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Candid Shade Lazuli

#21b8b2
Notes

Candid Shade Lazuli (#21B8B2) is a true cyan with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (178°, 70%, 43%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. 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
#21b8b2
RGB
rgb(33, 184, 178)
HSL
hsl(178, 70%, 43%)
HWB
hwb(178 13% 28%)
OKLCH
oklch(70.9% 0.117 190.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3451 0.7111 0.6946)
HSV
hsv(178, 82%, 72%)
LAB
lab(67.88% -37.83 -7.64)
LCH
lch(67.88% 38.59 191.42)
CMYK
cmyk(82%, 0%, 3%, 28%)

Etymology

Candid
adjective

Latin candidus, bright-white / honest — derived from candēre (to shine). As a color modifier, candid implies a clear-and-honest-and-direct quality where the hue carries the visual register of straightforward-honest declaration. Sits at the crisp-and-honest end of the grid, parallel to frank and plainspoken in usage.

Shade
modifier

Old English sceadu, shadow-or-shelter. As a color modifier, shade implies a sheltered-and-cool-and-shadowed quality, the visual register of Tuscan-cypress-and-Provençal-plane-tree-shade hand-sheltered-and-cool-and-shadowed Tuscan-cypress-and-Provençal-plane-tree-and-English-yew shaded-and-sheltered-and-cool surfaces under Tuscan-cypress-and-Provençal-plane-tree-and-English-yew dappled-and-cool-and-filtered afternoon-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to shadow and gloam in usage.

Lazuli
noun

Passerina amoena, the lazuli bunting — a North American songbird whose males display saturated deep-blue plumage with white wing bars and chestnut breasts. Named for the gemstone (lapis lazuli) the bird's plumage resembles. The color refers to a male lazuli bunting in breeding plumage: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue.

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.

#21b8b2
Original
#adaeb2
Protanopia
#999fb3
Deuteranopia
#00bdb6
Tritanopia
#979797
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
2.45:1
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
8.56:1

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
##21B8B2
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3451 0.7111 0.6946)
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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