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Level Crown Lagoon

#16b1d6
Notes

Level Crown Lagoon (#16B1D6) 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 (192°, 81%, 46%) 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
#16b1d6
RGB
rgb(22, 177, 214)
HSL
hsl(192, 81%, 46%)
HWB
hwb(192 9% 16%)
OKLCH
oklch(70.5% 0.125 220.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3221 0.6838 0.8234)
HSV
hsv(192, 90%, 84%)
LAB
lab(66.87% -23.79 -29.03)
LCH
lch(66.87% 37.54 230.66)
CMYK
cmyk(90%, 17%, 0%, 16%)

Etymology

Level
adjective

Latin libella, small-balance / level-tool — sharing root with libra (balance). As a color modifier, level implies a clear-and-horizontal-true quality where the hue carries the visual register of gravity-perpendicular-and-perfectly-horizontal surface. Sits at the crisp-and-balanced end of the grid, parallel to plumb and flat in usage.

Crown
modifier

Latin corōna, garland / crown. As a color modifier, crown implies a royal-headpiece-and-coronation quality, the visual register of British-Imperial-State-Crown-and-French-Crown-Jewel hand-set jeweled-and-velvet-and-gilt royal-and-Imperial-coronation surfaces under Imperial-State-Crown-and-French-Crown-Jewel royal-and-Imperial coronation-day light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to throne and coronet 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.

#16b1d6
Original
#9bacd8
Protanopia
#839bd6
Deuteranopia
#00bdbd
Tritanopia
#939393
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
2.53:1
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
8.29:1

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
##16B1D6
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3221 0.6838 0.8234)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.125

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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Canvas