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Plain Chambray

#30b8b3
Notes

Plain Chambray (#30B8B3) is a true cyan with a cool character. It leans cool, sitting on the blue, green, and violet side of the wheel. Quiet and dependable, a fit for product UI and data visualization. Its HSL profile (178°, 59%, 45%) 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
#30b8b3
RGB
rgb(48, 184, 179)
HSL
hsl(178, 59%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(178 19% 28%)
OKLCH
oklch(71.2% 0.112 191.2)
HSV
hsv(178, 74%, 72%)
LAB
lab(68.14% -36.06 -7.79)
LCH
lch(68.14% 36.89 192.19)
CMYK
cmyk(74%, 0%, 3%, 28%)

Etymology

Plain
adjective

Latin planus, flat, level — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues that read as undecorated and direct. Plain white, plain blue: moderate saturation, no shift, no surface effect. Sits in the crisp-bucket center, with the implication of restraint rather than absence.

Chambray
noun

A lightweight cotton fabric woven with a colored warp and white weft — producing a soft chambray-blue characteristic of summer workwear and cambric dressmaking. The color refers to a freshly woven chambray shirt before any wash: a soft, slightly muted deep blue with the satin finish of fine cotton-and-indigo weave.

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.

#30b8b3
Original
#adaeb3
Protanopia
#99a0b4
Deuteranopia
#00bdb6
Tritanopia
#9b9b9b
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
2.43:1
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
8.63:1

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