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Symmetrical Yore Turquoise

#03abbf
Notes

Symmetrical Yore Turquoise (#03ABBF) is a true cyan with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (186°, 97%, 38%) 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
#03abbf
RGB
rgb(3, 171, 191)
HSL
hsl(186, 97%, 38%)
HWB
hwb(186 1% 25%)
OKLCH
oklch(67.9% 0.117 209.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2996 0.6605 0.7379)
HSV
hsv(186, 98%, 75%)
LAB
lab(64.08% -29.15 -20.59)
LCH
lch(64.08% 35.69 215.24)
CMYK
cmyk(98%, 10%, 0%, 25%)

Etymology

Symmetrical
adjective

Greek symmetría, due-proportion — adjectival suffix -al, derived from sym-metron (with-measure). As a color modifier, symmetrical implies a clear-and-balanced-and-mirrored quality where the hue carries the visual register of bilateral-or-radial proportional symmetry. Sits at the crisp-and-balanced end of the grid, parallel to balanced and aligned in usage.

Yore
modifier

Old English gēara, of-old / long-ago. As a color modifier, yore implies a long-ago-and-storied quality, the visual register of medieval-and-classical-period multi-millennia faded-and-storied long-ago-and-time-deep history-laden surfaces under multi-millennia long-ago-and-time-deep faded light. Sits at the modifier-and-time end of the grid, parallel to eld and past 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.

#03abbf
Original
#9aa4c0
Protanopia
#8495bf
Deuteranopia
#00b4b1
Tritanopia
#898989
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
2.77:1
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
7.58:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

The CSS Color 4 wide-gamut form of this color. Both swatches render the same color on every display — the P3 form only diverges from sRGB when a designer pushes channels outside sRGB's reach.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##03ABBF
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2996 0.6605 0.7379)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.117

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

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