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Straightforward Berg Lagoon

#16bed7
Notes

Straightforward Berg Lagoon (#16BED7) 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°, 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
#16bed7
RGB
rgb(22, 190, 215)
HSL
hsl(188, 81%, 46%)
HWB
hwb(188 9% 16%)
OKLCH
oklch(73.6% 0.125 211.7)
HSV
hsv(188, 90%, 84%)
LAB
lab(70.80% -29.95 -23.55)
LCH
lch(70.80% 38.11 218.18)
CMYK
cmyk(90%, 12%, 0%, 16%)

Etymology

Straightforward
adjective

English compound straight + forward — sharing root with German geradeaus. As a color modifier, straightforward implies a clear-and-direct-and-unencumbered quality where the hue carries the visual register of clear-aim-and-uncomplicated character. Sits at the crisp-and-honest end of the grid, parallel to candid and direct 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

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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.

#16bed7
Original
#aab7d8
Protanopia
#93a6d7
Deuteranopia
#00c8c6
Tritanopia
#9c9c9c
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
2.24:1
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
9.38:1

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