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Spectral Aloe

#b5e386
Notes

Spectral Aloe (#B5E386) is a soft 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 (90°, 62%, 71%) 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 indigo. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#b5e386
RGB
rgb(181, 227, 134)
HSL
hsl(90, 62%, 71%)
HWB
hwb(90 53% 11%)
OKLCH
oklch(86.2% 0.130 130.2)
HSV
hsv(90, 41%, 89%)
LAB
lab(85.24% -30.55 40.61)
LCH
lch(85.24% 50.82 126.95)
CMYK
cmyk(20%, 0%, 41%, 11%)

Etymology

Spectral
adjective

Latin spectrum, appearance — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, spectral implies a saturated-and-rainbow-decomposed-and-pure quality, the bright color of Newton-prism sunlight-decomposed seven-color spectrum band. Sits at the bright-and-pure end of the grid, parallel to prismatic and pure in usage.

Aloe
noun

Aloe vera, the succulent whose translucent inner leaf gel has been used as a cosmetic and medicinal salve since classical antiquity. The color refers to a fresh aloe leaf in cross-section: a soft, slightly cool yellow-green with the satin finish of succulent leaf-tissue.

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.

#b5e386
Original
#ebd77f
Protanopia
#e4d48b
Deuteranopia
#b8dccc
Tritanopia
#d3d3d3
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
1.47:1
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
14.30:1

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