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Vivid Clan Turquoise

#0cd8cd
Notes

Vivid Clan Turquoise (#0CD8CD) 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 (177°, 89%, 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
#0cd8cd
RGB
rgb(12, 216, 205)
HSL
hsl(177, 89%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(177 5% 15%)
OKLCH
oklch(79.6% 0.137 188.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3885 0.8345 0.8011)
HSV
hsv(177, 94%, 85%)
LAB
lab(78.22% -45.31 -6.98)
LCH
lch(78.22% 45.84 188.76)
CMYK
cmyk(94%, 0%, 5%, 15%)

Etymology

Vivid
adjective

From the Latin vividus, full of life — used as a color modifier since the late sixteenth century for hues that read as luminous and saturated. Vivid red, vivid blue: the implication is that the color appears almost lit from within, with the optical brightness of a high-chroma surface in good light. Sits at the bright-bucket center alongside bright and electric.

Clan
modifier

Scottish-Gaelic clann, children / family. As a color modifier, clan implies a Highland-Scottish-kinship quality, the visual register of Scottish-Highland-Clan Highland-and-Lowland hand-woven tartan-and-kilt-and-broadsword clan-and-kinship surfaces under Highland-Scottish-clan tartan-and-kilt-and-pipe-band Highland-pasture light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to tribe and kin 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.

#0cd8cd
Original
#cbcccd
Protanopia
#b3bacf
Deuteranopia
#00ded4
Tritanopia
#acacac
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
1.79:1
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
11.72:1

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
##0CD8CD
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3885 0.8345 0.8011)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.137

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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