Crisp Bluebird
Crisp Bluebird (#40C8F1) 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 (194°, 86%, 60%) 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.
Etymology
Latin crispus, curled — drifted in English from the curled hair sense to fresh and clean. As a color modifier, crisp implies saturation combined with optical clarity, with no haze or film between the eye and the surface. Used across the bright and crisp buckets where the hue is fresh-looking. Slightly less assertive than vivid.
The genus Sialia — North American bluebirds — particularly S. sialis (Eastern bluebird), whose males display saturated cobalt-blue plumage with rust-red breasts. The color refers to a male Eastern bluebird in breeding plumage: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the matte finish of structurally colored feathers.
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 exploreHarmonies
Accessibility
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.
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.