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cyan · cool

#14dbb3

a balanced, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Medium Aqua Marine

Token name suggestion: Atlas Teal

RGB
20, 219, 179
HSL
168°, 83%, 47%
CMYK
91, 0, 18, 14
Luminance
0.5407

#14dbb3 is a balanced electric cyan, 168° on the wheel and 82/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.81:1). As text it scores 1.78:1 on white — use #0C826B instead. Nearest name is Medium Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is emerald.

hsl(168 83% 47%)rgb(20 219 179)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #14dbb3 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#14dbb3
Hue
168°
cyan
Saturation
83%
electric
Lightness
47%
balanced
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5407
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
82/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.81:1
Closest name
Medium Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 5.5
Chroma
53.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.796
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
emerald
500 · ΔE 10.2
Web-safe
#00CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue168° of 360°
Saturation83%
Lightness47%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #14dbb3.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool82% 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%
Green94%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#14dbb3
HEX (8-digit)#14dbb3ff
RGBrgb(20, 219, 179)
RGBArgba(20, 219, 179, 1)
HSLhsl(168, 83%, 47%)
HSV / HSBhsv(168, 91%, 86%)
HWBhwb(168 8% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(91%, 0%, 18%, 14%)
LABlab(78.5 -53.3 7.3)
LCHlch(78.5 53.8 172.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.796 0.151 173.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(33.75, 54.06, 51.30)
Decimal1366963
Display P3color(display-p3 0.078 0.859 0.702)
Web-safe#00CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #14dbb3;
background-color: #14dbb3;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #14dbb3;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#14dbb3] bg-[#14dbb3]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #14dbb3;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.078, green: 0.859, blue: 0.702)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.078, green: 0.859, blue: 0.702, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#14DBB3</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF14DBB3)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF14DBB3)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(179, 219, 20)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(20, 219, 179)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(20, 219, 179)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 20, 219, 179)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0784f, 0.8588f, 0.7020f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{20,219,179}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #14dbb3 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #14dbb3 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0B755F, #D3EEE9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #14dbb3 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: #F2FCFA;
  --brand-100: #E6FAF6;
  --brand-200: #C6F6EC;
  --brand-300: #98F6E3;
  --brand-400: #65F1D5;
  --brand-500: #31ECC7;
  --brand-600: #14dbb3;
  --brand-700: #11BB99;
  --brand-800: #0E967A;
  --brand-900: #0E6C59;
  --brand-950: #094438;
  --brand: #14dbb3;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE4;
  --brand-hover: #11BA98;
  --brand-pressed: #0E9A7E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142421;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2FCFA',
        100: '#E6FAF6',
        200: '#C6F6EC',
        300: '#98F6E3',
        400: '#65F1D5',
        500: '#31ECC7',
        600: '#14dbb3',
        700: '#11BB99',
        800: '#0E967A',
        900: '#0E6C59',
        950: '#094438',
        DEFAULT: '#14dbb3',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2FCFA,
  '100': #E6FAF6,
  '200': #C6F6EC,
  '300': #98F6E3,
  '400': #65F1D5,
  '500': #31ECC7,
  '600': #14dbb3,
  '700': #11BB99,
  '800': #0E967A,
  '900': #0E6C59,
  '950': #094438,
);
$brand-base: #14dbb3;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2FCFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E6FAF6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C6F6EC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#98F6E3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#65F1D5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#31ECC7", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#14dbb3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#11BB99", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0E967A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0E6C59", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#094438", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #14dbb3 · 11.81:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.78:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.81:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #14dbb3 as text scores 1.78:1 on white and 11.81:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0B755F at 3.17:1.

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
#0C826B · 4.75:1
AA on white−19% L
#0C826B
The quick fox
#096250 · 7.31:1
AAA on white−26% L
#096250
The quick fox
#14dbb3 · 11.81:1
AA on blackalready passes
#14dbb3
The quick fox
#14dbb3 · 11.81:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#14dbb3

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #0FA889 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
#14dbb3 on white: 1.78:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#14dbb3 on black: 11.81:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #14dbb3 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #14dbb3.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.78:1AaAa
Slate 501.70:1AaAa
Slate 1001.62:1AaAa
Slate 2001.44:1AaAa
Slate 3001.20:1AaAa
Slate 4001.44:1AaAa
Slate 5002.68:1AaAa
Slate 6004.26:1AaAa
Slate 7005.82:1AaAa
Slate 8008.23:1AaAa
Slate 90010.04:1AaAa
Black11.81:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D3CCB1
deuteranopia · #BDBBB6
tritanopia · #00DDCF

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. #14dbb3 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.

#F2FCFA
#E6FAF6
#C6F6EC
#98F6E3
#65F1D5
#31ECC7
#14dbb3
#11BB99
#0E967A
#0E6C59
#094438
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F2FCFADarkest = 950 · #094438Text 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 0.038 173.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.060 173.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.090 173.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.117 173.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.139 173.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.151 173.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.151 173.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.142 173.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.127 173.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.105 173.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.083 173.0);
}

Colors that work with #14dbb3

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#F4FAF9
Tinted page background
Border#C0EDE4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B8B
Captions on the surface
Accent#E00F6E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0B755F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E8FDF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142421
Dark-mode background
Hover#11BA98
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0E9A7E
Two steps down
Disabled#9EC1BA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#0DF7C7
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 #14dbb3

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
  • 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 #0B755F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #0FA889

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 mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight53/100
  • 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#DB143C
Analogous left#14DB4F
Analogous right#14A0DB
Split-complement 1#DB14A0
Split-complement 2#DB4F14
Triadic 1#B314DB
Triadic 2#DBB314
Tetradic#4F14DB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°168°

#14dbb3 sits at 168°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red7.8%
Green85.9%
Blue70.2%
R · 0–255
20
0x14
G · 0–255
219
0xdb
B · 0–255
179
0xb3

CMYK percentages

Cyan90.9%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow18.3%
Key (black)14.1%

Total ink coverage is 123%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#14dbb3 text on a black background

contrast 11.81:1

Card sample

#14dbb3 text on a white background

contrast 1.78:1

Card sample

#14dbb3 on grey

1.62:1

#14dbb3 on its own surface

1.68:1

#14dbb3 on its dark surface

9.06:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #14dbb3;
Background color
Panel with #14dbb3 background
background-color: #14dbb3;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #14dbb3;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(20, 219, 179, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(20, 219, 179, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #14dbb3;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #14dbb3, #147FDB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #14dbb3, #144DDB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #14dbb3;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #14dbb3;
caret-color: #14dbb3;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #14dbb3;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E8FDF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #14dbb3;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#14dbb3 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #14dbb3 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, 219, 179, 0.5)
rgb(20 219 179 / 50%)
#14dbb380
hsl(168 83% 47% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #14dbb3 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#14dbb31a#E8FBF7
20%#14dbb333#D0F8F0
40%#14dbb366#A1F1E1
60%#14dbb399#72E9D1
80%#14dbb3cc#43E2C2

Gradients from #14dbb3

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, #3FEDCA, #14dbb3 45%, #0B755F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #14dbb3, #1160BF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #14dbb3, #DB143C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #5BF0D2 0%, #14dbb3 45%, #0B755F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #36ED5D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #239FEB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0B755F 0%, transparent 65%), #14dbb3;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #14dbb3

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.

#14dbb3 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 11.81:1.

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.

#14dbb3, answered

What color is #14dbb3?

#14dbb3 is a balanced electric cyan, closest to Medium Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 5.5). It sits at 168° on the hue wheel with 83% saturation and 47% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #14dbb3?

rgb(20, 219, 179) — 20 red, 219 green and 179 blue out of 255, or 7.8% / 85.9% / 70.2% by channel.

What is #14dbb3 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(168, 83%, 47%) and hsv(168, 91%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #14dbb3 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5407 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 11.81:1.

Should I use black or white text on #14dbb3?

Black. It scores 11.81:1 against #14dbb3, versus 1.78:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #14dbb3 accessible on a white background?

#14dbb3 on white scores 1.78:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #0C826B to reach 4.5:1, or #096250 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #14dbb3?

#DB143C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DB14A0 and #DB4F14, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #14dbb3?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C0EDE4 for borders, #4B9B8B for secondary text, #E00F6E as an accent and #0B755F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #14DB4F and #14A0DB stays calm, while #DB143C is the loudest partner.

What is #14dbb3 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(91%, 0%, 18%, 14%). 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 #14dbb3 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 82 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #14DB6A; nudged cooler, #12BCDE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #14dbb3?

The emerald family — its 500 step is #10b981, ΔE2000 10.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #14dbb3 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #14dbb3 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#14dbb3] or text-[#14dbb3], 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 #14dbb3 with 50% opacity?

rgba(20, 219, 179, 0.5), or #14dbb380 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #8AEDD9; over black, #0A6E5A.

Is #14dbb3 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #00CCCC, ΔE2000 12.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #14dbb3 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 #14dbb3?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #3FEDCA, #14dbb3 45%, #0B755F). For more colour, a short hue run to #1160BF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #14dbb3 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #14dbb3 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.