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Cerulean Core Vivid
Color detail

Cerulean Core Vivid

Blue · Hue 190
Hex
#20B7D5
RGB
rgb(32, 183, 213)
HSL
hsl(190, 74%, 48%)
CMYK
cmyk(85%, 14%, 0%, 16%)
Metrics
S 74% · L 48%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
2.4:1Fail
on black
8.8:1AA
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 the rarest pigment in the natural world — and so, historically, the most expensive. Ultramarine, ground from lapis lazuli mined only in Afghanistan, was worth more than gold in Renaissance Europe; Vermeer's bills were enormous because of how much he used. Egyptian blue (the first synthetic pigment, ~3000 BCE) was lost for centuries and rediscovered in the 19th. Prussian blue (1704) democratized blue overnight; Yves Klein's IKB (1960) re-aristocratized it.

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 600 years. In Mediterranean traditions blue wards off the evil eye. In post-WWII America, blue became the corporate default ('IBM 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 — sometimes by 35% margins.

In the wild

Facebook is blue because Mark Zuckerberg is red-green colorblind. IBM's blue dates to 1947. Levi's blue is the natural color of indigo on cotton. Twitter Blue (#1DA1F2) defined social-media blue for a decade before X scrapped it. Pixar's Up famously runs on a single complementary palette built on blue. 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 recedes — physically, the eye focuses blue light slightly behind the retina, which makes 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 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 #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
    →

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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Cerulean Ink Faint#202627 · hsl(190, 10%, 14%)Cerulean Nocturne Faint#2E3638 · hsl(190, 10%, 20%)Cerulean Shadow Faint#404C4F · hsl(190, 10%, 28%)Cerulean Dusk Faint#4E5C5F · hsl(190, 10%, 34%)Cerulean Velvet Faint#607276 · hsl(190, 10%, 42%)Cerulean Core Faint#6E8387 · hsl(190, 10%, 48%)Cerulean Radiant Faint#7E9295 · hsl(190, 10%, 54%)Cerulean Tone Faint#8FA0A3 · hsl(190, 10%, 60%)
Appears in collections
Transit Authority