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Sure Maldives

#16bc9f
Notes

Sure Maldives (#16BC9F) is a true teal with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (170°, 79%, 41%) 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
#16bc9f
RGB
rgb(22, 188, 159)
HSL
hsl(170, 79%, 41%)
HWB
hwb(170 9% 26%)
OKLCH
oklch(71.2% 0.130 176.0)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3422 0.7264 0.6280)
HSV
hsv(170, 88%, 74%)
LAB
lab(68.49% -45.66 3.68)
LCH
lch(68.49% 45.81 175.39)
CMYK
cmyk(88%, 0%, 15%, 26%)

Etymology

Sure
adjective

Old French seur, certain — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues that read as confident and stable. Sure red, sure blue: moderate saturation combined with optical commitment. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside steady and true.

Maldives
noun

The Indian Ocean atoll-nation — and the saturated turquoise of Maldivian lagoon water. Maldives color refers to a North Malé atoll lagoon at midday: a saturated, slightly cool bright blue-green with the optical clarity of shallow water over white coral sand. Brighter than tahiti.

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.

#16bc9f
Original
#b5af9e
Protanopia
#a1a1a1
Deuteranopia
#00bfb3
Tritanopia
#979797
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
2.41:1
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
8.73:1

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
##16BC9F
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3422 0.7264 0.6280)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.130

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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