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Utilitarian Ether Mint

#bcedcb
Notes

Utilitarian Ether Mint (#BCEDCB) 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 (138°, 58%, 83%) 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
#bcedcb
RGB
rgb(188, 237, 203)
HSL
hsl(138, 58%, 83%)
HWB
hwb(138 74% 7%)
OKLCH
oklch(90.3% 0.068 154.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7760 0.9239 0.8058)
HSV
hsv(138, 21%, 93%)
LAB
lab(89.66% -22.26 11.37)
LCH
lch(89.66% 25.00 152.95)
CMYK
cmyk(21%, 0%, 14%, 7%)

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.

Ether
modifier

Greek αἰθήρ, upper-air-or-quintessence. As a color modifier, ether implies a luminiferous-and-pure-upper-air quality, the visual register of Aristotelian-quintessence-and-luminiferous-ether hand-luminiferous-and-pure-upper-air Aristotelian-quintessence-and-luminiferous-and-Newtonian ether-and-luminiferous-and-pure-upper-air surfaces under Aristotelian-quintessence-and-luminiferous-and-Newtonian celestial-spheres-and-natural-philosophy upper-air-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to plasma and nebula 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.

#bcedcb
Original
#ede5c9
Protanopia
#e4dfcd
Deuteranopia
#b5ece3
Tritanopia
#e0e0e0
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
1.30:1
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
16.11:1

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
##BCEDCB
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7760 0.9239 0.8058)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.068

This color sits well within the sRGB cube. P3 and sRGB share the gray axis and most desaturated tones, so a P3 display renders this identically to an sRGB display.

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