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Refreshing Orbit Lagoon

#199d9a
Notes

Refreshing Orbit Lagoon (#199D9A) is a true 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 (179°, 73%, 36%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. 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
#199d9a
RGB
rgb(25, 157, 154)
HSL
hsl(179, 73%, 36%)
HWB
hwb(179 10% 38%)
OKLCH
oklch(63.1% 0.104 192.4)
HSV
hsv(179, 84%, 62%)
LAB
lab(58.65% -33.11 -7.96)
LCH
lch(58.65% 34.06 193.52)
CMYK
cmyk(84%, 0%, 2%, 38%)

Etymology

Refreshing
adjective

Old French refreschir, to make fresh again — present-participle of refresh. As a color modifier, refreshing implies a clear-and-cool-and-revitalizing quality, the crisp color of Cornish-coast and Hebridean-island fresh-sea-air-and-cool-water revitalization. Sits at the crisp-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to fresh and bracing in usage.

Orbit
modifier

Latin orbita, track-or-wheel-rut. As a color modifier, orbit implies a Keplerian-ellipse-and-circling quality, the visual register of Keplerian-ellipse-and-Newton-Principia-orbit hand-Keplerian-ellipse-and-circling Keplerian-ellipse-and-Newton-Principia-and-Tycho-orbit orbit-and-Keplerian-ellipse-and-circling surfaces under Keplerian-ellipse-and-Newton-Principia-and-Tycho-orbit Royal-Society-and-celestial-mechanics 17th-century-observation-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to axis and parsec 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.

#199d9a
Original
#93949a
Protanopia
#81889b
Deuteranopia
#00a29c
Tritanopia
#818181
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
3.32:1
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
6.33:1

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