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Untroubled Bayou

#3bc5e7
Notes

Untroubled Bayou (#3BC5E7) 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°, 78%, 57%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. 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
#3bc5e7
RGB
rgb(59, 197, 231)
HSL
hsl(192, 78%, 57%)
HWB
hwb(192 23% 9%)
OKLCH
oklch(76.5% 0.123 218.4)
P3
color(display-p3 0.4032 0.7619 0.8905)
HSV
hsv(192, 74%, 91%)
LAB
lab(73.95% -25.33 -27.38)
LCH
lch(73.95% 37.30 227.22)
CMYK
cmyk(74%, 15%, 0%, 9%)

Etymology

Untroubled
adjective

Latin turbāre, to disturb — negative-prefix un- plus past-participle of trouble. As a color modifier, untroubled implies a clear-and-calm-and-undisturbed quality where the hue carries no visual agitation. Sits at the crisp-and-calm end of the grid, parallel to serene and placid in usage.

Bayou
noun

A slow-moving body of water in the Mississippi-Louisiana wetland — particularly the Atchafalaya Basin and Cajun Country swamps. Bayou color refers to typical Louisiana bayou water: a soft, slightly cool deep blue-green with the optical complexity of tannin-stained slow-moving freshwater under cypress canopy.

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.

#3bc5e7
Original
#afbfe9
Protanopia
#98aee7
Deuteranopia
#00d1d0
Tritanopia
#aaaaaa
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
2.03:1
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
10.33:1

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
##3BC5E7
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.4032 0.7619 0.8905)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.123

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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