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Methodical Rime Kingfisher

#3ba8bc
Notes

Methodical Rime Kingfisher (#3BA8BC) 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 (189°, 52%, 48%) 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
#3ba8bc
RGB
rgb(59, 168, 188)
HSL
hsl(189, 52%, 48%)
HWB
hwb(189 23% 26%)
OKLCH
oklch(67.9% 0.101 212.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3583 0.6500 0.7267)
HSV
hsv(189, 69%, 74%)
LAB
lab(63.81% -24.15 -19.28)
LCH
lch(63.81% 30.90 218.60)
CMYK
cmyk(69%, 11%, 0%, 26%)

Etymology

Methodical
adjective

Greek méthodos, systematic-procedure — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, methodical implies a clear-and-systematic-and-step-by-step quality where the hue carries the visual register of careful-procedure-followed design-element. Sits at the crisp-and-orderly end of the grid, parallel to orderly and organized in usage.

Rime
modifier

Old English hrīm, hoar-frost-on-twigs. As a color modifier, rime implies a feathered-frost-and-fog-deposited quality, the visual register of Scottish-Highland-and-Cairngorm-rime hand-feathered-frost-and-fog-deposited Scottish-Highland-and-Cairngorm-rime-and-Pennine-cap rime-and-feathered-frost-and-fog-deposited surfaces under Scottish-Highland-and-Cairngorm-rime-and-Pennine-cap Cairngorm-Highlands-and-Scottish-Munro-and-Pennine-cap freezing-fog-light. Sits at the modifier-and-weather end of the grid, parallel to hoar and sleet 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.

#3ba8bc
Original
#98a2bd
Protanopia
#8695bc
Deuteranopia
#00b0ae
Tritanopia
#929292
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
2.80:1
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
7.51:1

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
##3BA8BC
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3583 0.6500 0.7267)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.101

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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