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Pragmatic Castor Lagoon

#0ac2dd
Notes

Pragmatic Castor Lagoon (#0AC2DD) is a true cyan with a neon character. It sits at the high-saturation edge of its family. Use it sparingly, as signage, accent, or highlight against darker surfaces. Its HSL profile (188°, 91%, 45%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary red. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#0ac2dd
RGB
rgb(10, 194, 221)
HSL
hsl(188, 91%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(188 4% 13%)
OKLCH
oklch(74.8% 0.129 212.4)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3463 0.7495 0.8529)
HSV
hsv(188, 95%, 87%)
LAB
lab(72.14% -30.40 -24.78)
LCH
lch(72.14% 39.22 219.19)
CMYK
cmyk(95%, 12%, 0%, 13%)

Etymology

Pragmatic
adjective

Greek pragmatikós, of business / practical — adjectival suffix -ic. As a color modifier, pragmatic implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-no-nonsense quality where the hue carries the visual register of straightforward-utilitarian-and-functional decision-making. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to practical and functional in usage.

Castor
modifier

Greek Κάστωρ, Gemini-twin-and-horseman. As a color modifier, castor implies a Gemini-twin-and-mortal-brother quality, the visual register of Gemini-Castor-and-Pollux-twin hand-Gemini-twin-and-mortal-brother Gemini-Castor-and-Pollux-twin-and-Argonaut castor-and-Gemini-twin-and-mortal-brother surfaces under Gemini-Castor-and-Pollux-twin-and-Argonaut spring-Gemini-and-Bortle-1-sky stellar-twin-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to pollux and spica in usage.

Lagoon
noun

A shallow body of saltwater partially or fully enclosed by a barrier — coral atoll lagoons in the Pacific, Venice's Laguna Veneta, the Florida Keys' backcountry. The color refers to the average reflectance of a calm tropical lagoon at midday: a saturated, slightly muted blue-green with the optical clarity of shallow water over white sand. Brighter than reef, cooler than aquamarine, with the postcard weight of a Pacific atoll seen from above.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

Click any swatch to explore

Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#0ac2dd
Original
#adbbdf
Protanopia
#95a9dd
Deuteranopia
#00cdca
Tritanopia
#9d9d9d
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon White
2.15:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
9.77:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

The CSS Color 4 wide-gamut form of this color. Both swatches render the same color on every display — the P3 form only diverges from sRGB when a designer pushes channels outside sRGB's reach.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##0AC2DD
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3463 0.7495 0.8529)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.129

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

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