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Level Larimar

#53dafa
Notes

Level Larimar (#53DAFA) 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 (191°, 94%, 65%) 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
#53dafa
RGB
rgb(83, 218, 250)
HSL
hsl(191, 94%, 65%)
HWB
hwb(191 33% 2%)
OKLCH
oklch(82.7% 0.123 216.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.4796 0.8438 0.9652)
HSV
hsv(191, 67%, 98%)
LAB
lab(81.22% -26.83 -26.37)
LCH
lch(81.22% 37.62 224.50)
CMYK
cmyk(67%, 13%, 0%, 2%)

Etymology

Level
adjective

Latin libella, small-balance / level-tool — sharing root with libra (balance). As a color modifier, level implies a clear-and-horizontal-true quality where the hue carries the visual register of gravity-perpendicular-and-perfectly-horizontal surface. Sits at the crisp-and-balanced end of the grid, parallel to plumb and flat in usage.

Larimar
noun

A blue variety of pectolite — a calcium-sodium silicate — found only in one mountain range in the Dominican Republic. Marketed as a gemstone since the 1970s and named after a Spanish word for the sea. The color refers to a polished larimar cabochon: a soft, slightly muted light blue with the cloudy translucency of pectolite. Lighter than aqua, warmer than glacier, with the gem-trade specificity of a stone that occurs in exactly one place on Earth.

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.

#53dafa
Original
#c5d4fc
Protanopia
#adc2fa
Deuteranopia
#00e5e4
Tritanopia
#c0c0c0
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
1.64:1
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
12.78:1

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
##53DAFA
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.4796 0.8438 0.9652)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.123

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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