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Practical Microgreen

#bdf0a1
Notes

Practical Microgreen (#BDF0A1) is a soft lime with a pastel character. It reads calm and airy, with enough chroma to feel intentional rather than washed out. Its HSL profile (99°, 72%, 79%) 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
#bdf0a1
RGB
rgb(189, 240, 161)
HSL
hsl(99, 72%, 79%)
HWB
hwb(99 63% 6%)
OKLCH
oklch(90.1% 0.117 134.9)
HSV
hsv(99, 33%, 94%)
LAB
lab(89.72% -30.21 33.05)
LCH
lch(89.72% 44.77 132.43)
CMYK
cmyk(21%, 0%, 33%, 6%)

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.

Microgreen
noun

The very young (7–14 days post-germination) edible seedlings of vegetables and herbs — popularized in fine-dining restaurants as bright color-and-texture garnish. The color refers to a tray of fresh basil microgreens: a saturated, slightly cool fresh yellow-green with the optical brightness of just-emerged cotyledons.

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.

#bdf0a1
Original
#f6e49c
Protanopia
#eee0a5
Deuteranopia
#bdeadc
Tritanopia
#dfdfdf
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
16.14:1

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