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cyan · cool

#1cbba4

a dark, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Light Sea Green

Token name suggestion: Dusk Teal

RGB
28, 187, 164
HSL
171°, 74%, 42%
CMYK
85, 0, 12, 27
Luminance
0.3847

#1cbba4 is a dark vivid cyan, 171° on the wheel and 84/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.69:1). As text it scores 2.42:1 on white — use #138272 instead. Nearest name is Light Sea Green, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(171 74% 42%)rgb(28 187 164)Base step 700AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #1cbba4 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#1cbba4
Hue
171°
cyan
Saturation
74%
vivid
Lightness
42%
dark
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
61%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3847
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
84/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.69:1
Closest name
Light Sea Green
ΔE2000 5.5
Chroma
43.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.712
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 1.8
Web-safe
#33CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue171° of 360°
Saturation74%
Lightness42%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #1cbba4.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool84% 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
Red1%
Green92%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#1cbba4
HEX (8-digit)#1cbba4ff
RGBrgb(28, 187, 164)
RGBArgba(28, 187, 164, 1)
HSLhsl(171, 74%, 42%)
HSV / HSBhsv(171, 85%, 73%)
HWBhwb(171 11% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(85%, 0%, 12%, 27%)
LABlab(68.4 -43.5 0.8)
LCHlch(68.4 43.5 179.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.712 0.125 179.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(24.95, 38.46, 41.22)
Decimal1883044
Display P3color(display-p3 0.110 0.733 0.643)
Web-safe#33CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #1cbba4;
background-color: #1cbba4;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #1cbba4;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#1cbba4] bg-[#1cbba4]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #1cbba4;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.110, green: 0.733, blue: 0.643)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.110, green: 0.733, blue: 0.643, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#1CBBA4</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF1CBBA4)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF1CBBA4)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(164, 187, 28)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(28, 187, 164)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(28, 187, 164)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 28, 187, 164)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1098f, 0.7333f, 0.6431f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{28,187,164}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #1cbba4 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #1cbba4 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#116F61, #D3EEEA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #1cbba4 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: #F3FCFA;
  --brand-100: #E7F9F6;
  --brand-200: #C8F3ED;
  --brand-300: #9DF0E4;
  --brand-400: #6DE9D7;
  --brand-500: #3CE2CA;
  --brand-600: #20D5BB;
  --brand-700: #1cbba4;
  --brand-800: #158E7C;
  --brand-900: #14675B;
  --brand-950: #0C4039;
  --brand: #1cbba4;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE6;
  --brand-hover: #179C89;
  --brand-pressed: #137D6E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142422;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FCFA',
        100: '#E7F9F6',
        200: '#C8F3ED',
        300: '#9DF0E4',
        400: '#6DE9D7',
        500: '#3CE2CA',
        600: '#20D5BB',
        700: '#1cbba4',
        800: '#158E7C',
        900: '#14675B',
        950: '#0C4039',
        DEFAULT: '#1cbba4',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FCFA,
  '100': #E7F9F6,
  '200': #C8F3ED,
  '300': #9DF0E4,
  '400': #6DE9D7,
  '500': #3CE2CA,
  '600': #20D5BB,
  '700': #1cbba4,
  '800': #158E7C,
  '900': #14675B,
  '950': #0C4039,
);
$brand-base: #1cbba4;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FCFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C8F3ED", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9DF0E4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6DE9D7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3CE2CA", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#20D5BB", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1cbba4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#158E7C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#14675B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0C4039", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #1cbba4 · 8.69:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.42:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.69:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #1cbba4 as text scores 2.42:1 on white and 8.69:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #116F61 at 2.51:1.

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
#138272 · 4.70:1
AA on white−13% L
#138272
The quick fox
#0F6356 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−20% L
#0F6356
The quick fox
#1cbba4 · 8.69:1
AA on blackalready passes
#1cbba4
The quick fox
#1cbba4 · 8.69:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#1cbba4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #19A591 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
#1cbba4 on white: 2.42:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#1cbba4 on black: 8.69:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #1cbba4 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #1cbba4.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.42:1AaAa
Slate 502.31:1AaAa
Slate 1002.20:1AaAa
Slate 2001.96:1AaAa
Slate 3001.63:1AaAa
Slate 4001.06:1AaAa
Slate 5001.97:1AaAa
Slate 6003.14:1AaAa
Slate 7004.29:1AaAa
Slate 8006.06:1AaAa
Slate 9007.39:1AaAa
Black8.69:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B3AFA3
deuteranopia · #9FA1A6
tritanopia · #00BEB4

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. #1cbba4 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.

#F3FCFA
#E7F9F6
#C8F3ED
#9DF0E4
#6DE9D7
#3CE2CA
#20D5BB
#1cbba4
#158E7C
#14675B
#0C4039
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F3FCFADarkest = 950 · #0C4039Text 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 0.031 179.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.050 179.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.075 179.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.098 179.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.115 179.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.125 179.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.125 179.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.118 179.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.105 179.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.088 179.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.069 179.4);
}

Colors that work with #1cbba4

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#C0EDE6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B8F
Captions on the surface
Accent#C0185A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#116F61
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9FCF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142422
Dark-mode background
Hover#179C89
One step down in lightness
Pressed#137D6E
Two steps down
Disabled#90B8B2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#13D9BC
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 #1cbba4

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 #116F61
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #19A591

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • Weight58/100
  • 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#BB1C33
Analogous left#1CBB55
Analogous right#1C83BB
Split-complement 1#BB1C83
Split-complement 2#BB551C
Triadic 1#A41CBB
Triadic 2#BBA41C
Tetradic#551CBB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°171°

#1cbba4 sits at 171°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red11.0%
Green73.3%
Blue64.3%
R · 0–255
28
0x1c
G · 0–255
187
0xbb
B · 0–255
164
0xa4

CMYK percentages

Cyan85.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow12.3%
Key (black)26.7%

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

Color previews

#1cbba4 text on a black background

contrast 8.69:1

Card sample

#1cbba4 text on a white background

contrast 2.42:1

Card sample

#1cbba4 on grey

2.20:1

#1cbba4 on its own surface

2.29:1

#1cbba4 on its dark surface

6.66:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #1cbba4;
Background color
Panel with #1cbba4 background
background-color: #1cbba4;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #1cbba4;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(28, 187, 164, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(28, 187, 164, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #1cbba4;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #1cbba4, #1C68BB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #1cbba4, #1C40BB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #1cbba4;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #1cbba4;
caret-color: #1cbba4;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #1cbba4;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9FCF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #1cbba4;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#1cbba4 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #1cbba4 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(28, 187, 164, 0.5)
rgb(28 187 164 / 50%)
#1cbba480
hsl(171 74% 42% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #1cbba4 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#1cbba41a#E8F8F6
20%#1cbba433#D2F1ED
40%#1cbba466#A4E4DB
60%#1cbba499#77D6C8
80%#1cbba4cc#49C9B6

Gradients from #1cbba4

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, #34E1C8, #1cbba4 45%, #116F61);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #1cbba4, #184EA1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #1cbba4, #BB1C33);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #4EE5CF 0%, #1cbba4 45%, #116F61 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%, #2BDF5C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #2086D6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #116F61 0%, transparent 65%), #1cbba4;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #1cbba4

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.

#1cbba4 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

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 8.69:1.

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.

#1cbba4, answered

What color is #1cbba4?

#1cbba4 is a dark vivid cyan, closest to Light Sea Green (ΔE2000 5.5). It sits at 171° on the hue wheel with 74% saturation and 42% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #1cbba4?

rgb(28, 187, 164) — 28 red, 187 green and 164 blue out of 255, or 11% / 73.3% / 64.3% by channel.

What is #1cbba4 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(171, 74%, 42%) and hsv(171, 85%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #1cbba4 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3847 and perceived brightness is 61%, so black text on it reaches 8.69:1.

Should I use black or white text on #1cbba4?

Black. It scores 8.69:1 against #1cbba4, versus 2.42:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #1cbba4 accessible on a white background?

#1cbba4 on white scores 2.42:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #138272 to reach 4.5:1, or #0F6356 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #1cbba4?

#BB1C33 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BB1C83 and #BB551C, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #1cbba4?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EDE6 for borders, #4B9B8F for secondary text, #C0185A as an accent and #116F61 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #1CBB55 and #1C83BB stays calm, while #BB1C33 is the loudest partner.

What is #1cbba4 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(85%, 0%, 12%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #1cbba4 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 84 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #1CBB6A; nudged cooler, #1A99BD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #1cbba4?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 1.8 away. That is close enough to swap in without anyone noticing.

How do I use #1cbba4 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#1cbba4] or text-[#1cbba4], 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 #1cbba4 with 50% opacity?

rgba(28, 187, 164, 0.5), or #1cbba480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #8EDDD2; over black, #0E5E52.

Is #1cbba4 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33CC99, ΔE2000 8.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #1cbba4 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 #1cbba4?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #34E1C8, #1cbba4 45%, #116F61). For more colour, a short hue run to #184EA1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #1cbba4 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #1cbba4 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.