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cyan · cool

#142829

a deep, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Dark Slate Gray

Token name suggestion: Abyss Lagoon

RGB
20, 40, 41
HSL
183°, 34%, 12%
CMYK
51, 2, 0, 84
Luminance
0.0183

#142829 is a deep soft cyan, 183° on the wheel and 88/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (15.38:1). As text it scores 15.38:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Slate Gray, nearest Tailwind family is gray.

hsl(183 34% 12%)rgb(20 40 41)Base step 950AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #142829 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#142829
Hue
183°
cyan
Saturation
34%
soft
Lightness
12%
deep
Brightness
16%
HSV value
Perceived
14%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0183
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
88/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
15.38:1
Closest name
Dark Slate Gray
ΔE2000 12.5
Chroma
8.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.260
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
gray
500 · ΔE 28.3
Web-safe
#003333
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue183° of 360°
Saturation34%
Lightness12%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #142829.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool88% 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
Red8%
Green83%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#142829
HEX (8-digit)#142829ff
RGBrgb(20, 40, 41)
RGBArgba(20, 40, 41, 1)
HSLhsl(183, 34%, 12%)
HSV / HSBhsv(183, 51%, 16%)
HWBhwb(183 8% 84%)
CMYKcmyk(51%, 2%, 0%, 84%)
LABlab(14.6 -7.7 -3.2)
LCHlch(14.6 8.4 202.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.260 0.026 199.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(1.45, 1.83, 2.37)
Decimal1321001
Display P3color(display-p3 0.078 0.157 0.161)
Web-safe#003333

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #142829;
background-color: #142829;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #142829;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#142829] bg-[#142829]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #142829;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.078, green: 0.157, blue: 0.161)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.078, green: 0.157, blue: 0.161, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#142829</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF142829)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF142829)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(41, 40, 20)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(20, 40, 41)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(20, 40, 41)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 20, 40, 41)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0784f, 0.1569f, 0.1608f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{20,40,41}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #142829 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #142829 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2A5456, #D6EAEB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #142829 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: #F5F9F9;
  --brand-100: #ECF3F4;
  --brand-200: #D4E7E8;
  --brand-300: #B4D8DA;
  --brand-400: #8EC5C8;
  --brand-500: #68B2B5;
  --brand-600: #50A0A5;
  --brand-700: #438689;
  --brand-800: #366B6E;
  --brand-900: #2A4F51;
  --brand-950: #142829;
  --brand: #142829;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F5FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C8E3E4;
  --brand-hover: #081111;
  --brand-pressed: #000000;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D6EAEB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F9F9',
        100: '#ECF3F4',
        200: '#D4E7E8',
        300: '#B4D8DA',
        400: '#8EC5C8',
        500: '#68B2B5',
        600: '#50A0A5',
        700: '#438689',
        800: '#366B6E',
        900: '#2A4F51',
        950: '#142829',
        DEFAULT: '#142829',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F9F9,
  '100': #ECF3F4,
  '200': #D4E7E8,
  '300': #B4D8DA,
  '400': #8EC5C8,
  '500': #68B2B5,
  '600': #50A0A5,
  '700': #438689,
  '800': #366B6E,
  '900': #2A4F51,
  '950': #142829,
);
$brand-base: #142829;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F9F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF3F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4E7E8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B4D8DA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8EC5C8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#68B2B5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#50A0A5", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#438689", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#366B6E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2A4F51", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#142829", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#ffffff", "$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#ffffff on #142829 · 15.38:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 15.38:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 1.37:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #142829 as text scores 15.38:1 on white and 1.37:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EEF6F7 at 14.03:1.

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
#142829 · 15.38:1
AA on whitealready passes
#142829
The quick fox
#142829 · 15.38:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#142829
The quick fox
#407F82 · 4.58:1
AA on black+26% L
#407F82
The quick fox
#52A4A8 · 7.23:1
AAA on black+37% L
#52A4A8

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #142829 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
#142829 on white: 15.38:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#142829 on black: 1.37:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #142829 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #142829.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White15.38:1AaAa
Slate 5014.70:1AaAa
Slate 10014.04:1AaAa
Slate 20012.48:1AaAa
Slate 30010.36:1AaAa
Slate 4006.00:1AaAa
Slate 5003.23:1AaAa
Slate 6002.03:1AaAa
Slate 7001.49:1AaAa
Slate 8001.05:1AaAa
Slate 9001.16:1AaAa
Black1.37:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #252629
deuteranopia · #222429
tritanopia · #0B2928

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. #142829 is pinned to step 950; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F5F9F9
#ECF3F4
#D4E7E8
#B4D8DA
#8EC5C8
#68B2B5
#50A0A5
#438689
#366B6E
#2A4F51
#142829
Base = 950Lightest = 50 · #F5F9F9Darkest = 950 · #142829Text step on white = 800
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 0.006 199.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.010 199.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.016 199.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.020 199.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.024 199.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.026 199.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.026 199.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.024 199.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.022 199.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.018 199.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.014 199.8);
}

Colors that work with #142829

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

Text on it#ffffff
White wins here
Surface#F5FAFA
Tinted page background
Border#C8E3E4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B969A
Captions on the surface
Accent#2A1318
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2A5456
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF6F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#081111
One step down in lightness
Pressed#000000
Two steps down
Disabled#44686A
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#17393B
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 #142829

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • 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
Any size
Safe as a fill behind white type
Yes
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight88/100
  • 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#291514
Analogous left#142920
Analogous right#141E29
Split-complement 1#29141E
Split-complement 2#292014
Triadic 1#291428
Triadic 2#282914
Tetradic#201429
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°183°

#142829 sits at 183°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red7.8%
Green15.7%
Blue16.1%
R · 0–255
20
0x14
G · 0–255
40
0x28
B · 0–255
41
0x29

CMYK percentages

Cyan51.2%
Magenta2.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)83.9%

Total ink coverage is 138%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#142829 text on a black background

contrast 1.37:1

Card sample

#142829 text on a white background

contrast 15.38:1

Card sample

#142829 on grey

14.04:1

#142829 on its own surface

14.60:1

#142829 on its dark surface

1.04:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #142829;
Background color
Panel with #142829 background
background-color: #142829;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #142829;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(20, 40, 41, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(20, 40, 41, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #142829;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #142829, #141A29);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #142829, #141529);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #142829;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #142829;
caret-color: #142829;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #142829;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF6F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #142829;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#142829 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #142829 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(20, 40, 41, 0.5)
rgb(20 40 41 / 50%)
#14282980
hsl(183 34% 12% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #142829 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#1428291a#E8EAEA
20%#14282933#D0D4D4
40%#14282966#A1A9A9
60%#14282999#727E7F
80%#142829cc#435354

Gradients from #142829

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, #285052, #142829 45%, #2A5456);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #142829, #0A0C15);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #142829, #291514);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #326467 0%, #142829 45%, #2A5456 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5FAFA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #254B37 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #1E2A3E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2A5456 0%, transparent 65%), #142829;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #142829

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.

#142829 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

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Very dark values collapse into each other on cheap panels — leave more lightness between your darkest steps than the numbers suggest.

In dark mode

Too dim on dark surfaces at 1.37:1 — lift it to #407F82 for body text, or reserve it for fills.

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.

#142829, answered

What color is #142829?

#142829 is a deep soft cyan, closest to Dark Slate Gray (ΔE2000 12.5). It sits at 183° on the hue wheel with 34% saturation and 12% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #142829?

rgb(20, 40, 41) — 20 red, 40 green and 41 blue out of 255, or 7.8% / 15.7% / 16.1% by channel.

What is #142829 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(183, 34%, 12%) and hsv(183, 51%, 16%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #142829 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0183 and perceived brightness is 14%, so white text on it reaches 15.38:1.

Should I use black or white text on #142829?

White. It scores 15.38:1 against #142829, versus 1.37:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #142829 accessible on a white background?

#142829 on white scores 15.38:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #142829?

#291514 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #29141E and #292014, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #142829?

For interface work: #F5FAFA as the surface, #C8E3E4 for borders, #4B969A for secondary text, #2A1318 as an accent and #2A5456 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #142920 and #141E29 stays calm, while #291514 is the loudest partner.

What is #142829 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(51%, 2%, 0%, 84%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #142829 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 88 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #142922; nudged cooler, #13202A.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #142829?

The gray family — its 500 step is #6b7280, ΔE2000 28.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #142829 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #142829 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#142829] or text-[#142829], 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 #142829 with 50% opacity?

rgba(20, 40, 41, 0.5), or #14282980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #8A9494; over black, #0A1415.

Is #142829 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #003333, ΔE2000 6.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #142829 mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #142829?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #285052, #142829 45%, #2A5456). For more colour, a short hue run to #0A0C15 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #142829 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #142829 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.