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Cerulean Silk Vivid
Color detail

Cerulean Silk Vivid

Blue · Hue 190
Metrics
S 74% · L 68%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white1.7:1Failon black12.5:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cerulean Silk Vivid (#71D6EA) belongs to the blue family — hue 190°, 74% saturation, 68% 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-silk-vivid: #71D6EA;
  --colorarchive-cerulean-silk-vivid-hsl: hsl(190, 74%, 68%);
  --colorarchive-cerulean-silk-vivid-rgb: rgb(113, 214, 234);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

SereneTrustworthyClean
Common in

Social Media · Cloud Storage · Baby Products

Pairs well with

Light gray for tech minimalism, peach for friendly warmth

Design tip

The default choice for tech and social platforms for good reason. Light blue backgrounds reduce anxiety and increase trust.

Cultural context ▶

Light blue represents peace, sky, and openness. It's the most universally liked color, making it safe for global brands.

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 #71D6EA.

  • Slackaccent
    Slack Blue · #36C5F0
    →
  • Supabaseprimary
    Supabase Green · #3ECF8E
    →
  • Discordaccent
    Online Green · #57F287
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #71D6EA.

  • IcelandGlacial Cyan
    #75BBC1 · Vatnajökull ice cave light
    →
  • ScandinaviaIittala Blue
    #A6CEDB · Aalto vase glassware (1936-)
    →
  • MoroccoChefchaouen Blue
    #7BAFD4 · Painted medina walls (Rif mountains)
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using blue and color in design.

HistoryIndigo: The Color That Built Trade Routes and Made Blue CheapBrand & MarketingTechnology Brand Color Design: Trust, Intelligence, and the Blue ProblemColor PsychologyColor and Memory: How Color Improves Learning and Information Recall

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 Bloom Vivid
#95E0EF · hsl(190, 74%, 76%)
Darker companion
Cerulean Tone Vivid
#4ECBE4 · hsl(190, 74%, 60%)
Complementary counterpoint
Ruby Silk Vivid
#EA8571 · hsl(10, 74%, 68%)
Analogous lead
Sapphire Silk Vivid
#71ADEA · hsl(210, 74%, 68%)
Analogous echo
Lagoon Silk Vivid
#71EAD6 · hsl(170, 74%, 68%)
Triadic +120°
Peony Silk Vivid
#EA71D6 · hsl(310, 74%, 68%)
Triadic +240°
Honey Silk Vivid
#D6EA71 · hsl(70, 74%, 68%)
Split-comp +150°
Garnet Silk Vivid
#EA7199 · hsl(340, 74%, 68%)
Split-comp +210°
Apricot Silk Vivid
#EAC271 · hsl(40, 74%, 68%)
Export preview
Base: Cerulean Silk Vivid #71D6EA
Lighter companion: Cerulean Bloom Vivid #95E0EF
Darker companion: Cerulean Tone Vivid #4ECBE4
Complementary counterpoint: Ruby Silk Vivid #EA8571
Analogous lead: Sapphire Silk Vivid #71ADEA
Analogous echo: Lagoon Silk Vivid #71EAD6
Triadic +120°: Peony Silk Vivid #EA71D6
Triadic +240°: Honey Silk Vivid #D6EA71
Split-comp +150°: Garnet Silk Vivid #EA7199
Split-comp +210°: Apricot Silk Vivid #EAC271

Compare

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

vsCerulean Bloom VividvsCerulean Tone VividvsRuby Silk VividvsSapphire Silk VividvsLagoon Silk VividvsPeony Silk Vivid

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cerulean Silk Bright
#69DBF2 · hsl(190, 84%, 68%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Tone Vivid
#4ECBE4 · hsl(190, 74%, 60%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Bloom Vivid
#95E0EF · hsl(190, 74%, 76%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Silk Pure
#62DFF8 · hsl(190, 92%, 68%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Silk Clear
#81CBD9 · hsl(190, 54%, 68%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Radiant Vivid
#33C4E1 · hsl(190, 74%, 54%)

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
AAA7.7:1
Ruby Nocturne Faint
#38302E
AAA7.8:1
Ruby Nocturne Muted
#3C2D2A
AAA7.9:1
Ruby Nocturne Dust
#402A26
AAA8:1
Ruby Nocturne Soft
#442722
AAA8:1
Ruby Nocturne Clear
#4F2117
AAA7.9:1
Ruby Nocturne Vivid
#591A0D

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#A199E4
Protanopia
#A7A8E5
Tritanopia
#79E2E1
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Cerulean Silk Faint#A5B3B6 · hsl(190, 10%, 68%)Cerulean Silk Muted#9FB7BC · hsl(190, 18%, 68%)Cerulean Silk Dust#98BCC3 · hsl(190, 26%, 68%)Cerulean Silk Soft#92C0C9 · hsl(190, 34%, 68%)Cerulean Silk Clear#81CBD9 · hsl(190, 54%, 68%)Cerulean Silk Vivid#71D6EA · hsl(190, 74%, 68%)Cerulean Silk Bright#69DBF2 · hsl(190, 84%, 68%)Cerulean Silk Pure#62DFF8 · hsl(190, 92%, 68%)
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