colors
Back to gallery

Plumb Lesbos

#5aeae5
Notes

Plumb Lesbos (#5AEAE5) 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 (178°, 77%, 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
#5aeae5
RGB
rgb(90, 234, 229)
HSL
hsl(178, 77%, 64%)
HWB
hwb(178 35% 8%)
OKLCH
oklch(85.9% 0.122 191.9)
HSV
hsv(178, 62%, 92%)
LAB
lab(85.34% -39.25 -9.05)
LCH
lch(85.34% 40.28 192.98)
CMYK
cmyk(62%, 0%, 2%, 8%)

Etymology

Plumb
adjective

Latin plumbum, lead — referring to the lead-weighted plumb-line of pre-modern carpentry. As a color modifier, plumb implies a clear-and-vertical-true quality where the hue carries the visual register of gravity-aligned-and-perfectly-vertical surface. Sits at the crisp-and-balanced end of the grid, parallel to level and squared in usage.

Lesbos
noun

The Greek island in the eastern Aegean — and the saturated deep blue of Lesbos's Petrified Forest coastline and Sigri harbor. Lesbos color refers to the harbor water at sunset: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the optical depth of warm Aegean coastal 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.

#5aeae5
Original
#dddfe5
Protanopia
#c6cee6
Deuteranopia
#00f0e8
Tritanopia
#cbcbcb
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
1.46:1
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
14.34:1

Related Colors

Canvas