colors
Back to gallery

Stable Spica Mint

#aef3cf
Notes

Stable Spica Mint (#AEF3CF) 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°, 74%, 82%) 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
#aef3cf
RGB
rgb(174, 243, 207)
HSL
hsl(149, 74%, 82%)
HWB
hwb(149 68% 5%)
OKLCH
oklch(90.9% 0.085 161.3)
HSV
hsv(149, 28%, 95%)
LAB
lab(90.60% -28.74 10.52)
LCH
lch(90.60% 30.61 159.89)
CMYK
cmyk(28%, 0%, 15%, 5%)

Etymology

Stable
adjective

Latin stabilis, standing-firm — sharing root with stand. As a color modifier, stable implies a clear-and-firm-and-unchanging quality where the hue carries the visual register of resistant-to-modulation-and-fade pigmentation. Sits at the crisp-and-firm end of the grid, parallel to steady and settled in usage.

Spica
modifier

Latin spīca, ear-of-grain. As a color modifier, spica implies a Virgin-and-grain-ear-and-blue-white-star quality, the visual register of Virgo-constellation-and-spring-Spica hand-Virgin-and-grain-ear-and-blue-white-star Virgo-constellation-and-spring-and-Bortle-1-sky spica-and-Virgin-and-grain-ear-and-blue-white-star surfaces under Virgo-constellation-and-spring-and-Bortle-1-sky April-and-May-spring-southern-vista grain-bearing-stellar-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to vega and altair 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.

#aef3cf
Original
#f1e9cd
Protanopia
#e5e1d1
Deuteranopia
#a0f3e9
Tritanopia
#e2e2e2
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
1.27:1
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
16.52:1

Related Colors

Canvas