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green · cool

#12e821

a balanced, electric green · cool · closest name: Lime

Token name suggestion: Studio Fern

RGB
18, 232, 33
HSL
124°, 86%, 49%
CMYK
92, 0, 86, 9
Luminance
0.5795

#12e821 is a balanced electric green, 124° on the wheel and 64/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.59:1). As text it scores 1.67:1 on white — use #0B8914 instead. Nearest name is Lime, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(124 86% 49%)rgb(18 232 33)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #12e821 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#12e821
Hue
124°
green
Saturation
86%
electric
Lightness
49%
balanced
Brightness
91%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5795
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
64/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
12.59:1
Closest name
Lime
ΔE2000 5.1
Chroma
107.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.808
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 10
Web-safe
#00FF33
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue124° of 360°
Saturation86%
Lightness49%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #12e821.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool64% 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%
Green100%
Blue0%

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

Every format

HEX#12e821
HEX (8-digit)#12e821ff
RGBrgb(18, 232, 33)
RGBArgba(18, 232, 33, 1)
HSLhsl(124, 86%, 49%)
HSV / HSBhsv(124, 92%, 91%)
HWBhwb(124 7% 9%)
CMYKcmyk(92%, 0%, 86%, 9%)
LABlab(80.7 -78.8 73.4)
LCHlch(80.7 107.7 137.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.808 0.267 143.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(29.38, 57.95, 11.08)
Decimal1239073
Display P3color(display-p3 0.071 0.910 0.129)
Web-safe#00FF33

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #12e821;
background-color: #12e821;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #12e821;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#12e821] bg-[#12e821]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #12e821;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.071, green: 0.910, blue: 0.129)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.071, green: 0.910, blue: 0.129, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#12E821</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF12E821)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF12E821)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(33, 232, 18)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(18, 232, 33)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(18, 232, 33)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 18, 232, 33)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0706f, 0.9098f, 0.1294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{18,232,33}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #12e821 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #12e821 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#097611, #D3EED5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #12e821 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: #F2FDF3;
  --brand-100: #E5FAE7;
  --brand-200: #C5F7C8;
  --brand-300: #97F79E;
  --brand-400: #63F36D;
  --brand-500: #2FEF3C;
  --brand-600: #12e821;
  --brand-700: #0FBD1B;
  --brand-800: #0C9716;
  --brand-900: #0D6D14;
  --brand-950: #08440C;
  --brand: #12e821;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF5;
  --brand-border: #C0EDC3;
  --brand-hover: #0FC71C;
  --brand-pressed: #0DA618;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142415;
    --brand-ink: #D3EED5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2FDF3',
        100: '#E5FAE7',
        200: '#C5F7C8',
        300: '#97F79E',
        400: '#63F36D',
        500: '#2FEF3C',
        600: '#12e821',
        700: '#0FBD1B',
        800: '#0C9716',
        900: '#0D6D14',
        950: '#08440C',
        DEFAULT: '#12e821',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2FDF3,
  '100': #E5FAE7,
  '200': #C5F7C8,
  '300': #97F79E,
  '400': #63F36D,
  '500': #2FEF3C,
  '600': #12e821,
  '700': #0FBD1B,
  '800': #0C9716,
  '900': #0D6D14,
  '950': #08440C,
);
$brand-base: #12e821;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2FDF3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E5FAE7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C5F7C8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#97F79E", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#63F36D", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#2FEF3C", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#12e821", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0FBD1B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0C9716", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0D6D14", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#08440C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #12e821 · 12.59:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.67:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.59:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #12e821 as text scores 1.67:1 on white and 12.59:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #097611 at 3.49:1.

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
#0B8914 · 4.56:1
AA on white−20% L
#0B8914
The quick fox
#08680F · 7.01:1
AAA on white−27% L
#08680F
The quick fox
#12e821 · 12.59:1
AA on blackalready passes
#12e821
The quick fox
#12e821 · 12.59:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#12e821

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #0DAA18 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
#12e821 on white: 1.67:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#12e821 on black: 12.59:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #12e821 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #12e821.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.67:1AaAa
Slate 501.59:1AaAa
Slate 1001.52:1AaAa
Slate 2001.35:1AaAa
Slate 3001.12:1AaAa
Slate 4001.54:1AaAa
Slate 5002.85:1AaAa
Slate 6004.54:1AaAa
Slate 7006.21:1AaAa
Slate 8008.77:1AaAa
Slate 90010.70:1AaAa
Black12.59:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #EDD100
deuteranopia · #D9C33F
tritanopia · #00E1C6

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. #12e821 is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F2FDF3
#E5FAE7
#C5F7C8
#97F79E
#63F36D
#2FEF3C
#12e821
#0FBD1B
#0C9716
#0D6D14
#08440C
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F2FDF3Darkest = 950 · #08440CText 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 0.067 143.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.107 143.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.160 143.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.209 143.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.246 143.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.267 143.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.267 143.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.251 143.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.225 143.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.187 143.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.147 143.0);
}

Colors that work with #12e821

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#F4FAF5
Tinted page background
Border#C0EDC3
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B50
Captions on the surface
Accent#C50DED
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#097611
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E7FDE9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142415
Dark-mode background
Hover#0FC71C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0DA618
Two steps down
Disabled#A5C5A7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#15FA25
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 #12e821

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
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Status meaning — pair it with an icon or label, never colour alone
  • 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 #097611
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #0DAA18

Meaning and mood

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

safegrowingnaturalpermissive

Green means go, well, and grown. It carries finance, sustainability and health with almost no explanation needed.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

Red/green pairs are the most common colour-blindness failure — never let the two carry meaning alone.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight51/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#E812D9
Analogous left#6EE812
Analogous right#12E88C
Split-complement 1#8C12E8
Split-complement 2#E8126E
Triadic 1#2112E8
Triadic 2#E82112
Tetradic#126EE8
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°124°

#12e821 sits at 124°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red7.1%
Green91.0%
Blue12.9%
R · 0–255
18
0x12
G · 0–255
232
0xe8
B · 0–255
33
0x21

CMYK percentages

Cyan92.2%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow85.8%
Key (black)9.0%

Total ink coverage is 187%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#12e821 text on a black background

contrast 12.59:1

Card sample

#12e821 text on a white background

contrast 1.67:1

Card sample

#12e821 on grey

1.52:1

#12e821 on its own surface

1.58:1

#12e821 on its dark surface

9.74:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #12e821;
Background color
Panel with #12e821 background
background-color: #12e821;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #12e821;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(18, 232, 33, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(18, 232, 33, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #12e821;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #12e821, #12E8B0);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #12e821, #12E8E5);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #12e821;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #12e821;
caret-color: #12e821;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #12e821;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E7FDE9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #12e821;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#12e821 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #12e821 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(18, 232, 33, 0.5)
rgb(18 232 33 / 50%)
#12e82180
hsl(124 86% 49% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #12e821 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#12e8211a#E7FDE9
20%#12e82133#D0FAD3
40%#12e82166#A0F6A6
60%#12e82199#71F17A
80%#12e821cc#41ED4D

Gradients from #12e821

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, #46F152, #12e821 45%, #097611);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #12e821, #10CCAA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #12e821, #E812D9);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #63F36D 0%, #12e821 45%, #097611 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #99F03D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #2AEEAA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #097611 0%, transparent 65%), #12e821;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #12e821

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.

#12e821 in the real world

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

Industries
SustainabilityFinanceHealth and wellnessAgriculture
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 12.59:1.

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.

#12e821, answered

What color is #12e821?

#12e821 is a balanced electric green, closest to Lime (ΔE2000 5.1). It sits at 124° on the hue wheel with 86% saturation and 49% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #12e821?

rgb(18, 232, 33) — 18 red, 232 green and 33 blue out of 255, or 7.1% / 91% / 12.9% by channel.

What is #12e821 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(124, 86%, 49%) and hsv(124, 92%, 91%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #12e821 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5795 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 12.59:1.

Should I use black or white text on #12e821?

Black. It scores 12.59:1 against #12e821, versus 1.67:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #12e821 accessible on a white background?

#12e821 on white scores 1.67:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #0B8914 to reach 4.5:1, or #08680F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #12e821?

#E812D9 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #8C12E8 and #E8126E, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #12e821?

For interface work: #F4FAF5 as the surface, #C0EDC3 for borders, #4B9B50 for secondary text, #C50DED as an accent and #097611 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #6EE812 and #12E88C stays calm, while #E812D9 is the loudest partner.

What is #12e821 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(92%, 0%, 86%, 9%). 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 #12e821 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 64 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #51E812; nudged cooler, #0FEA6F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #12e821?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 10 away. That is a visible difference, so define #12e821 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #12e821 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#12e821] or text-[#12e821], 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 #12e821 with 50% opacity?

rgba(18, 232, 33, 0.5), or #12e82180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #89F490; over black, #097411.

Is #12e821 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #00FF33, ΔE2000 4.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #12e821 mean?

As a green, it reads safe, growing, natural. Green means go, well, and grown. It carries finance, sustainability and health with almost no explanation needed. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #12e821?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #46F152, #12e821 45%, #097611). For more colour, a short hue run to #10CCAA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #12e821 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #12e821 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.