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Vitreous Ave Lagoon

#3cc4de
Notes

Vitreous Ave Lagoon (#3CC4DE) 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 (190°, 71%, 55%) 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
#3cc4de
RGB
rgb(60, 196, 222)
HSL
hsl(190, 71%, 55%)
HWB
hwb(190 24% 13%)
OKLCH
oklch(75.9% 0.118 213.5)
HSV
hsv(190, 73%, 87%)
LAB
lab(73.36% -27.52 -23.41)
LCH
lch(73.36% 36.13 220.39)
CMYK
cmyk(73%, 12%, 0%, 13%)

Etymology

Vitreous
adjective

Latin vitreus, glass-like — derived from vitrum (glass). As a color modifier, vitreous implies a clear-and-glassy quality where the hue carries the optical clarity of polished crown-glass. Sits at the crisp-and-clear end of the grid, parallel to pellucid and crystalline in usage.

Ave
modifier

Latin ave, hail-or-greeting. As a color modifier, ave implies a Latin-greeting-and-Ave-Maria-and-Ave-Caesar quality, the visual register of Ave-Maria-and-Ave-Caesar-greeting hand-Latin-greeting-and-Ave-Maria-and-Ave-Caesar Ave-Maria-and-Ave-Caesar-greeting-and-Catholic-prayer-and-Roman-salute ave-and-Latin-greeting surfaces under Ave-Maria-and-Ave-Caesar-greeting-and-Catholic-prayer-and-Roman-salute Roman-arena-and-Catholic-liturgy hailing-greeting-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to salve and pax 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.

#3cc4de
Original
#b1bde0
Protanopia
#9aadde
Deuteranopia
#00cecc
Tritanopia
#a9a9a9
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
2.07:1
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
10.14:1

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