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cyan · cool

#11b2ac

a dark, electric cyan · cool · “Light Sea Green”

Token name suggestion: Dusk Reef

RGB
17, 178, 172
HSL
178°, 83%, 38%
CMYK
90, 0, 3, 30
Luminance
0.3494

#11b2ac is a dark electric cyan, 178° on the wheel and 87/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.99:1). As text it scores 2.63:1 on white — use #0D837F instead. Nearest name is Light Sea Green, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(178 83% 38%)rgb(17 178 172)Base step 700AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #11b2ac is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#11b2ac
Hue
178°
cyan
Saturation
83%
electric
Lightness
38%
dark
Brightness
70%
HSV value
Perceived
58%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3494
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
87/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
7.99:1
Closest name
Light Sea Green
ΔE2000 0.8
Chroma
38.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.690
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 4.4
Web-safe
#009999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue178° of 360°
Saturation83%
Lightness38%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #11b2ac.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool87% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red0%
Green91%
Blue9%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#11b2ac
HEX (8-digit)#11b2acff
RGBrgb(17, 178, 172)
RGBArgba(17, 178, 172, 1)
HSLhsl(178, 83%, 38%)
HSV / HSBhsv(178, 90%, 70%)
HWBhwb(178 7% 30%)
CMYKcmyk(90%, 0%, 3%, 30%)
LABlab(65.7 -37.9 -7.6)
LCHlch(65.7 38.7 191.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.690 0.117 190.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(23.59, 34.94, 44.52)
Decimal1159852
Display P3color(display-p3 0.067 0.698 0.675)
Web-safe#009999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #11b2ac;
background-color: #11b2ac;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #11b2ac;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#11b2ac] bg-[#11b2ac]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #11b2ac;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.067, green: 0.698, blue: 0.675)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.067, green: 0.698, blue: 0.675, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#11B2AC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF11B2AC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF11B2AC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(172, 178, 17)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(17, 178, 172)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(17, 178, 172)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 17, 178, 172)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0667f, 0.6980f, 0.6745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{17,178,172}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #11b2ac 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #11b2ac 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0B7471, #D3EEED);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #11b2ac h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F2FCFC;
  --brand-100: #E6FAF9;
  --brand-200: #C6F6F4;
  --brand-300: #99F5F2;
  --brand-400: #65F0EB;
  --brand-500: #32EBE5;
  --brand-600: #15E0D8;
  --brand-700: #11b2ac;
  --brand-800: #0E9590;
  --brand-900: #0F6C68;
  --brand-950: #094341;
  --brand: #11b2ac;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EDEB;
  --brand-hover: #0E918C;
  --brand-pressed: #0B716D;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEED;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2FCFC',
        100: '#E6FAF9',
        200: '#C6F6F4',
        300: '#99F5F2',
        400: '#65F0EB',
        500: '#32EBE5',
        600: '#15E0D8',
        700: '#11b2ac',
        800: '#0E9590',
        900: '#0F6C68',
        950: '#094341',
        DEFAULT: '#11b2ac',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2FCFC,
  '100': #E6FAF9,
  '200': #C6F6F4,
  '300': #99F5F2,
  '400': #65F0EB,
  '500': #32EBE5,
  '600': #15E0D8,
  '700': #11b2ac,
  '800': #0E9590,
  '900': #0F6C68,
  '950': #094341,
);
$brand-base: #11b2ac;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2FCFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E6FAF9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C6F6F4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#99F5F2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#65F0EB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#32EBE5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#15E0D8", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#11b2ac", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0E9590", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0F6C68", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#094341", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #11b2ac · 7.99:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.63:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.99:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #11b2ac as text scores 2.63:1 on white and 7.99:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0B7471 at 2.13:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#0D837F · 4.60:1
AA on white−10% L
#0D837F
The quick fox
#09635F · 7.09:1
AAA on white−17% L
#09635F
The quick fox
#11b2ac · 7.99:1
AA on blackalready passes
#11b2ac
The quick fox
#11b2ac · 7.99:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#11b2ac

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #10A49E is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#11b2ac on white: 2.63:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#11b2ac on black: 7.99:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #11b2ac as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #11b2ac.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.63:1AaAa
Slate 502.51:1AaAa
Slate 1002.40:1AaAa
Slate 2002.13:1AaAa
Slate 3001.77:1AaAa
Slate 4001.03:1AaAa
Slate 5001.81:1AaAa
Slate 6002.88:1AaAa
Slate 7003.94:1AaAa
Slate 8005.56:1AaAa
Slate 9006.79:1AaAa
Black7.99:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A7A8AC
deuteranopia · #9399AD
tritanopia · #00B7B0

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #11b2ac is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F2FCFC
#E6FAF9
#C6F6F4
#99F5F2
#65F0EB
#32EBE5
#15E0D8
#11b2ac
#0E9590
#0F6C68
#094341
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F2FCFCDarkest = 950 · #094341Text step on white = 900
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.029 190.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.047 190.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.070 190.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.091 190.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.108 190.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.117 190.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.117 190.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.110 190.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.098 190.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.082 190.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.064 190.5);
}

Colors that work with #11b2ac

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F4FAFA
Tinted page background
Border#C0EDEB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B98
Captions on the surface
Accent#B60D3D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0B7471
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E8FDFC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#0E918C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0B716D
Two steps down
Disabled#83B0AE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#08CFC8
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #11b2ac

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Black text placed on it
  • Thin strokes and 1px borders — they disappear on light UI
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #0B7471
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #10A49E

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

cleantechnicalfreshclinical

Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight62/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#B21117
Analogous left#11B25C
Analogous right#1167B2
Split-complement 1#B21167
Split-complement 2#B25C11
Triadic 1#AC11B2
Triadic 2#B2AC11
Tetradic#5C11B2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°178°

#11b2ac sits at 178°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red6.7%
Green69.8%
Blue67.5%
R · 0–255
17
0x11
G · 0–255
178
0xb2
B · 0–255
172
0xac

CMYK percentages

Cyan90.4%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow3.4%
Key (black)30.2%

Total ink coverage is 124%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#11b2ac text on a black background

contrast 7.99:1

Card sample

#11b2ac text on a white background

contrast 2.63:1

Card sample

#11b2ac on grey

2.40:1

#11b2ac on its own surface

2.49:1

#11b2ac on its dark surface

6.11:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #11b2ac;
Background color
Panel with #11b2ac background
background-color: #11b2ac;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #11b2ac;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(17, 178, 172, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(17, 178, 172, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #11b2ac;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #11b2ac, #114CB2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #11b2ac, #1124B2);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #11b2ac;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #11b2ac;
caret-color: #11b2ac;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #11b2ac;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E8FDFC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #11b2ac;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#11b2ac 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #11b2ac over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(17, 178, 172, 0.5)
rgb(17 178 172 / 50%)
#11b2ac80
hsl(178 83% 38% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #11b2ac 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#11b2ac1a#E7F7F7
20%#11b2ac33#CFF0EE
40%#11b2ac66#A0E0DE
60%#11b2ac99#70D1CD
80%#11b2accc#41C1BD

Gradients from #11b2ac

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #17E9E1, #11b2ac 45%, #0B7471);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #11b2ac, #0E3596);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #11b2ac, #B21117);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #33ECE5 0%, #11b2ac 45%, #0B7471 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAFA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #15E063 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #1468CE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0B7471 0%, transparent 65%), #11b2ac;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #11b2ac

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#11b2ac in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
TechnologyTravelHealthcareMedia
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 7.99:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#11b2ac, answered

What color is #11b2ac?

#11b2ac is a dark electric cyan — the CSS keyword Light Sea Green. It sits at 178° on the hue wheel with 83% saturation and 38% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #11b2ac?

rgb(17, 178, 172) — 17 red, 178 green and 172 blue out of 255, or 6.7% / 69.8% / 67.5% by channel.

What is #11b2ac in HSL and HSV?

hsl(178, 83%, 38%) and hsv(178, 90%, 70%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #11b2ac a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3494 and perceived brightness is 58%, so black text on it reaches 7.99:1.

Should I use black or white text on #11b2ac?

Black. It scores 7.99:1 against #11b2ac, versus 2.63:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #11b2ac accessible on a white background?

#11b2ac on white scores 2.63:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #0D837F to reach 4.5:1, or #09635F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #11b2ac?

#B21117 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B21167 and #B25C11, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #11b2ac?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EDEB for borders, #4B9B98 for secondary text, #B60D3D as an accent and #0B7471 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #11B25C and #1167B2 stays calm, while #B21117 is the loudest partner.

What is #11b2ac in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(90%, 0%, 3%, 30%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #11b2ac warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 87 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #11B271; nudged cooler, #0F86B4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #11b2ac?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 4.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #11b2ac as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #11b2ac in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#11b2ac] or text-[#11b2ac], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #11b2ac with 50% opacity?

rgba(17, 178, 172, 0.5), or #11b2ac80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #88D9D6; over black, #095956.

Is #11b2ac a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #009999, ΔE2000 7.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #11b2ac mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #11b2ac?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #17E9E1, #11b2ac 45%, #0B7471). For more colour, a short hue run to #0E3596 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #11b2ac in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #11b2ac at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.