colors
Back to gallery

Direct Avocado

#c2e390
Notes

Direct Avocado (#C2E390) 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 (84°, 60%, 73%) 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
#c2e390
RGB
rgb(194, 227, 144)
HSL
hsl(84, 60%, 73%)
HWB
hwb(84 56% 11%)
OKLCH
oklch(87.3% 0.113 126.3)
HSV
hsv(84, 37%, 89%)
LAB
lab(86.22% -24.56 37.05)
LCH
lch(86.22% 44.45 123.55)
CMYK
cmyk(15%, 0%, 37%, 11%)

Etymology

Direct
adjective

From the Latin directus, straight — used as a color modifier since the eighteenth century for hues that read as straightforward and unambiguous. Direct red, direct green: moderate-to-high saturation combined with optical clarity. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside clear and frank.

Avocado
noun

Persea americana, the buttery drupe domesticated in Mesoamerica seven thousand years ago and named for the Aztec āhuacatl. The color refers to ripe avocado flesh just under the dark skin: a soft, slightly muted yellow-green with the warm undertones of plant fat. Earthier than pistachio, lighter than olive, with the recent kitchen association of a fruit only recently turned global staple.

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.

#c2e390
Original
#ebd98a
Protanopia
#e7d794
Deuteranopia
#c7dcce
Tritanopia
#d6d6d6
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
1.43:1
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
14.68:1

Related Colors

Canvas