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Aligned Isis Kingfisher

#38a1b8
Notes

Aligned Isis Kingfisher (#38A1B8) is a true cyan with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (191°, 53%, 47%) 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
#38a1b8
RGB
rgb(56, 161, 184)
HSL
hsl(191, 53%, 47%)
HWB
hwb(191 22% 28%)
OKLCH
oklch(65.9% 0.099 215.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3420 0.6229 0.7104)
HSV
hsv(191, 70%, 72%)
LAB
lab(61.47% -22.24 -20.60)
LCH
lch(61.47% 30.32 222.80)
CMYK
cmyk(70%, 13%, 0%, 28%)

Etymology

Aligned
adjective

French à-ligne, to-line-up — past-participle of align. As a color modifier, aligned implies a clear-and-axis-coordinated quality where the hue carries the visual register of carefully-parallel-arranged elements. Sits at the crisp-and-balanced end of the grid, parallel to symmetrical and squared in usage.

Isis
modifier

Egyptian Aset, throne-and-mother-goddess. As a color modifier, isis implies a winged-and-throne-and-mother-goddess quality, the visual register of Egyptian-Isis-and-Philae-temple hand-winged-and-throne-and-mother-goddess Egyptian-Isis-and-Philae-temple-and-Osirian-myth isis-and-winged-and-throne-and-mother-goddess surfaces under Egyptian-Isis-and-Philae-temple-and-Osirian-myth Nile-and-Philae-Aswan-temple winged-throne-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to horus and thoth in usage.

Kingfisher
noun

The family Alcedinidae — particularly Alcedo atthis, the European common kingfisher whose iridescent turquoise-blue plumage gives the color its name. The color refers to a male European kingfisher's wing: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the iridescent satin finish of structurally colored feathers.

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.

#38a1b8
Original
#919cb9
Protanopia
#7f8fb8
Deuteranopia
#00aaa8
Tritanopia
#8c8c8c
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
3.02:1
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
6.96:1

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
##38A1B8
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3420 0.6229 0.7104)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.099

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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