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Aqua Silk Clear
Color detail

Aqua Silk Clear

Teal · Hue 180
Hex
#81D9D9
RGB
rgb(129, 217, 217)
HSL
hsl(180, 54%, 68%)
CMYK
cmyk(41%, 0%, 0%, 15%)
Metrics
S 54% · L 68%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
1.6:1Fail
on black
12.9:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Aqua Silk Clear (#81D9D9) belongs to the teal family — hue 180°, 54% 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-aqua-silk-clear: #81D9D9;
  --colorarchive-aqua-silk-clear-hsl: hsl(180, 54%, 68%);
  --colorarchive-aqua-silk-clear-rgb: rgb(129, 217, 217);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

RefreshingModernClear
Common in

SaaS · Cloud Services · Interior Design

Pairs well with

Coral for playful energy, light gray for modern minimalism

Design tip

Ideal for tech product interfaces. Light teal works as a primary brand color that feels both professional and approachable.

Cultural context ▶

Light teal blends the calm of blue with the renewal of green. Associated with clear water, clarity, and modern thinking.

Color Origins

Teal family

The hue of patina, lagoons, and modern surgery.

Heritage

Teal — the blue-green range — is named after the Eurasian teal duck, whose wing patches sit at exactly this hue. Egyptian blue and Egyptian green, both made from copper-calcium silicate around 2,500 BCE, sit in this region. The patina of weathered copper (the Statue of Liberty's color) is teal because copper carbonate forms there; Bacon's verdigris is the same chemistry. Phthalo turquoise and cobalt teal are 20th-century pigments.

Across cultures

In Persian and Central Asian Islamic architecture, teal-turquoise tile work is iconic — the domes of Samarkand and Isfahan are unmistakable. In ancient Egypt, faience (a kind of glazed ceramic in this color) was associated with the Nile, fertility, and rebirth. In the American Southwest, teal-turquoise is so deeply associated with Navajo and Pueblo silverwork that the color reads 'desert' there.

In the wild

Hospital scrubs are teal because it's the perceptual complement of red blood — staring at red and then looking away produces a green-teal afterimage, and matching the scrubs to that afterimage reduces eye fatigue. Tiffany's blue is a calibrated teal, trademarked as PMS 1837 (their founding year). Most Pixar films grade their shadows toward teal because warm skin against cool shadow is the most legible cinematographic combination. The Apple Watch SE, the Surface Pro, and the new Macs all use teal as a 'calming-but-modern' accent.

How it reads

Teal sits at one of the visually quietest points of the spectrum — it neither advances (like red) nor recedes (like blue). It reads as competent, calm, and slightly clinical; it's the dominant accent color in healthcare and trust-led fintech for that reason. At low saturation it becomes a duck-egg or seafoam, soft and Scandinavian. At high saturation it becomes electric or tropical. Teal pairs particularly well with warm earth tones (terracotta, clay, beige).

This particular tone

A confident mid-tone — this is the workhorse register of the hue, and the band where most successful brand colors live.

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

Saturation band: The clear, mid-saturation register is the most common identity sweet spot — saturated enough to register as a 'real' color, restrained enough not to fight typography or photography placed over it.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #81D9D9.

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

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #81D9D9.

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

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
Aqua Bloom Clear
#A1E3E3 · hsl(180, 54%, 76%)
Darker companion
Aqua Tone Clear
#62D0D0 · hsl(180, 54%, 60%)
Complementary counterpoint
Crimson Silk Clear
#D98181 · hsl(0, 54%, 68%)
Analogous lead
Steel Silk Clear
#81B5D9 · hsl(205, 54%, 68%)
Analogous echo
Teal Silk Clear
#81D9BC · hsl(160, 54%, 68%)
Triadic +120°
Fuchsia Silk Clear
#D981D9 · hsl(300, 54%, 68%)
Triadic +240°
Citrine Silk Clear
#D9D981 · hsl(60, 54%, 68%)
Split-comp +150°
Blush Silk Clear
#D981AD · hsl(330, 54%, 68%)
Split-comp +210°
Coral Silk Clear
#D9AD81 · hsl(30, 54%, 68%)
Export preview
Base: Aqua Silk Clear #81D9D9
Lighter companion: Aqua Bloom Clear #A1E3E3
Darker companion: Aqua Tone Clear #62D0D0
Complementary counterpoint: Crimson Silk Clear #D98181
Analogous lead: Steel Silk Clear #81B5D9
Analogous echo: Teal Silk Clear #81D9BC
Triadic +120°: Fuchsia Silk Clear #D981D9
Triadic +240°: Citrine Silk Clear #D9D981
Split-comp +150°: Blush Silk Clear #D981AD
Split-comp +210°: Coral Silk Clear #D9AD81

Compare

See how Aqua Silk Clear compares side by side with related colors.

vsAqua Bloom ClearvsAqua Tone ClearvsCrimson Silk ClearvsSteel Silk ClearvsTeal Silk ClearvsFuchsia Silk Clear

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cyan Silk Clear
#81D9D2 · hsl(175, 54%, 68%)
Nearby match
Aqua Tone Clear
#62D0D0 · hsl(180, 54%, 60%)
Nearby match
Aqua Bloom Clear
#A1E3E3 · hsl(180, 54%, 76%)
Nearby match
Aqua Silk Soft
#92C9C9 · hsl(180, 34%, 68%)
Nearby match
Aqua Silk Vivid
#71EAEA · hsl(180, 74%, 68%)
Nearby match
Aqua Radiant Clear
#4AC9C9 · hsl(180, 54%, 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
AAA8:1
Crimson Nocturne Faint
#382E2E
AAA8.3:1
Crimson Nocturne Muted
#3C2A2A
AAA8.4:1
Crimson Nocturne Dust
#402626
AAA8.6:1
Crimson Nocturne Soft
#442222
AAA8.8:1
Crimson Nocturne Clear
#4F1717
AAA8.6:1
Crimson Nocturne Vivid
#590D0D

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#A9A2D9
Protanopia
#AEAFD9
Tritanopia
#87D9D9
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