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Straightforward Saturn Robin

#268cbd
Notes

Straightforward Saturn Robin (#268CBD) 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 (199°, 67%, 45%) 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 orange. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#268cbd
RGB
rgb(38, 140, 189)
HSL
hsl(199, 67%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(199 15% 26%)
OKLCH
oklch(60.6% 0.116 234.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2773 0.5412 0.7238)
HSV
hsv(199, 80%, 74%)
LAB
lab(54.91% -11.45 -33.60)
LCH
lch(54.91% 35.49 251.18)
CMYK
cmyk(80%, 26%, 0%, 26%)

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.

Saturn
modifier

Latin Saturnus, Roman-god-of-time-and-sixth-planet. As a color modifier, saturn implies a Roman-god-of-time-and-ringed-sixth-planet quality, the visual register of Roman-Saturn-and-Cassini-rings hand-Roman-god-of-time-and-ringed-sixth-planet Roman-Saturn-and-Cassini-rings-and-Saturnalia saturn-and-Roman-god-of-time-and-ringed-planet surfaces under Roman-Saturn-and-Cassini-rings-and-Saturnalia Saturnalia-festival-and-ringed-gas-giant ringed-planet-light. Sits at the modifier-and-zodiac end of the grid, parallel to jupiter and neptune in usage.

Robin
noun

The American robin (Turdus migratorius) — though the color refers not to the bird's red breast but to the egg, robin's-egg blue, a pale slightly green-shifted blue produced by biliverdin pigment in the eggshell. The color is the inside surface of a fresh robin's nest at peak laying: a soft, slightly green-shifted pale blue with the matte finish of avian eggshell. Lighter than aqua, cooler than turquoise.

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.

#268cbd
Original
#748bbf
Protanopia
#607dbc
Deuteranopia
#00999d
Tritanopia
#7a7a7a
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
3.77:1
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
5.57:1

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
##268CBD
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2773 0.5412 0.7238)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.116

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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