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Utilitarian Groen

#aadd87
Notes

Utilitarian Groen (#AADD87) is a true lime 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 (96°, 56%, 70%) places it in the balanced 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 indigo. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#aadd87
RGB
rgb(170, 221, 135)
HSL
hsl(96, 56%, 70%)
HWB
hwb(96 53% 13%)
OKLCH
oklch(84.2% 0.126 133.4)
HSV
hsv(96, 39%, 87%)
LAB
lab(82.92% -31.52 37.00)
LCH
lch(82.92% 48.61 130.43)
CMYK
cmyk(23%, 0%, 39%, 13%)

Etymology

Utilitarian
adjective

Latin ūtilitās, usefulness — adjectival suffix -ian. As a color modifier, utilitarian implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-stripped-down quality, the crisp color of Shaker-and-Quaker anti-ornamental functional-and-no-frills craft tradition. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to functional and workmanlike in usage.

Groen
noun

The Dutch word for green — used for the Hollands Groen of Delft Blue's complementary glaze and the green polders of Dutch reclaimed-land farmland. The color refers to a Delft-pottery green underglaze: a saturated, slightly cool green with the matte finish of fired tin-glaze. The Dutch cousin of green.

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.

#aadd87
Original
#e4d181
Protanopia
#dccd8c
Deuteranopia
#abd7c8
Tritanopia
#cccccc
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
1.57:1
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
13.40:1

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