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Flaming turquoise

#03dbe4
Notes

Flaming turquoise (#03DBE4) is a true cyan 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 (182°, 97%, 45%) 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
#03dbe4
RGB
rgb(3, 219, 228)
HSL
hsl(182, 97%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(182 1% 11%)
OKLCH
oklch(81.0% 0.138 200.1)
HSV
hsv(182, 99%, 89%)
LAB
lab(79.77% -40.11 -16.96)
LCH
lch(79.77% 43.55 202.93)
CMYK
cmyk(99%, 4%, 0%, 11%)

Etymology

Flaming
adjective

Old French flamme, flame — present-participle of flame. As a color modifier, flaming implies a saturated-and-fire-and-bright-color quality, the bright color of autumn-Maple-and-Oak deciduous-foliage fall-color and Yule-log fire emission. Sits at the bright-and-warm end of the grid, parallel to fiery and blazing 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.

#03dbe4
Original
#c9d0e5
Protanopia
#b0bee5
Deuteranopia
#00e4dd
Tritanopia
#aeaeae
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
1.71:1
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
12.26:1

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