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Spotless Cascade

#08b3b5
Notes

Spotless Cascade (#08B3B5) 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 (181°, 92%, 37%) 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
#08b3b5
RGB
rgb(8, 179, 181)
HSL
hsl(181, 92%, 37%)
HWB
hwb(181 3% 29%)
OKLCH
oklch(69.5% 0.118 196.2)
HSV
hsv(181, 96%, 71%)
LAB
lab(66.23% -35.99 -11.79)
LCH
lch(66.23% 37.87 198.13)
CMYK
cmyk(96%, 1%, 0%, 29%)

Etymology

Spotless
adjective

Old English spott (spot) plus suffix -less. As a color modifier, spotless implies a clear-and-unmarked quality where the hue carries no contaminating speck or stain. Sits at the crisp-and-clean end of the grid, parallel to pristine and unblemished in usage.

Cascade
noun

A waterfall of moderate size — particularly the Cascade Range of waterfalls along the Pacific Northwest's Columbia River Gorge. Cascade color refers to the white-and-blue of falling water at Multnomah Falls: a soft, slightly cool pale blue-white with the optical complexity of mist-and-water in motion.

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

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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.

#08b3b5
Original
#a6aab5
Protanopia
#919bb6
Deuteranopia
#00b9b3
Tritanopia
#8f8f8f
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
2.58:1
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
8.13:1

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Canvas