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Glacial Nokchaek

#a3ba9d
Notes

Glacial Nokchaek (#A3BA9D) is a true 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 (108°, 17%, 67%) places it in the muted 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 violet. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#a3ba9d
RGB
rgb(163, 186, 157)
HSL
hsl(108, 17%, 67%)
HWB
hwb(108 62% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(76.3% 0.048 139.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6564 0.7266 0.6252)
HSV
hsv(108, 16%, 73%)
LAB
lab(73.11% -13.37 12.09)
LCH
lch(73.11% 18.03 137.87)
CMYK
cmyk(12%, 0%, 16%, 27%)

Etymology

Glacial
adjective

Latin glaciālis, of ice — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, glacial implies a pale-and-icy-and-cool quality, the pale color of Alpine-and-Andean-glacier compacted-ice deep-blue-and-pale-blue mid-day-sun atmospheric-condition. Sits at the pale-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to icy and frozen in usage.

Nokchaek
noun

The Korean word for green — used in the nokcha (green tea) tradition of Korean Buddhist monastery culture and the deep green of Korean ondol heated-floor textile dyes. The color refers to fresh-brewed Korean nokcha: a saturated, slightly cool deep green with the optical clarity of unfermented tea liquor.

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.

#a3ba9d
Original
#bcb59b
Protanopia
#b8b39e
Deuteranopia
#a2b8b2
Tritanopia
#b3b3b3
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
2.09:1
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
10.07:1

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
##A3BA9D
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6564 0.7266 0.6252)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.048

This color sits well within the sRGB cube. P3 and sRGB share the gray axis and most desaturated tones, so a P3 display renders this identically to an sRGB display.

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