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Vibrant Gabardine

#53b9fe
Notes

Vibrant Gabardine (#53B9FE) is a true azure 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 (204°, 99%, 66%) 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
#53b9fe
RGB
rgb(83, 185, 254)
HSL
hsl(204, 99%, 66%)
HWB
hwb(204 33% 0%)
OKLCH
oklch(75.5% 0.137 241.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.4331 0.7165 0.9727)
HSV
hsv(204, 67%, 100%)
LAB
lab(72.02% -8.49 -42.74)
LCH
lch(72.02% 43.57 258.76)
CMYK
cmyk(67%, 27%, 0%, 0%)

Etymology

Vibrant
adjective

From the Latin vibrare, to shake — used as a color word since the seventeenth century for hues that read as alive and resonant. Vibrant orange, vibrant green: the implication is saturation combined with the optical impression of slight motion or energy. Sits at the bright-bucket center alongside vivid and lively.

Gabardine
noun

A tightly woven worsted-wool twill — invented by Thomas Burberry in 1879 — used for the original Burberry trench coat and military waterproof outerwear. Gabardine color refers to a classic Burberry-blue gabardine: a soft, slightly cool deep blue-gray with the matte finish of tightly woven twill.

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.

#53b9fe
Original
#99baff
Protanopia
#82a9fd
Deuteranopia
#00cad1
Tritanopia
#a8a8a8
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
2.16:1
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
9.74:1

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
##53B9FE
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.4331 0.7165 0.9727)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.137

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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