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Smooth Mykonos

#168cb6
Notes

Smooth Mykonos (#168CB6) 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 (196°, 78%, 40%) 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 orange. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#168cb6
RGB
rgb(22, 140, 182)
HSL
hsl(196, 78%, 40%)
HWB
hwb(196 9% 29%)
OKLCH
oklch(60.0% 0.114 229.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2556 0.5408 0.6979)
HSV
hsv(196, 88%, 71%)
LAB
lab(54.35% -15.29 -30.50)
LCH
lch(54.35% 34.12 243.37)
CMYK
cmyk(88%, 23%, 0%, 29%)

Etymology

Smooth
adjective

Old English smōþ, level, polished — used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for hues that read as continuous without texture or break. Smooth tan, smooth gray: moderate saturation combined with optical evenness. Sits in the crisp-bucket alongside even.

Mykonos
noun

The Cycladic island — and the saturated blue of Mykonos's painted shutters and the deep Aegean water around Paradise Beach. Mykonos color refers to a Mykonos painted-shutter blue: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the matte finish of weathered limewash-and-cobalt paint.

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.

#168cb6
Original
#768ab8
Protanopia
#627cb5
Deuteranopia
#00989a
Tritanopia
#767676
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).
AA Largeon White
3.85:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAon Black
5.46:1

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
##168CB6
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2556 0.5408 0.6979)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.114

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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