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Utilitarian Marina

#2aa6dc
Notes

Utilitarian Marina (#2AA6DC) 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 (198°, 72%, 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 orange. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#2aa6dc
RGB
rgb(42, 166, 220)
HSL
hsl(198, 72%, 51%)
HWB
hwb(198 16% 14%)
OKLCH
oklch(68.4% 0.130 232.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3259 0.6417 0.8432)
HSV
hsv(198, 81%, 86%)
LAB
lab(64.10% -14.55 -36.62)
LCH
lch(64.10% 39.41 248.32)
CMYK
cmyk(81%, 25%, 0%, 14%)

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.

Marina
noun

A small harbor for pleasure boats — the protected water of a yacht basin, a coastal moorage, a riverside dock. The color refers to the calm water of a Mediterranean marina at dusk: a deep, slightly green-shifted blue with the optical depth of sheltered water. Darker than mediterranean, cooler than peacock, with the maritime-leisure association of a word borrowed from Italian into every Romance language.

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.

#2aa6dc
Original
#8ba4df
Protanopia
#7494db
Deuteranopia
#00b4b8
Tritanopia
#909090
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
2.77:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
7.59:1

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
##2AA6DC
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3259 0.6417 0.8432)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.130

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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