colors
Back to gallery

Plainspoken Aries Mint

#a5efc9
Notes

Plainspoken Aries Mint (#A5EFC9) 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 (149°, 70%, 79%) 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 magenta. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#a5efc9
RGB
rgb(165, 239, 201)
HSL
hsl(149, 70%, 79%)
HWB
hwb(149 65% 6%)
OKLCH
oklch(89.3% 0.091 161.5)
HSV
hsv(149, 31%, 94%)
LAB
lab(88.90% -30.69 11.15)
LCH
lch(88.90% 32.65 160.03)
CMYK
cmyk(31%, 0%, 16%, 6%)

Etymology

Plainspoken
adjective

English compound plain + spoken — past-participle of speak. As a color modifier, plainspoken implies a clear-and-direct-and-straightforward quality where the hue carries the visual register of unembellished-honest declaration. Sits at the crisp-and-honest end of the grid, parallel to candid and direct in usage.

Aries
modifier

Latin aries, ram-of-the-fleece. As a color modifier, aries implies a ram-and-fire-sign-and-Mars-ruled-cardinal-fire quality, the visual register of Babylonian-ram-and-Greek-Aries hand-ram-and-fire-sign-and-Mars-ruled-cardinal-fire Babylonian-ram-and-Greek-Aries-and-Golden-Fleece aries-and-ram-and-fire-sign surfaces under Babylonian-ram-and-Greek-Aries-and-Golden-Fleece spring-equinox-and-March-and-April fire-sign-light. Sits at the modifier-and-zodiac end of the grid, parallel to taurus and gemini 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.

#a5efc9
Original
#ede5c7
Protanopia
#e0dccb
Deuteranopia
#95efe4
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
1.33:1
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
15.79:1

Related Colors

Canvas