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Wholesome Bergamot Lagoon

#3cb4cf
Notes

Wholesome Bergamot Lagoon (#3CB4CF) is a true cyan with a cool character. It leans cool, sitting on the blue, green, and violet side of the wheel. Quiet and dependable, a fit for product UI and data visualization. Its HSL profile (191°, 60%, 52%) 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
#3cb4cf
RGB
rgb(60, 180, 207)
HSL
hsl(191, 60%, 52%)
HWB
hwb(191 24% 19%)
OKLCH
oklch(71.5% 0.110 216.1)
HSV
hsv(191, 71%, 81%)
LAB
lab(68.10% -24.18 -23.25)
LCH
lch(68.10% 33.55 223.88)
CMYK
cmyk(71%, 13%, 0%, 19%)

Etymology

Wholesome
adjective

An adjectival form of whole — used as a color modifier since the sixteenth century for hues that read as healthy and unadulterated. Wholesome cream, wholesome wheat: moderate saturation combined with the optical impression of a natural origin. Sits at the crisp-bucket alongside genuine.

Bergamot
modifier

Italian bergamotta, Calabrian-citrus-and-Earl-Grey-tea. As a color modifier, bergamot implies a Calabrian-citrus-and-Earl-Grey-tea quality, the visual register of Calabrian-bergamot-and-Earl-Grey-tea hand-Calabrian-citrus-and-Earl-Grey-tea Calabrian-bergamot-and-Earl-Grey-tea-and-Reggio-di-Calabria bergamot-and-Calabrian-citrus surfaces under Calabrian-bergamot-and-Earl-Grey-tea-and-Reggio-di-Calabria Reggio-di-Calabria-and-Twinings-Earl-Grey Calabrian-and-tea-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to zest and balm 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

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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.

#3cb4cf
Original
#a2aed1
Protanopia
#8da0cf
Deuteranopia
#00bebc
Tritanopia
#9c9c9c
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
2.44:1
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
8.62:1

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