab(61.80% -21.55 47.93)
LCH
lch(61.80% 52.55 114.21)
CMYK
cmyk(13%, 0%, 63%, 38%)

Etymology

Pragmatic
adjective

Greek pragmatikós, of business / practical — adjectival suffix -ic. As a color modifier, pragmatic implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-no-nonsense quality where the hue carries the visual register of straightforward-utilitarian-and-functional decision-making. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to practical and functional in usage.

Risotto
noun

The northern Italian rice dish — particularly the saffron-tinted risotto alla milanese, traditionally served alongside osso buco in Lombard cuisine. The color refers to a fresh-cooked saffron risotto on a white plate: a saturated, slightly red-shifted deep yellow with the matte finish of cooked Arborio rice and saffron. Warmer than polenta.

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.

#8a9e3b
Original
#a8952f
Protanopia
#a59642
Deuteranopia
#919689
Tritanopia
#939393
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
2.99:1
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
7.03:1

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
##8A9E3B
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.5561 0.6172 0.2911)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.126

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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