colors
Back to gallery

Lined Zest Lagoon

#3bc0e3
Notes

Lined Zest Lagoon (#3BC0E3) 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°, 75%, 56%) 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
#3bc0e3
RGB
rgb(59, 192, 227)
HSL
hsl(192, 75%, 56%)
HWB
hwb(192 23% 11%)
OKLCH
oklch(75.2% 0.121 219.6)
HSV
hsv(192, 74%, 89%)
LAB
lab(72.34% -24.08 -27.68)
LCH
lch(72.34% 36.68 228.98)
CMYK
cmyk(74%, 15%, 0%, 11%)

Etymology

Lined
adjective

Old English līne, line / cord — past-participle of line. As a color modifier, lined implies a clear-and-coordinated-and-supported quality where the hue carries the visual register of carefully-lined-and-supported textile-or-print surface. Sits at the crisp-and-finished end of the grid, parallel to trim and coordinated in usage.

Zest
modifier

French zeste, citrus-peel-and-bright-tang. As a color modifier, zest implies a bright-citrus-peel-and-aromatic-oil quality, the visual register of Provençal-and-Sicilian-citrus-zest hand-bright-citrus-peel-and-aromatic-oil Provençal-and-Sicilian-citrus-zest-and-Mediterranean-bergamot zest-and-bright-citrus-peel surfaces under Provençal-and-Sicilian-citrus-zest-and-Mediterranean-bergamot Menton-and-Sicily-and-Calabria-citrus-grove citrus-grove-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to tang and bergamot 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.

#3bc0e3
Original
#aabbe5
Protanopia
#94aae3
Deuteranopia
#00cccb
Tritanopia
#a6a6a6
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
2.14:1
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
9.84:1

Related Colors

Canvas