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Sure Kyanite

#3aa5ae
Notes

Sure Kyanite (#3AA5AE) is a true cyan with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (185°, 50%, 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
#3aa5ae
RGB
rgb(58, 165, 174)
HSL
hsl(185, 50%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(185 23% 32%)
OKLCH
oklch(66.5% 0.096 203.1)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3519 0.6384 0.6751)
HSV
hsv(185, 67%, 68%)
LAB
lab(62.39% -27.06 -13.58)
LCH
lch(62.39% 30.28 206.66)
CMYK
cmyk(67%, 5%, 0%, 32%)

Etymology

Sure
adjective

Old French seur, certain — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues that read as confident and stable. Sure red, sure blue: moderate saturation combined with optical commitment. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside steady and true.

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.

#3aa5ae
Original
#989eaf
Protanopia
#8791ae
Deuteranopia
#00aba7
Tritanopia
#8f8f8f
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
2.93:1
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
7.17:1

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
##3AA5AE
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3519 0.6384 0.6751)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.096

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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