colors
Back to gallery

Spectral Galway

#32e5fd
Notes

Spectral Galway (#32E5FD) 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 (187°, 98%, 59%) 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
#32e5fd
RGB
rgb(50, 229, 253)
HSL
hsl(187, 98%, 59%)
HWB
hwb(187 20% 1%)
OKLCH
oklch(84.7% 0.138 209.0)
HSV
hsv(187, 80%, 99%)
LAB
lab(83.86% -34.90 -23.99)
LCH
lch(83.86% 42.35 214.51)
CMYK
cmyk(80%, 9%, 0%, 1%)

Etymology

Spectral
adjective

Latin spectrum, appearance — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, spectral implies a saturated-and-rainbow-decomposed-and-pure quality, the bright color of Newton-prism sunlight-decomposed seven-color spectrum band. Sits at the bright-and-pure end of the grid, parallel to prismatic and pure in usage.

Galway
noun

The western Irish county — and the deep blue of Galway Bay and the saturated blue of the Aran Islands-and-Cliffs of Moher coastline. Galway color refers to Galway Bay at midday: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the optical depth of cold Atlantic-Irish coastal water.

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.

#32e5fd
Original
#d0dcfe
Protanopia
#b5c9fd
Deuteranopia
#00f0ec
Tritanopia
#c1c1c1
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
1.53:1
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
13.76:1

Related Colors

Canvas