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Clean Gnome Mint

#9ff2c3
Notes

Clean Gnome Mint (#9FF2C3) 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 (146°, 76%, 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
#9ff2c3
RGB
rgb(159, 242, 195)
HSL
hsl(146, 76%, 79%)
HWB
hwb(146 62% 5%)
OKLCH
oklch(89.5% 0.104 158.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6963 0.9405 0.7779)
HSV
hsv(146, 34%, 95%)
LAB
lab(89.30% -34.99 14.80)
LCH
lch(89.30% 37.99 157.07)
CMYK
cmyk(34%, 0%, 19%, 5%)

Etymology

Clean
adjective

Old English clǣne, pure, free of dirt — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues that read as crisp and uncontaminated by other pigments. Clean white, clean blue: moderate saturation combined with optical clarity. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside clear and true.

Gnome
modifier

Latin gnomus, earth-elemental-of-Paracelsus. As a color modifier, gnome implies an earth-elemental-and-subterranean-and-mining quality, the visual register of Paracelsian-gnome-and-Alpine-mining-folk hand-earth-elemental-and-subterranean-and-mining Paracelsian-gnome-and-Alpine-mining-folk-and-Renaissance-occult gnome-and-earth-elemental-and-subterranean surfaces under Paracelsian-gnome-and-Alpine-mining-folk-and-Renaissance-occult Alpine-mountain-and-mine-shaft underground-elemental-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to sprite and pixie 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.

#9ff2c3
Original
#f1e6c0
Protanopia
#e3ddc6
Deuteranopia
#8ef1e5
Tritanopia
#dddddd
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
1.32:1
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
15.96:1

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
##9FF2C3
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6963 0.9405 0.7779)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.104

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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