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Cleansed Norn Lagoon

#23c2df
Notes

Cleansed Norn Lagoon (#23C2DF) 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°, 75%, 51%) 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
#23c2df
RGB
rgb(35, 194, 223)
HSL
hsl(189, 75%, 51%)
HWB
hwb(189 14% 13%)
OKLCH
oklch(75.1% 0.126 214.2)
HSV
hsv(189, 84%, 87%)
LAB
lab(72.40% -28.58 -25.44)
LCH
lch(72.40% 38.26 221.68)
CMYK
cmyk(84%, 13%, 0%, 13%)

Etymology

Cleansed
adjective

Old English clǣnsian, to make clean — past-participle of cleanse. As a color modifier, cleansed implies a clear-and-purified quality where the hue has been stripped of any contaminating tint. Sits at the crisp-and-clear end of the grid, parallel to fresh and pristine in usage.

Norn
modifier

Old Norse norn, Norse-fate-weaver. As a color modifier, norn implies a Norse-fate-weaver-and-Urd-Verdandi-Skuld quality, the visual register of Norse-Norns-and-Urd-Verdandi-Skuld hand-Norse-fate-weaver-and-Urd-Verdandi-Skuld Norse-Norns-and-Urd-Verdandi-Skuld-and-Yggdrasil-roots norn-and-Norse-fate-weaver surfaces under Norse-Norns-and-Urd-Verdandi-Skuld-and-Yggdrasil-roots Well-of-Urd-and-loom-of-fate fate-weaver-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to vala and rune 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.

#23c2df
Original
#adbbe1
Protanopia
#95aadf
Deuteranopia
#00cdcb
Tritanopia
#a2a2a2
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
2.13:1
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
9.85:1

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