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Spotless Kyanite

#278bbb
Notes

Spotless Kyanite (#278BBB) 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 (199°, 65%, 44%) 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 orange. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#278bbb
RGB
rgb(39, 139, 187)
HSL
hsl(199, 65%, 44%)
HWB
hwb(199 15% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(60.3% 0.114 234.7)
HSV
hsv(199, 79%, 73%)
LAB
lab(54.53% -11.49 -33.04)
LCH
lch(54.53% 34.98 250.82)
CMYK
cmyk(79%, 26%, 0%, 27%)

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.

Kyanite
noun

An aluminum silicate mineral — named for the Greek kyanos (deep blue), the same root as cyan. Mined principally in Brazil, India, and the United States. The color refers to a polished Brazilian kyanite blade: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the satin finish of fibrous-bladed silicate.

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.

#278bbb
Original
#748abd
Protanopia
#607cba
Deuteranopia
#00989b
Tritanopia
#797979
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).
AA Largeon White
3.82:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAon Black
5.50:1

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