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Aqua Velvet Pure
Color detail

Aqua Velvet Pure

Teal · Hue 180
Hex
#09CECE
RGB
rgb(9, 206, 206)
HSL
hsl(180, 92%, 42%)
CMYK
cmyk(96%, 0%, 0%, 19%)
Metrics
S 92% · L 42%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
2:1Fail
on black
10.7:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Aqua Velvet Pure (#09CECE) belongs to the teal family — hue 180°, 92% saturation, 42% 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-velvet-pure: #09CECE;
  --colorarchive-aqua-velvet-pure-hsl: hsl(180, 92%, 42%);
  --colorarchive-aqua-velvet-pure-rgb: rgb(9, 206, 206);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

SophisticatedCreativeBalanced
Common in

Design Agencies · Healthcare Tech · Education

Pairs well with

Warm orange for complementary energy, dark slate for depth

Design tip

A versatile primary color for brands seeking to appear both creative and reliable. Works across light and dark themes.

Cultural context ▶

Teal balances emotional stability with mental clarity. It's associated with communication and healing in color therapy.

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 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 most 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 #09CECE.

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

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #09CECE.

  • AustraliaReef Turquoise
    #3FBFB9 · Whitsunday lagoons
    →
  • Turkey (Istanbul)Bosphorus Turquoise
    #4DA8AC · Marmara strait water
    →
  • IrelandCeltic Cross Green
    #169B62 · Irish flag — Pantone 347
    →

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 Core Pure
#0AEBEB · hsl(180, 92%, 48%)
Darker companion
Aqua Dusk Pure
#07A6A6 · hsl(180, 92%, 34%)
Complementary counterpoint
Crimson Velvet Pure
#CE0909 · hsl(0, 92%, 42%)
Analogous lead
Steel Velvet Pure
#097CCE · hsl(205, 92%, 42%)
Analogous echo
Teal Velvet Pure
#09CE8C · hsl(160, 92%, 42%)
Triadic +120°
Fuchsia Velvet Pure
#CE09CE · hsl(300, 92%, 42%)
Triadic +240°
Citrine Velvet Pure
#CECE09 · hsl(60, 92%, 42%)
Split-comp +150°
Blush Velvet Pure
#CE096B · hsl(330, 92%, 42%)
Split-comp +210°
Coral Velvet Pure
#CE6B09 · hsl(30, 92%, 42%)
Export preview
Base: Aqua Velvet Pure #09CECE
Lighter companion: Aqua Core Pure #0AEBEB
Darker companion: Aqua Dusk Pure #07A6A6
Complementary counterpoint: Crimson Velvet Pure #CE0909
Analogous lead: Steel Velvet Pure #097CCE
Analogous echo: Teal Velvet Pure #09CE8C
Triadic +120°: Fuchsia Velvet Pure #CE09CE
Triadic +240°: Citrine Velvet Pure #CECE09
Split-comp +150°: Blush Velvet Pure #CE096B
Split-comp +210°: Coral Velvet Pure #CE6B09

Compare

See how Aqua Velvet Pure compares side by side with related colors.

vsAqua Core PurevsAqua Dusk PurevsCrimson Velvet PurevsSteel Velvet PurevsTeal Velvet PurevsFuchsia Velvet Pure

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Aqua Velvet Bright
#11C5C5 · hsl(180, 84%, 42%)
Nearby match
Aqua Core Pure
#0AEBEB · hsl(180, 92%, 48%)
Nearby match
Cyan Velvet Pure
#09CEBD · hsl(175, 92%, 42%)
Nearby match
Aqua Dusk Pure
#07A6A6 · hsl(180, 92%, 34%)
Nearby match
Aqua Core Bright
#14E1E1 · hsl(180, 84%, 48%)
Nearby match
Aqua Velvet Vivid
#1CBABA · hsl(180, 74%, 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
Crimson Nocturne Dust
#402626
AAA7.2:1
Crimson Nocturne Soft
#442222
AAA7.3:1
Crimson Nocturne Clear
#4F1717
AAA7.2:1
Crimson Nocturne Vivid
#590D0D
AAA7.1:1
Crimson Nocturne Bright
#5E0808
AAA7:1
Crimson Nocturne Pure
#620404

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#8578CE
Protanopia
#8E8FCE
Tritanopia
#33CECE
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