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Practical Sprite Lagoon

#1ab3ce
Notes

Practical Sprite Lagoon (#1AB3CE) 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 (189°, 78%, 45%) 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
#1ab3ce
RGB
rgb(26, 179, 206)
HSL
hsl(189, 78%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(189 10% 19%)
OKLCH
oklch(70.7% 0.120 214.1)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3292 0.6916 0.7946)
HSV
hsv(189, 87%, 81%)
LAB
lab(67.21% -27.24 -24.11)
LCH
lch(67.21% 36.38 221.51)
CMYK
cmyk(87%, 13%, 0%, 19%)

Etymology

Practical
adjective

Greek praktikós, practical — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, practical implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-everyday quality where the hue carries the visual register of Shaker-and-Quaker utilitarian-and-functional everyday-life craft. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to functional and workmanlike in usage.

Sprite
modifier

Latin spiritus, spirit-or-elf. As a color modifier, sprite implies a fairy-elf-and-quick-and-impish quality, the visual register of English-folk-sprite-and-Shakespearean-Puck hand-fairy-elf-and-quick-and-impish English-folk-sprite-and-Shakespearean-Puck-and-Midsummer-Night sprite-and-fairy-elf-and-quick-and-impish surfaces under English-folk-sprite-and-Shakespearean-Puck-and-Midsummer-Night greenwood-and-elven-meadow fairy-revel-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to pixie and faun 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.

#1ab3ce
Original
#a0add0
Protanopia
#899dce
Deuteranopia
#00bdbb
Tritanopia
#949494
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
2.51:1
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
8.38:1

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
##1AB3CE
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3292 0.6916 0.7946)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.120

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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