colors
Back to gallery

Utilitarian Berg Lagoon

#14b9d4
Notes

Utilitarian Berg Lagoon (#14B9D4) 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°, 83%, 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
#14b9d4
RGB
rgb(20, 185, 212)
HSL
hsl(188, 83%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(188 8% 17%)
OKLCH
oklch(72.3% 0.124 213.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3352 0.7147 0.8180)
HSV
hsv(188, 91%, 83%)
LAB
lab(69.18% -28.57 -24.39)
LCH
lch(69.18% 37.57 220.49)
CMYK
cmyk(91%, 13%, 0%, 17%)

Etymology

Utilitarian
adjective

Latin ūtilitās, usefulness — adjectival suffix -ian. As a color modifier, utilitarian implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-stripped-down quality, the crisp color of Shaker-and-Quaker anti-ornamental functional-and-no-frills craft tradition. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to functional and workmanlike in usage.

Berg
modifier

Norwegian isberg, mountain-of-ice. As a color modifier, berg implies an iceberg-and-Antarctic-tabular-ice quality, the visual register of Antarctic-and-Greenland-iceberg hand-iceberg-and-Antarctic-tabular-ice Antarctic-and-Greenland-iceberg-and-Larsen-Ice-Shelf berg-and-iceberg-and-Antarctic-tabular-ice surfaces under Antarctic-and-Greenland-iceberg-and-Larsen-Ice-Shelf Ross-Sea-and-Weddell-Sea-and-Disko-Bay tabular-iceberg-light. Sits at the modifier-and-weather end of the grid, parallel to floe and icicle 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.

#14b9d4
Original
#a5b2d6
Protanopia
#8ea2d4
Deuteranopia
#00c3c1
Tritanopia
#989898
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
2.35:1
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
8.92:1

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
##14B9D4
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3352 0.7147 0.8180)
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