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Surveyed Plasma Ocean

#53e7f8
Notes

Surveyed Plasma Ocean (#53E7F8) 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 (186°, 92%, 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
#53e7f8
RGB
rgb(83, 231, 248)
HSL
hsl(186, 92%, 65%)
HWB
hwb(186 33% 3%)
OKLCH
oklch(85.7% 0.125 206.0)
HSV
hsv(186, 67%, 97%)
LAB
lab(84.88% -33.67 -19.77)
LCH
lch(84.88% 39.04 210.41)
CMYK
cmyk(67%, 7%, 0%, 3%)

Etymology

Surveyed
adjective

Old French surveer, to look upon — past-participle of survey. As a color modifier, surveyed implies a clear-and-measured-and-coordinated quality, the crisp color of Mason-Dixon-Line-and-Royal-Navy-Hydrographic scientific-and-cadastral land-and-sea surveying tradition. Sits at the crisp-and-mapped end of the grid, parallel to mapped and plotted in usage.

Plasma
modifier

Greek πλάσμα, something-molded-or-formed. As a color modifier, plasma implies an ionized-and-fourth-state-and-stellar-glow quality, the visual register of solar-corona-and-fluorescent-plasma hand-ionized-and-fourth-state-and-stellar-glow solar-corona-and-fluorescent-and-neon-tube plasma-and-ionized-and-fourth-state surfaces under solar-corona-and-fluorescent-and-neon-tube laboratory-and-stellar-and-aurora ionized-glow-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to corona and nova in usage.

Ocean
noun

The body of saltwater that covers seventy percent of Earth's surface — a single connected mass divided by convention into Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Southern, and Arctic. The color refers to the average reflectance of mid-depth temperate ocean: a saturated, slightly green-shifted deep blue with the optical depth of a body of water that absorbs all light below the photic zone. Deeper than mediterranean, cooler than peacock.

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.

#53e7f8
Original
#d5def9
Protanopia
#bcccf8
Deuteranopia
#00f1ec
Tritanopia
#c9c9c9
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
1.48:1
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
14.15:1

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