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Caffeinated Acquerello

#09e6cb
Notes

Caffeinated Acquerello (#09E6CB) is a true teal 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 (173°, 92%, 47%) 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
#09e6cb
RGB
rgb(9, 230, 203)
HSL
hsl(173, 92%, 47%)
HWB
hwb(173 4% 10%)
OKLCH
oklch(82.9% 0.150 180.2)
HSV
hsv(173, 96%, 90%)
LAB
lab(82.36% -51.82 0.16)
LCH
lch(82.36% 51.82 179.83)
CMYK
cmyk(96%, 0%, 12%, 10%)

Etymology

Caffeinated
adjective

Modern French caféine — past-participle of caffeinate. As a color modifier, caffeinated implies a saturated-and-jumpy-and-active quality, the bright color of Red-Bull-and-Monster energy-drink-can label-design saturated-and-energizing palette. Sits at the bright-and-active end of the grid, parallel to jazzed and wired in usage.

Acquerello
noun

The Italian word for watercolor — used for the soft, washed-out blue-greens characteristic of Italian Renaissance watercolor underpainting. Acquerello color refers to a watercolor wash on damp paper: a soft, slightly cool pale blue-green with the translucent finish of pigment-and-water on rag paper.

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.

#09e6cb
Original
#dbd7ca
Protanopia
#c3c5cd
Deuteranopia
#00eade
Tritanopia
#b5b5b5
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
1.59:1
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
13.19:1

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