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Cool Bahamas

#56dde9
Notes

Cool Bahamas (#56DDE9) is a true cyan with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (185°, 77%, 63%) 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
#56dde9
RGB
rgb(86, 221, 233)
HSL
hsl(185, 77%, 63%)
HWB
hwb(185 34% 9%)
OKLCH
oklch(82.9% 0.117 203.5)
HSV
hsv(185, 63%, 91%)
LAB
lab(81.60% -32.76 -16.76)
LCH
lch(81.60% 36.80 207.09)
CMYK
cmyk(63%, 5%, 0%, 9%)

Etymology

Cool
adjective

Old English cōl, of low temperature — used as a color modifier as the complement to warm. Cool gray, cool blue: the optical impression of a slight blue-green shift, even within otherwise warm or neutral hues. Sits across the crisp, hushed, pale, and neutral buckets.

Bahamas
noun

The Atlantic archipelago — and the saturated turquoise of Bahamian Pink Sands Beach shallows at Harbour Island and the cyan-blue of Exuma Cays lagoon water. Bahamas color refers to a Bahamian shallow-water lagoon at midday: a saturated, slightly cool bright blue-green with the optical clarity of warm Caribbean 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

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.

#56dde9
Original
#cdd4ea
Protanopia
#b7c4ea
Deuteranopia
#00e5e0
Tritanopia
#c1c1c1
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
1.63:1
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
12.91:1

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