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Bright Galapagos

#46f9e5
Notes

Bright Galapagos (#46F9E5) is a true teal 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 (173°, 94%, 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 red. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#46f9e5
RGB
rgb(70, 249, 229)
HSL
hsl(173, 94%, 63%)
HWB
hwb(173 27% 2%)
OKLCH
oklch(89.0% 0.143 183.9)
HSV
hsv(173, 72%, 98%)
LAB
lab(89.25% -48.61 -3.31)
LCH
lch(89.25% 48.73 183.89)
CMYK
cmyk(72%, 0%, 8%, 2%)

Etymology

Bright
adjective

Old English beorht, shining, luminous — cognate with the German Bracht, splendor. Applied to color since at least the medieval period for hues that read as luminous: not just light in value but optically active, as if scattering more light back than a dimmer color of the same lightness would. Sits at the bright-bucket center alongside vivid and brilliant.

Galapagos
noun

The Ecuadorian volcanic archipelago — Darwin's evolutionary laboratory — and the saturated blue-green of Galapagos lagoon water at Bartolomé Island. Galapagos refers to the cove at Bartolomé: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the optical clarity of cold Pacific upwelling waters.

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

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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.

#46f9e5
Original
#edebe4
Protanopia
#d4d9e7
Deuteranopia
#00fef3
Tritanopia
#d2d2d2
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
1.32:1
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
15.94:1

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