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Clear Agua

#81cdaf
Notes

Clear Agua (#81CDAF) is a true teal 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 (156°, 43%, 65%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary magenta. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#81cdaf
RGB
rgb(129, 205, 175)
HSL
hsl(156, 43%, 65%)
HWB
hwb(156 51% 20%)
OKLCH
oklch(79.0% 0.088 167.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.5739 0.7963 0.6931)
HSV
hsv(156, 37%, 80%)
LAB
lab(76.93% -30.25 7.55)
LCH
lch(76.93% 31.17 165.98)
CMYK
cmyk(37%, 0%, 15%, 20%)

Etymology

Clear
adjective

From the Latin clarus, bright, distinct — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues without haze or mixing. Clear blue sky, clear green water: the implication is moderate saturation combined with optical clarity. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside clean and true.

Agua
noun

The Spanish word for water — used in agua fresca, agua marina (sea water), and the pale blue-green tile of Andalusian fountains. The color refers to a Sevillian agua-tile fountain: a soft, slightly cool pale blue-green with the high gloss of fired Andalusian ceramic.

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.

#81cdaf
Original
#cac3ae
Protanopia
#bdbab1
Deuteranopia
#6dcec4
Tritanopia
#bbbbbb
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
1.86:1
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
11.28:1

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
##81CDAF
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.5739 0.7963 0.6931)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.088

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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