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Plainspoken Nokchaek

#b1ee9f
Notes

Plainspoken Nokchaek (#B1EE9F) is a soft green with a pastel character. It reads calm and airy, with enough chroma to feel intentional rather than washed out. Its HSL profile (106°, 70%, 78%) 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
#b1ee9f
RGB
rgb(177, 238, 159)
HSL
hsl(106, 70%, 78%)
HWB
hwb(106 62% 7%)
OKLCH
oklch(88.9% 0.122 138.7)
HSV
hsv(106, 33%, 93%)
LAB
lab(88.45% -33.64 32.23)
LCH
lch(88.45% 46.59 136.23)
CMYK
cmyk(26%, 0%, 33%, 7%)

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.

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

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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.

#b1ee9f
Original
#f3e29a
Protanopia
#e9dca3
Deuteranopia
#aee9da
Tritanopia
#dbdbdb
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
1.35:1
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
15.60:1

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