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Radiant Cosmos

#45b4fb
Notes

Radiant Cosmos (#45B4FB) 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 (203°, 96%, 63%) 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
#45b4fb
RGB
rgb(69, 180, 251)
HSL
hsl(203, 96%, 63%)
HWB
hwb(203 27% 2%)
OKLCH
oklch(73.8% 0.143 241.0)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3958 0.6967 0.9605)
HSV
hsv(203, 73%, 98%)
LAB
lab(70.08% -8.68 -44.17)
LCH
lch(70.08% 45.02 258.88)
CMYK
cmyk(73%, 28%, 0%, 2%)

Etymology

Radiant
adjective

From the Latin radiare, to emit rays — used as a color word since the seventeenth century for hues that read as luminous and emitting. Radiant gold, radiant pink: the implication is high luminance combined with the optical impression of an outward light. Sits in the bright-bucket center alongside glowing.

Cosmos
noun

The Greek word for order — used in classical philosophy for the ordered universe and in modern English for the deep-space sky beyond Earth's atmosphere. Cosmos color refers to a long-exposure deep-space photograph: a saturated, slightly cool very deep blue with the optical depth of unfiltered upper-atmospheric scattering.

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.

#45b4fb
Original
#93b5fe
Protanopia
#7aa4fa
Deuteranopia
#00c6cd
Tritanopia
#a2a2a2
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
2.29:1
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
9.17:1

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
##45B4FB
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3958 0.6967 0.9605)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.143

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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