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Symmetrical Santorini

#39b0de
Notes

Symmetrical Santorini (#39B0DE) 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 (197°, 71%, 55%) 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
#39b0de
RGB
rgb(57, 176, 222)
HSL
hsl(197, 71%, 55%)
HWB
hwb(197 22% 13%)
OKLCH
oklch(71.2% 0.122 228.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3667 0.6808 0.8528)
HSV
hsv(197, 74%, 87%)
LAB
lab(67.42% -17.66 -32.54)
LCH
lch(67.42% 37.03 241.51)
CMYK
cmyk(74%, 21%, 0%, 13%)

Etymology

Symmetrical
adjective

Greek symmetría, due-proportion — adjectival suffix -al, derived from sym-metron (with-measure). As a color modifier, symmetrical implies a clear-and-balanced-and-mirrored quality where the hue carries the visual register of bilateral-or-radial proportional symmetry. Sits at the crisp-and-balanced end of the grid, parallel to balanced and aligned in usage.

Santorini
noun

The volcanic Cycladic island — and the saturated blue of Santorini's caldera water and the cobalt-blue domes of Oia church. Santorini refers to the caldera at sunset: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the optical depth of volcanic-bottomed Aegean water.

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.

#39b0de
Original
#98ade0
Protanopia
#829ddd
Deuteranopia
#00bdbf
Tritanopia
#9a9a9a
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
2.49:1
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
8.44:1

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
##39B0DE
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3667 0.6808 0.8528)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.122

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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