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Cerulean Core Vivid
Color detail

Cerulean Core Vivid

Blue · Hue 190
Metrics
S 74% · L 48%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white2.4:1Failon black8.8:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cerulean Core Vivid (#20B7D5) belongs to the blue family — hue 190°, 74% saturation, 48% lightness. Copy the hex, RGB, or HSL value above, or paste the CSS custom property below into your stylesheet to reference this color directly.

CSS
:root {
  --colorarchive-cerulean-core-vivid: #20B7D5;
  --colorarchive-cerulean-core-vivid-hsl: hsl(190, 74%, 48%);
  --colorarchive-cerulean-core-vivid-rgb: rgb(32, 183, 213);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Design Context

ProfessionalReliableFocused
Common in

Banking · Insurance · Enterprise Software

Pairs well with

White for clean authority, light orange for warm contrast, dark navy for depth

Design tip

The backbone of business interfaces. Use for primary actions and navigation. Blue links are the web's universal convention.

Cultural context ▶

Blue is the world's most popular color. It represents trust, competence, and stability across virtually all cultures.

Color Origins

Blue family

The most-loved color on the planet, and the most overused.

Heritage

Blue is one of the hardest colors for nature to make with pigment — and, historically, one of the most expensive to paint with. Ultramarine, ground from lapis lazuli mined in Afghanistan, could cost as much as gold in Renaissance Europe; Vermeer used it lavishly. Egyptian blue (the first synthetic pigment, ~3000 BCE) was lost for centuries and rediscovered in the 19th. Prussian blue (1704) quickly gave painters a cheap alternative to ultramarine; Yves Klein's IKB (1960) re-aristocratized blue.

Across cultures

In ancient Egypt blue was the color of the Nile and the heavens — sacred, protective. In China blue-and-white porcelain (qinghua) defined export ceramics for centuries. In Mediterranean traditions blue wards off the evil eye. In America, IBM's blue logo helped earn it the nickname 'Big Blue'; in Japan, indigo (ai) is the centuries-old workwear dye that became the ground tone of an entire textile tradition. Across the world blue is consistently rated the most-liked color — in one ten-country survey it led every other color by 8 to 18 points.

In the wild

Mark Zuckerberg has said Facebook is blue because he is red-green colorblind. Levi's blue is the natural color of indigo on cotton. Twitter Blue (#1DA1F2) defined social-media blue for years before the 2023 rebrand to X scrapped it. The blue checkmark, the blue link, the blue 'send' button — blue has become the default color of digital trust, to the point of being a UX cliché.

How it reads

Blue tends to recede — the eye focuses blue light slightly in front of the retina, which can make blue elements feel deep or distant. It reads as trustworthy, calm, corporate, and (at the cool end) cold. Light blues read airy and clinical; mid blues are the default for tech and finance; deep blues read as luxurious or naval. The omnipresence of blue in software is real: most enterprise UIs reach for it because it offends the fewest stakeholders, which is also the reason it can feel like the absence of a real choice.

This particular tone

A vivid mid-tone — distinctive enough to anchor an identity, saturated enough to demand a quiet supporting palette.

Lightness band: At mid-lightness the hue carries its full character. This is the band where many identity colors live: bright enough to be distinctive at small sizes, deep enough to sit cleanly on a white canvas.

Saturation band: At this saturation the color is doing work. It reads as a brand statement, a sport accessory, or a UI signal. It should be used in small, deliberate doses against quieter neighbors; large fields at this saturation will exhaust the eye.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #20B7D5.

  • Figmaprimary
    Figma Blue · #1ABCFE
    →
  • Slackaccent
    Slack Blue · #36C5F0
    →
  • Canvaprimary
    Canva Cyan · #00C4CC
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #20B7D5.

  • AustraliaReef Turquoise
    #3FBFB9 · Whitsunday lagoons
    →
  • Turkey (Istanbul)Bosphorus Turquoise
    #4DA8AC · Marmara strait water
    →
  • China (Traditional)Jade Green (碧玉)
    #5F9EA0 · Hetian and Burmese jadeite
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using blue and color in design.

Color PsychologyBlue Color Psychology in Branding: Why Every Bank and Tech Giant Chooses BlueHistoryIndigo: The Color That Built Trade Routes and Made Blue CheapColor PsychologyRestaurant Interior Color Guide: How Color Affects Appetite, Dwell Time, and Dining Experience

Tonal strip

All lightness levels at this hue and saturation. Click any to navigate.

Palette moves

Instead of stopping at one swatch, use nearby, opposite, and tonal neighbors to branch into a broader palette.

Lighter companion
Cerulean Radiant Vivid
#33C4E1 · hsl(190, 74%, 54%)
Darker companion
Cerulean Velvet Vivid
#1CA0BA · hsl(190, 74%, 42%)
Complementary counterpoint
Ruby Core Vivid
#D53E20 · hsl(10, 74%, 48%)
Analogous lead
Sapphire Core Vivid
#207AD5 · hsl(210, 74%, 48%)
Analogous echo
Lagoon Core Vivid
#20D5B7 · hsl(170, 74%, 48%)
Triadic +120°
Peony Core Vivid
#D520B7 · hsl(310, 74%, 48%)
Triadic +240°
Honey Core Vivid
#B7D520 · hsl(70, 74%, 48%)
Split-comp +150°
Garnet Core Vivid
#D5205C · hsl(340, 74%, 48%)
Split-comp +210°
Apricot Core Vivid
#D59920 · hsl(40, 74%, 48%)
Export preview
Base: Cerulean Core Vivid #20B7D5
Lighter companion: Cerulean Radiant Vivid #33C4E1
Darker companion: Cerulean Velvet Vivid #1CA0BA
Complementary counterpoint: Ruby Core Vivid #D53E20
Analogous lead: Sapphire Core Vivid #207AD5
Analogous echo: Lagoon Core Vivid #20D5B7
Triadic +120°: Peony Core Vivid #D520B7
Triadic +240°: Honey Core Vivid #B7D520
Split-comp +150°: Garnet Core Vivid #D5205C
Split-comp +210°: Apricot Core Vivid #D59920

Compare

See how Cerulean Core Vivid compares side by side with related colors.

vsCerulean Radiant VividvsCerulean Velvet VividvsRuby Core VividvsSapphire Core VividvsLagoon Core VividvsPeony Core Vivid

Nearest neighbors

The closest archive matches by hue, saturation, and lightness.

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cerulean Velvet Vivid
#1CA0BA · hsl(190, 74%, 42%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Radiant Vivid
#33C4E1 · hsl(190, 74%, 54%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Core Bright
#14BFE1 · hsl(190, 84%, 48%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Core Pure
#0AC5EB · hsl(190, 92%, 48%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Tone Vivid
#4ECBE4 · hsl(190, 74%, 60%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Velvet Bright
#11A7C5 · hsl(190, 84%, 42%)

Accessible pairings

Archive colors that meet WCAG contrast standards when paired with this color. Use as text-on-background or background-on-text.

Contrast checker
AAA7.1:1
Crimson Ink Clear
#371010
AAA7:1
Crimson Ink Vivid
#3E0909
AAA7:1
Crimson Ink Bright
#420606
AAA7:1
Merlot Ink Clear
#371017
AAA7:1
Merlot Ink Vivid
#3E0912
AAA7:1
Merlot Ink Bright
#420610

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#786DCD
Protanopia
#7F80CE
Tritanopia
#36C9C7
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Cerulean Core Faint#6E8387 · hsl(190, 10%, 48%)Cerulean Core Muted#648990 · hsl(190, 18%, 48%)Cerulean Core Dust#5B909A · hsl(190, 26%, 48%)Cerulean Core Soft#5196A4 · hsl(190, 34%, 48%)Cerulean Core Clear#38A6BC · hsl(190, 54%, 48%)Cerulean Core Vivid#20B7D5 · hsl(190, 74%, 48%)Cerulean Core Bright#14BFE1 · hsl(190, 84%, 48%)Cerulean Core Pure#0AC5EB · hsl(190, 92%, 48%)
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