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Utilitarian Advent Ocean

#187d8f
Notes

Utilitarian Advent Ocean (#187D8F) is a deep cyan with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (189°, 71%, 33%) places it in the balanced band at a dark lightness. It works well as a headline, icon, or deep background in an otherwise light layout, pairing cleanly with cream, bone, and warm neutrals. 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
#187d8f
RGB
rgb(24, 125, 143)
HSL
hsl(189, 71%, 33%)
HWB
hwb(189 9% 44%)
OKLCH
oklch(54.4% 0.089 213.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2319 0.4829 0.5517)
HSV
hsv(189, 83%, 56%)
LAB
lab(48.06% -20.74 -17.58)
LCH
lch(48.06% 27.19 220.29)
CMYK
cmyk(83%, 13%, 0%, 44%)

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.

Advent
modifier

Latin adventus, arrival. As a color modifier, advent implies a December-Pre-Christmas-and-purple quality, the visual register of Roman-Catholic-and-Anglican Advent-period purple-and-pink-vestment-and-wreath-and-candle liturgical surfaces under Advent-period candlelit-purple-and-pink ecclesiastical light. Sits at the modifier-and-time end of the grid, parallel to yule and easter in usage.

Ocean
noun

The body of saltwater that covers seventy percent of Earth's surface — a single connected mass divided by convention into Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Southern, and Arctic. The color refers to the average reflectance of mid-depth temperate ocean: a saturated, slightly green-shifted deep blue with the optical depth of a body of water that absorbs all light below the photic zone. Deeper than mediterranean, cooler than peacock.

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.

#187d8f
Original
#707990
Protanopia
#606d8f
Deuteranopia
#008483
Tritanopia
#696969
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).
AAon White
4.81:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AA Largeon Black
4.37:1

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
##187D8F
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2319 0.4829 0.5517)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.089

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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