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Buttoned Limpid

#51d5f7
Notes

Buttoned Limpid (#51D5F7) 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 (192°, 91%, 64%) 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
#51d5f7
RGB
rgb(81, 213, 247)
HSL
hsl(192, 91%, 64%)
HWB
hwb(192 32% 3%)
OKLCH
oklch(81.4% 0.122 218.3)
HSV
hsv(192, 67%, 97%)
LAB
lab(79.64% -25.55 -27.20)
LCH
lch(79.64% 37.32 226.79)
CMYK
cmyk(67%, 14%, 0%, 3%)

Etymology

Buttoned
adjective

Old French bouton, button — past-participle of button. As a color modifier, buttoned implies a clear-and-fastened-and-formal quality, the crisp color of Edwardian-period formal-attire fully-fastened-and-formally-dressed gentleman's-attire. Sits at the crisp-and-finished end of the grid, parallel to trim and pressed in usage.

Limpid
noun

An adjectival noun meaning clear and untroubled — used for the soft pale-blue of perfectly transparent water. Limpid color refers to a limpid alpine lake at dawn before any wind: a soft, slightly cool pale blue with the optical clarity of unperturbed 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

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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.

#51d5f7
Original
#bfcff9
Protanopia
#a8bef7
Deuteranopia
#00e1e0
Tritanopia
#bbbbbb
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
1.72:1
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
12.21:1

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