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Charged Ageratum

#42b1fc
Notes

Charged Ageratum (#42B1FC) is a true azure 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 (204°, 97%, 62%) 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 orange. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#42b1fc
RGB
rgb(66, 177, 252)
HSL
hsl(204, 97%, 62%)
HWB
hwb(204 26% 1%)
OKLCH
oklch(73.1% 0.147 242.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3854 0.6850 0.9636)
HSV
hsv(204, 74%, 99%)
LAB
lab(69.20% -7.06 -46.10)
LCH
lch(69.20% 46.64 261.29)
CMYK
cmyk(74%, 30%, 0%, 1%)

Etymology

Charged
adjective

Old French chargier, to load — past-participle of charge, sharing root with cargo. As a color modifier, charged implies a saturated-and-electrically-loaded quality where the hue carries visual potential-energy. Sits at the bright-and-active end of the grid, parallel to electrified and energetic in usage.

Ageratum
noun

The genus Ageratumfloss flower, the small Mexican-and-Caribbean composite-family annual with fluffy blue button-flowers. The color refers to a fresh A. houstonianum in summer bedding: a soft, slightly cool deep blue with the matte finish of small clustered ray-florets.

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.

#42b1fc
Original
#8eb3ff
Protanopia
#75a1fb
Deuteranopia
#00c3cb
Tritanopia
#9f9f9f
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
2.35:1
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
8.93:1

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
##42B1FC
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3854 0.6850 0.9636)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.147

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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