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Spectral Tsavorite

#a1e989
Notes

Spectral Tsavorite (#A1E989) 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 (105°, 69%, 73%) places it in the balanced band at a light lightness. It works as a background wash, large-area fill, or soft illustration tone. Add a darker ink of the same hue when you need type over it. 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
#a1e989
RGB
rgb(161, 233, 137)
HSL
hsl(105, 69%, 73%)
HWB
hwb(105 54% 9%)
OKLCH
oklch(86.4% 0.146 138.2)
HSV
hsv(105, 41%, 91%)
LAB
lab(85.84% -39.81 39.66)
LCH
lch(85.84% 56.19 135.11)
CMYK
cmyk(31%, 0%, 41%, 9%)

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.

Tsavorite
noun

A green variety of grossular garnet — colored by trace vanadium and chromium, mined principally in Tanzania (named for Tsavo National Park) and Kenya. The color refers to a faceted East African tsavorite: a saturated, slightly cool deep green with the gem's signature internal life. Cooler than emerald.

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.

#a1e989
Original
#efdb82
Protanopia
#e4d48f
Deuteranopia
#9ee3d2
Tritanopia
#d3d3d3
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
1.45:1
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
14.53:1

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