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Spectral Bì

#9cf38c
Notes

Spectral Bì (#9CF38C) is a soft 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 (111°, 81%, 75%) 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 violet. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#9cf38c
RGB
rgb(156, 243, 140)
HSL
hsl(111, 81%, 75%)
HWB
hwb(111 55% 5%)
OKLCH
oklch(88.5% 0.160 140.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6890 0.9441 0.5921)
HSV
hsv(111, 42%, 95%)
LAB
lab(88.48% -45.38 41.52)
LCH
lch(88.48% 61.51 137.54)
CMYK
cmyk(36%, 0%, 42%, 5%)

Etymology

Spectral
adjective

Latin spectrum, appearance — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, spectral implies a saturated-and-rainbow-decomposed-and-pure quality, the bright color of Newton-prism sunlight-decomposed seven-color spectrum band. Sits at the bright-and-pure end of the grid, parallel to prismatic and pure in usage.

noun

The Chinese word for bluish-green jade — used for the deepest, most saturated jade-green color and the green of bì-yù (jadeite). The color refers to a polished imperial bì-yù cabochon: a saturated, slightly cool deep green-blue with the satin finish of fine jade. Cooler than midori.

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.

#9cf38c
Original
#f8e384
Protanopia
#ebdb92
Deuteranopia
#95edda
Tritanopia
#d9d9d9
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
1.35:1
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
15.61:1

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
##9CF38C
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6890 0.9441 0.5921)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.160

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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