colors
Back to gallery

Functional Sirocco Lagoon

#0bb9d2
Notes

Functional Sirocco Lagoon (#0BB9D2) is a true cyan with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (188°, 90%, 43%) 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
#0bb9d2
RGB
rgb(11, 185, 210)
HSL
hsl(188, 90%, 43%)
HWB
hwb(188 4% 18%)
OKLCH
oklch(72.2% 0.124 211.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3298 0.7147 0.8106)
HSV
hsv(188, 95%, 82%)
LAB
lab(69.05% -29.56 -23.50)
LCH
lch(69.05% 37.76 218.48)
CMYK
cmyk(95%, 12%, 0%, 18%)

Etymology

Functional
adjective

Latin fūnctiō, performance — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, functional implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-utilitarian quality, the crisp color of Mid-Century-Modern and Bauhaus form-follows-function design-aesthetic. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to practical and utilitarian in usage.

Sirocco
modifier

Arabic sharq, eastern-or-Saharan-wind. As a color modifier, sirocco implies a hot-Saharan-and-Mediterranean-wind quality, the visual register of Saharan-and-Sicilian-and-Maltese-sirocco hand-hot-Saharan-and-Mediterranean-wind Saharan-and-Sicilian-and-Maltese-sirocco-and-North-African sirocco-and-hot-Saharan-and-Mediterranean-wind surfaces under Saharan-and-Sicilian-and-Maltese-sirocco-and-North-African Sahara-and-Sicily-and-Malta-and-Tunis hot-North-African-wind-light. Sits at the modifier-and-weather end of the grid, parallel to mistral and zephyr 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.

#0bb9d2
Original
#a6b2d3
Protanopia
#8ea1d2
Deuteranopia
#00c3c1
Tritanopia
#969696
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
2.36:1
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
8.88:1

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
##0BB9D2
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3298 0.7147 0.8106)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.124

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.

Related Colors

Canvas