Deep Water
Open in tool →Cyan and mid-blue on abyss navy with a foam highlight — the ocean at depth; the darker the surface, the brighter the water.
Color
#38b5dc
#38b5dc
hex
#38b5dcrgb
rgb(56, 181, 220)hsl
hsl(194, 70%, 54%)oklch
oklch(0.722 0.12 223.4)Closest name: Blue Martini (#52b4d3)Relative luminance 0.3906
Colors that go with #38b5dc
Charcoal, Amber and Dark Orange lead the list. Each partner is a real named colour with the reason it works — a wheel relationship, a neutral that carries it, or a pairing lifted from a palette or brand system that actually shipped — and every pair opens in the palette tool.
Charcoal #36454f
neutralshippedCharcoal is the text near-black for #38b5dc: softer than #000 and cool enough to feel like part of the same palette.
Amber #ffbf00
shippedAmber is paired with #38b5dc in 4 real palettes, including Blueprint and Salesforce's brand system, as the accent.
Dark Orange #ff8c00
shippedDark Orange shows up next to #38b5dc in 4 real palettes, including Elastic's brand system and Learning App, as the lead colour.
Denim #1560bd
shippedDesigners have shipped Denim with #38b5dc: 6 real palettes, including Coca-Cola's brand system and Open House, as the accent.
Midnight Blue #191970
shipped8 real palettes, including Confluent's brand system and Kraken's brand system put Midnight Blue beside #38b5dc, as the lead colour.
Royal Blue #4169e1
shippedRoyal Blue is paired with #38b5dc in 9 real palettes, including Confluent's brand system and Elastic's brand system, as the supporting colour.
Taupe #483c32
shippedTaupe is paired with #38b5dc in 10 real palettes, including Cursor's brand system and Astro's brand system, as the text colour against it.
Coral #ff7f50
complementaryCoral sits directly opposite #38b5dc on the wheel — the strongest contrast one hue can give another, so use it small: a button, a link colour, one highlight.
Real palettes that use #38b5dc
Tints & shades
Harmonies
Contrast
| #38b5dc as text | Ratio | AA | AA large | AAA | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aaon white | 2.38:1 | fail | fail | fail | |
Aaon black | 8.81:1 | pass | pass | pass | Passes AAA — no fix needed. |
Fixes keep hue and saturation and move lightness only, so the suggestion stays on-brand. Ratios are symmetric: the same numbers apply with #38b5dc as the background.
Brands using this color
Palettes built around it
Fonts for this mood
#38b5dc reads as cool, vivid, technical. The font library is tagged with the same vocabulary:
mcpConnect your agent — build around #38b5dc
live endpointPoint any MCP client at the shared colors endpoint and your agent gets the same engine as this page — direct_palette, edit_direction, check_palette, check_contrast — read-only, no key. Every direction it proposes comes with a /colors/d/… link: open it, lock what you like, paste the link back, and the agent edits rather than re-rolls.
endpoint
https://mcp.brandsweets.com/colors/mcpclaude mcp add --transport http brandsweets-colors https://mcp.brandsweets.com/colors/mcp
try this prompt
›analyze #38b5dc and generate a 5-color palette that keeps it as the primary; give me the /palettes/new link
tool url
/palettes/new/38b5dc-9cb6c4-df4e72-1f242d-e9f1ef?lock=0&style=vibrantWant the agent to remember your picks and write them into a living brand? Create a free BrandSweets workspace.
Machine-readable: color.md