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Phthalo Green

#123524·green family·WCAG AAA

Tints & Shades

50

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Scale from white (50) through Phthalo Green (500) to black (900), interpolated in Lab color space.

Color Values

HEX
#123524
RGB
rgb(18, 53, 36)
HSL
hsl(151, 49%, 14%)
OKLCH
oklch(0.298 0.051 160)
CMYK
cmyk(66%, 0%, 32%, 79%)
Luminance:0.0280
CSS var:--color-phthalo-green
Tailwind:bg-[#123524]

Accessibility

Score: 96/100

On White (#FFF)

13.46:1

AAA

On Black (#000)

1.56:1

Fail

On Light Gray (#F5F5F5)

12.34:1

AAA

Best text color on this background:

white13.46:1
Open in Contrast Checker →

Design Applications

Background

background-color: #123524

Text Color

color: #123524

bg-[#123524] text-[#FFFFFF]

Accent border card component

border-left: 4px solid #123524

Color Meaning & Psychology

Green occupies the center of the visible spectrum where the eye is most sensitive, making it the easiest color to process — literally restful for the eye. Green's associations with nature, growth, and fresh produce are deeply biological, rooted in the evolutionary advantage of finding food. In finance, "going green" means profit. In design, green signals health, sustainability, and natural ingredients. Darker greens evoke prestige and reliability; lighter greens feel fresh and energetic; blue-greens feel sophisticated and trustworthy. Green is uniquely cross-cultural in positive associations, though it represents environmental risk in some financial contexts. Its very dark, near-black depth creates dramatic intensity — maximally contrastive, powerful, and reserved for focal design elements where other dark colors would disappear.

Industry Usage

Common contexts and industries where Phthalo Green is applied in professional design.

  • Financial services and investment platforms
  • Health, wellness, and organic food brands
  • Environmental and sustainability organizations
  • Pharmaceutical and medical products
  • Agriculture and farming brands
  • Eco-friendly consumer goods
  • Real estate and property development
  • Success and achievement badges in UI

Accessibility Considerations

Normal Text

Passes AA

4.5:1 minimum required

Large Text

Passes AA Large

3:1 minimum required

UI Components

Meets 1.4.11

3:1 for non-text UI

Phthalo Green is a dark color. Use white (#FFFFFF) text on top of it for maximum readability (13.46:1). Avoid small black text on this background.

CSS & Code Examples

Background

background-color: #123524;

Text

color: #123524;

Border

border: 2px solid #123524;

Box Shadow

box-shadow: 0 4px 20px #12352440;

Gradient

background: linear-gradient(135deg, #123524, #3b5f4c);

Tailwind-style

--color-phthalo-green: #123524;

Tailwind CSS Utilities

Use arbitrary value syntax in Tailwind CSS to apply Phthalo Green without a custom config.

Background

bg-[#123524]

Text

text-[#123524]

Border

border-[#123524]

Ring

ring-[#123524]

Fill

fill-[#123524]

From (gradient)

from-[#123524]

Via (gradient)

via-[#123524]

To (gradient)

to-[#123524]

Design Tokens

Ready-to-use Phthalo Green design token in CSS custom properties, SCSS, Tailwind v3/v4, and JSON formats.

CSS Custom Properties

:root {
  --color-phthalo-green: #123524;
  --color-phthalo-green-rgb: 18, 53, 36;
  --color-phthalo-green-hsl: 151, 49%, 14%;
}

SCSS Variables

$color-phthalo-green: #123524;
$color-phthalo-green-rgb: 18, 53, 36;
$color-phthalo-green-hsl: 151, 49%, 14%;

Tailwind v3 Config

// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        'phthalo-green': '#123524',
      },
    },
  },
};

Tailwind v4 (@theme)

/* tailwind.css */
@theme {
  --color-phthalo-green: #123524;
}

JSON Design Token (W3C format)

{
  "phthalo-green": {
    "value": "#123524",
    "type": "color",
    "description": "Phthalo Green — #123524"
  }
}

What Does Phthalo Green Mean? Color Psychology & Cultural Symbolism

The green spectrum contains multitudes: jungle growth and financial gain, medical healing and environmental responsibility. Phthalo Green at #123524 navigates this complexity with a dark quality that emphasizes nature—the aspect of green psychology most useful in healthcare design.

  • Green carries multiple Western associations: nature and the environment, financial success and prosperity (money in the US), health and wellness, and the "go" signal in traffic systems. Dark greens suggest wealth and tradition; bright greens signal vitality and environmental consciousness.
  • In Chinese culture, green is associated with growth, harmony, and fertility. In Islam, green holds sacred significance as the color of paradise and the Prophet. In Japan, green (midori) represents youth, freshness, and eternal life.
  • Phthalo Green's dark lightness (14%) shifts its psychological register: Forest and hunter greens project gravitas, tradition, and wealth—the preferred territory for luxury brands, financial institutions, and premium environmental products.
  • At 49% saturation, Phthalo Green reads as subdued—neither overwhelming nor passive, landing in the growth, nature, health, and balance zone with measured confidence.

Phthalo Green is permission in color form—it makes things feel right, approved, and moving forward.

How to Use Phthalo Green in Design: Applications, Pairings & Best Practices

Phthalo Green brings life to design systems that risk feeling cold or clinical. Its dark character makes it versatile as both a primary brand color and a functional state color—success, approval, and positive actions feel natural expressed in green.

  • UI components: success states, confirmation messages, positive trends—Phthalo Green performs reliably in all these roles with its dark tonal character.
  • Brand & identity: success states, approval indicators, sustainability branding—contexts where Phthalo Green's subdued quality creates the right register.
  • Typography: Phthalo Green works as a background behind white text but requires careful sizing—test at intended heading and body sizes before finalizing.
  • As a dark tone, Phthalo Green creates maximum contrast with white and light neutrals—excellent for creating premium dark-mode sections, bold headers, and high-drama brand moments
  • Proportional use: Phthalo Green's subdued quality means it scales well across proportions—from full-bleed backgrounds to single-pixel borders—making it an unusually versatile palette component.

Phthalo Green is permission in color form—it makes things feel right, approved, and moving forward.

Phthalo Green Accessibility: WCAG Contrast Ratios, Color Blindness & Inclusive Design

Phthalo Green (#123524) achieves a 13.46:1 contrast ratio with white text, surpassing the WCAG 2.1 AAA threshold of 7:1. This exceptional contrast qualifies it for body text, UI components at any size, and all accessibility-sensitive interface contexts. Relative luminance: 2.8%.

  • As text on white (#FFFFFF): 13.46:1 — AAA ✓
  • As text on black (#000000): 1.56:1 — Fail
  • Best text color on Phthalo Green background: White (#FFFFFF) at 13.46:1
  • WCAG 2.1 luminance: 2.8% — low luminance (dark)—it provides strong contrast for white and light overlaid text, functioning well as a background in dark-mode and header contexts
  • Phthalo Green qualifies for all text sizes including small body copy (AAA).

Always verify Phthalo Green at its final intended size and weight using a real contrast checker—font weight and rendering environment affect perceived legibility beyond what raw ratios capture.

Phthalo Green in Industry: Branding, Design & Market Applications

Phthalo Green's brand positioning falls squarely in the territory of growth, nature, health, and balance. Industry data supports its strongest performance in healthcare, finance, food & organic categories, where the subdued saturation calibrates the message at a dark, considered level.

  • Healthcare & Wellness: Green's association with health, nature, and healing makes it the second-most-common color in healthcare branding (after blue). It signals vitality, recovery, and natural wellness without the clinical coldness of pure white or blue. (examples: CVS Health, Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente) Works best in teal-green and sage variations for digital health products; more saturated greens suit fitness and sports medicine.
  • Finance & Banking: In Western markets, the green-money association is deeply embedded. Financial institutions use dark, sophisticated greens to communicate growth, prosperity, and fiduciary reliability. It's equally effective for positive portfolio indicators and "go" confirmation states in trading UIs. (examples: Capital One, PayPal, Visa) Dark greens with gold accents signal premium financial services; bright greens in fintech apps signal growth metrics.
  • Sustainability & Organic: Green is the categorical color of environmental consciousness. Sustainability brands, organic food labels, and clean-energy companies use it as an immediate, unambiguous signal of ecological values and natural origin. (examples: Patagonia, Allbirds, Grove Collaborative) The challenge is differentiation—nearly every sustainability brand uses green, so typography, illustration style, and specific tone matter more.
  • Brand positioning: Phthalo Green is best suited for brands projecting health, sustainability, growth. Categories outside this positioning—warning or danger contexts (except for safety signs)—tend to see weaker results.
  • Adjacent applications: Beyond primary industries, Phthalo Green works effectively in success states, approval indicators, sustainability branding—contexts where health serves a secondary but reinforcing role.

For marketers and brand strategists, Phthalo Green is a commitment to growth, nature, health, and balance. Match it with industries that make that promise and it will pay dividends consistently.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the hex code for Phthalo Green?
The hex code for Phthalo Green is #123524. Its RGB values are rgb(18, 53, 36) and its HSL values are hsl(151, 49%, 14%).
What does Phthalo Green mean in design?
Green occupies the center of the visible spectrum where the eye is most sensitive, making it the easiest color to process — literally restful for the eye. Green's associations with nature, growth, and fresh produce are deeply biological, rooted in the evolutionary advantage of finding food. In finance, "going green" means profit. In design, green signals health, sustainability, and natural ingredients. Darker greens evoke prestige and reliability; lighter greens feel fresh and energetic; blue-greens feel sophisticated and trustworthy. Green is uniquely cross-cultural in positive associations, though it represents environmental risk in some financial contexts. Its very dark, near-black depth creates dramatic intensity — maximally contrastive, powerful, and reserved for focal design elements where other dark colors would disappear.
Is Phthalo Green WCAG accessible?
Phthalo Green (#123524) passes WCAG AAA on white with a 13.46:1 contrast ratio. Its overall accessibility score is 96/100.
What colors go well with Phthalo Green?
Phthalo Green pairs well with its complementary color Peony (#FF56A9). Analogous colors like Green and Erin also work harmoniously. Check the Color Harmonies section above for the full palette.
What is Phthalo Green used for?
Phthalo Green is commonly used for: Financial services and investment platforms; Health, wellness, and organic food brands; Environmental and sustainability organizations; Pharmaceutical and medical products; Agriculture and farming brands.
What are the CSS and Tailwind values for Phthalo Green?
In CSS, use `color: #123524` or `background-color: #123524`. The CSS custom property is `--color-phthalo-green: #123524`. In Tailwind CSS, use the arbitrary value class `bg-[#123524]` for backgrounds or `text-[#123524]` for text.