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Level Sloop Lagoon

#2ab9dd
Notes

Level Sloop Lagoon (#2AB9DD) 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 (192°, 72%, 52%) 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
#2ab9dd
RGB
rgb(42, 185, 221)
HSL
hsl(192, 72%, 52%)
HWB
hwb(192 16% 13%)
OKLCH
oklch(72.9% 0.124 219.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3578 0.7151 0.8510)
HSV
hsv(192, 81%, 87%)
LAB
lab(69.76% -24.19 -28.41)
LCH
lch(69.76% 37.31 229.59)
CMYK
cmyk(81%, 16%, 0%, 13%)

Etymology

Level
adjective

Latin libella, small-balance / level-tool — sharing root with libra (balance). As a color modifier, level implies a clear-and-horizontal-true quality where the hue carries the visual register of gravity-perpendicular-and-perfectly-horizontal surface. Sits at the crisp-and-balanced end of the grid, parallel to plumb and flat in usage.

Sloop
modifier

Dutch sloep, single-masted-vessel. As a color modifier, sloop implies a single-masted-fore-and-aft-rigged-vessel quality, the visual register of American-and-Dutch-sloop hand-built single-masted-fore-and-aft-rigged sloop-and-cutter maritime-architecture surfaces under American-and-Dutch sloop-and-cutter maritime sailing light. Sits at the modifier-and-nautical end of the grid, parallel to skiff and hull 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.

#2ab9dd
Original
#a3b4df
Protanopia
#8ca3dd
Deuteranopia
#00c5c5
Tritanopia
#9d9d9d
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
2.31:1
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
9.08:1

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
##2AB9DD
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3578 0.7151 0.8510)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.124

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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