tealength

Tealength is a proposed quantitative measure of how teal a color appears, defined as a distance from a canonical teal reference within a color space. The term blends the color name teal with the concept of length or distance, emphasizing perceptual similarity rather than a physical property.

Measurement methods

Two common formulations are discussed in informal practice. In the RGB color space, tealength is the Euclidean distance between a color’s sRGB triplet (R, G, B) and the reference teal triplet, typically (0, 128, 128) corresponding to hex #008080. In perceptual color science, Tealength can be defined as the Delta E (for example, Delta E 2000) between the color’s CIELAB coordinates and those of the same reference teal, providing a device-independent measure of perceptual difference.

Reference color

The canonical teal used for Tealength calculations is the widely recognized teal color with hex code #008080. This choice provides a concrete baseline for comparisons across designs and palettes.

Applications and limitations

Tealength can be used to sort or filter color palettes by similarity to teal, support brand color matching, and assist automated design workflows where teal consistency is important. However, Tealength is not standardized and depends on the chosen color space and reference. Device gamma, illumination, and viewing conditions can affect measurements, and different formulations (RGB distance vs. Delta E) yield different results. As a result, Tealength is best used as a heuristic rather than an absolute unit.

History and status

Tealength emerged in nonstandard, design-technology discussions as a practical shorthand for color similarity to teal. It is not an officially adopted metric in color science, but it appears in some documentation and toolbox discussions as an informal concept.