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Hot Rhine

#03a7f9
Notes

Hot Rhine (#03A7F9) is a true azure with a neon character. It sits at the high-saturation edge of its family. Use it sparingly, as signage, accent, or highlight against darker surfaces. Its HSL profile (200°, 98%, 49%) 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 orange. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#03a7f9
RGB
rgb(3, 167, 249)
HSL
hsl(200, 98%, 49%)
HWB
hwb(200 1% 2%)
OKLCH
oklch(69.7% 0.164 241.6)
HSV
hsv(200, 99%, 98%)
LAB
lab(65.35% -6.67 -50.60)
LCH
lch(65.35% 51.04 262.49)
CMYK
cmyk(99%, 33%, 0%, 2%)

Etymology

Hot
adjective

Old English hāt, of high temperature — applied metaphorically to color since the eighteenth century for warm hues at high saturation. Hot pink, hot red: the implication is luminous intensity combined with thermal warmth. Sits in the bright-and-warm corner of the grid, alongside burning and vivid.

Rhine
noun

The Rhine River — Europe's third-longest, flowing from the Swiss Alps to the Dutch North Sea. Rhine color refers to mid-depth Rhine River water at Lorelei on the Mittelrhein: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the optical depth of Alpine-glacier-fed European river water.

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.

#03a7f9
Original
#7fa9fd
Protanopia
#6096f8
Deuteranopia
#00bbc4
Tritanopia
#8a8a8a
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
2.66:1
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
7.90:1

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