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Symmetrical Copenhagen

#3a656f
Notes

Symmetrical Copenhagen (#3A656F) is a deep 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°, 31%, 33%) places it in the balanced band at a dark lightness. It works well as a headline, icon, or deep background in an otherwise light layout, pairing cleanly with cream, bone, and warm neutrals. 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
#3a656f
RGB
rgb(58, 101, 111)
HSL
hsl(191, 31%, 33%)
HWB
hwb(191 23% 56%)
OKLCH
oklch(48.0% 0.050 214.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2669 0.3918 0.4300)
HSV
hsv(191, 48%, 44%)
LAB
lab(40.17% -11.99 -10.30)
LCH
lch(40.17% 15.80 220.66)
CMYK
cmyk(48%, 9%, 0%, 56%)

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.

Copenhagen
noun

The Danish capital — and the saturated deep blue of Nyhavn canal water at midday and the Copenhagen Royal Porcelain underglaze produced since 1775. Copenhagen refers to a Royal Copenhagen Blue Fluted underglaze: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue with the high gloss of fired cobalt-on-porcelain.

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.

#3a656f
Original
#5e6270
Protanopia
#555c6f
Deuteranopia
#206968
Tritanopia
#5d5d5d
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).
AAon White
6.42:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AA Largeon Black
3.27:1

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
##3A656F
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2669 0.3918 0.4300)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.050

This color sits well within the sRGB cube. P3 and sRGB share the gray axis and most desaturated tones, so a P3 display renders this identically to an sRGB display.

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