Functional Sumer Lagoon

Latin fūnctiō, performance — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, functional implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-utilitarian quality, the crisp color of Mid-Century-Modern and Bauhaus form-follows-function design-aesthetic. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to practical and utilitarian in usage.

Akkadian Šumeru, Sumer. As a color modifier, sumer implies an ancient-Mesopotamian-and-cuneiform quality, the visual register of Sumerian-Ur-and-Uruk hand-built ziggurat-and-cuneiform-tablet bronze-age Mesopotamian city-state surfaces under Sumerian-Mesopotamian Ur-and-Uruk bronze-age city-state sun-baked-mud-brick light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to akkad and median in usage.

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.