colors
Back to gallery

Practical Sumatra

#b4ebb5
Notes

Practical Sumatra (#B4EBB5) 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 (121°, 58%, 81%) 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
#b4ebb5
RGB
rgb(180, 235, 181)
HSL
hsl(121, 58%, 81%)
HWB
hwb(121 71% 8%)
OKLCH
oklch(88.8% 0.092 145.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7502 0.9155 0.7278)
HSV
hsv(121, 23%, 92%)
LAB
lab(88.19% -27.76 20.65)
LCH
lch(88.19% 34.59 143.36)
CMYK
cmyk(23%, 0%, 23%, 8%)

Etymology

Practical
adjective

Greek praktikós, practical — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, practical implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-everyday quality where the hue carries the visual register of Shaker-and-Quaker utilitarian-and-functional everyday-life craft. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to functional and workmanlike in usage.

Sumatra
noun

The Indonesian island — home to the Sumatran orangutan, tiger, and rhinoceros — and the deep green of Sumatran rainforest and Coffea arabica coffee plantations. Sumatra color refers to a Sumatran highland coffee plantation: a saturated, slightly cool deep green with the matte finish of broad-leaved coffee shrubs.

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.

#b4ebb5
Original
#ede1b2
Protanopia
#e4dbb8
Deuteranopia
#afe8dc
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
1.36:1
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
15.49:1

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
##B4EBB5
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7502 0.9155 0.7278)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.092

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

Related Colors

Canvas