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Inviting Vale Mint

#9afbc3
Notes

Inviting Vale Mint (#9AFBC3) is a soft teal with a pastel character. It reads calm and airy, with enough chroma to feel intentional rather than washed out. Its HSL profile (145°, 92%, 79%) places it in the highly saturated band at a light lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. 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
#9afbc3
RGB
rgb(154, 251, 195)
HSL
hsl(145, 92%, 79%)
HWB
hwb(145 60% 2%)
OKLCH
oklch(91.3% 0.121 157.6)
HSV
hsv(145, 39%, 98%)
LAB
lab(91.60% -40.48 17.99)
LCH
lch(91.60% 44.30 156.04)
CMYK
cmyk(39%, 0%, 22%, 2%)

Etymology

Inviting
adjective

Latin invītāre, to invite — present-participle of invite. As a color modifier, inviting implies a clear-and-cordial-and-encouraging quality where the hue carries the visual register of warm-inviting-and-encouraging entrance-foyer color tone. Sits at the crisp-and-cheerful end of the grid, parallel to welcoming and hospitable in usage.

Vale
modifier

Latin vallis, valley. As a color modifier, vale implies a broad-pastoral-valley quality, the visual register of Cotswold-and-Yorkshire-Dales wide river-valley pasture-and-hedgerow agricultural surfaces in spring-and-autumn pastoral-and-overcast English afternoon-light. Sits at the modifier-and-place end of the grid, parallel to glen and dale 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

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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.

#9afbc3
Original
#faedc0
Protanopia
#eae3c6
Deuteranopia
#85faeb
Tritanopia
#e2e2e2
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
1.24:1
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
16.96:1

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