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Easy Reykjavík

#49b6e4
Notes

Easy Reykjavík (#49B6E4) 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 (198°, 74%, 59%) 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 orange. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#49b6e4
RGB
rgb(73, 182, 228)
HSL
hsl(198, 74%, 59%)
HWB
hwb(198 29% 11%)
OKLCH
oklch(73.3% 0.118 229.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.4070 0.7045 0.8763)
HSV
hsv(198, 68%, 89%)
LAB
lab(69.80% -16.75 -32.11)
LCH
lch(69.80% 36.21 242.45)
CMYK
cmyk(68%, 20%, 0%, 11%)

Etymology

Easy
adjective

Old French aisié, comfortable, at rest — used as a color modifier since the eighteenth century for hues that read as visually undemanding. Easy beige, easy gray: moderate saturation combined with optical restfulness. Sits at the crisp-bucket center alongside calm and settled.

Reykjavík
noun

The Icelandic capital — and the deep blue of Faxaflói Bay and the Bláa Lónið (Blue Lagoon) geothermal waters. Reykjavík color refers to the Blue Lagoon at midwinter: a soft, slightly cool deep blue-green with the optical complexity of silica-rich geothermal water.

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.

#49b6e4
Original
#9eb3e6
Protanopia
#89a4e3
Deuteranopia
#00c3c5
Tritanopia
#a2a2a2
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
2.31:1
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
9.09:1

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
##49B6E4
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.4070 0.7045 0.8763)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.118

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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