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Hot Bothnia

#42f2ea
Notes

Hot Bothnia (#42F2EA) 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 (177°, 87%, 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.

HEX
#42f2ea
RGB
rgb(66, 242, 234)
HSL
hsl(177, 87%, 60%)
HWB
hwb(177 26% 5%)
OKLCH
oklch(87.4% 0.138 190.3)
HSV
hsv(177, 73%, 95%)
LAB
lab(87.29% -44.72 -8.83)
LCH
lch(87.29% 45.58 191.17)
CMYK
cmyk(73%, 0%, 3%, 5%)

Etymology

Hot
adjective

Old English hāt, of high temperature — applied metaphorically to color since the eighteenth century for warm hues at high saturation. Hot pink, hot red: the implication is luminous intensity combined with thermal warmth. Sits in the bright-and-warm corner of the grid, alongside burning and vivid.

Bothnia
noun

The Gulf of Bothnia — the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland. Bothnia color refers to mid-depth Gulf of Bothnia water at midsummer: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the optical complexity of low-salinity high-latitude brackish 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.

#42f2ea
Original
#e4e5ea
Protanopia
#cbd3eb
Deuteranopia
#00f9ef
Tritanopia
#cccccc
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
1.39:1
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
15.12:1

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