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Pellucid Mariner

#48a4bd
Notes

Pellucid Mariner (#48A4BD) is a true cyan with a cool character. It leans cool, sitting on the blue, green, and violet side of the wheel. Quiet and dependable, a fit for product UI and data visualization. Its HSL profile (193°, 47%, 51%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. 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
#48a4bd
RGB
rgb(72, 164, 189)
HSL
hsl(193, 47%, 51%)
HWB
hwb(193 28% 26%)
OKLCH
oklch(67.3% 0.094 218.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3799 0.6351 0.7296)
HSV
hsv(193, 62%, 74%)
LAB
lab(63.01% -19.65 -21.01)
LCH
lch(63.01% 28.77 226.91)
CMYK
cmyk(62%, 13%, 0%, 26%)

Etymology

Pellucid
adjective

Latin pellūcidus, transparent — derived from per-lūcēre (to shine through). As a color modifier, pellucid implies a clear-and-translucent quality where the hue reads with optical clarity and minimal turbidity. Sits at the crisp-and-clear end of the grid, parallel to lucid and translucent in usage.

Mariner
noun

One who sails the sea — from the Latin mare. As a color name, mariner refers to the deep navy-and-cyan of traditional naval and merchant-marine uniforms: a saturated, slightly muted blue with the matte finish of dyed wool. Cooler than navy, warmer than ocean, with the maritime-uniform association of a word that always implies a working boat rather than a recreational one.

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.

#48a4bd
Original
#94a0be
Protanopia
#8393bd
Deuteranopia
#00adac
Tritanopia
#929292
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
2.87:1
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
7.32:1

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
##48A4BD
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3799 0.6351 0.7296)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.094

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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