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Stripped Sewn Turquoise

#02b8cd
Notes

Stripped Sewn Turquoise (#02B8CD) is a true cyan with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (186°, 98%, 41%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary red. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#02b8cd
RGB
rgb(2, 184, 205)
HSL
hsl(186, 98%, 41%)
HWB
hwb(186 1% 20%)
OKLCH
oklch(71.7% 0.123 209.2)
HSV
hsv(186, 99%, 80%)
LAB
lab(68.53% -30.96 -21.55)
LCH
lch(68.53% 37.72 214.85)
CMYK
cmyk(99%, 10%, 0%, 20%)

Etymology

Stripped
adjective

Old English stripian, to strip — past-participle of strip. As a color modifier, stripped implies a clear-and-bared-and-unornamented quality, the crisp color of Cistercian-and-Bauhaus anti-ornamental stripped-down architectural interior. Sits at the crisp-and-stripped end of the grid, parallel to spare and bare in usage.

Sewn
modifier

Old English sēowan, to-sew. As a color modifier, sewn implies a hand-stitched-and-joined quality, the visual register of hand-sewn-and-stitched-textile hand-needle-and-thread-stitched needle-and-thread-and-bobbin hand-sewn-and-stitched-textile surfaces under hand-sewn-and-stitched-textile workshop-light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to tied and woven in usage.

Turquoise
noun

The hydrated copper-aluminum phosphate mined in Persia and the American Southwest for thousands of years — the firuze of Iran, the chalchihuitl of Mesoamerica, the heart of Pueblo and Navajo silverwork. The color refers to a fine Sleeping Beauty turquoise from Arizona: a saturated, slightly green-shifted blue with the slight matrix of host-rock veining. Brighter than persian, lighter than cerulean.

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.

#02b8cd
Original
#a6b1ce
Protanopia
#8fa0cd
Deuteranopia
#00c1be
Tritanopia
#939393
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
2.40:1
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
8.74:1

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