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cyan · cool

#205552

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

Token name suggestion: Cellar Glacier

RGB
32, 85, 82
HSL
177°, 45%, 23%
CMYK
62, 0, 4, 67
Luminance
0.0741

#205552 is a deep vivid cyan, 177° on the wheel and 86/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (8.46:1). As text it scores 8.46:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Slate Gray, nearest Tailwind family is neutral.

hsl(177 45% 23%)rgb(32 85 82)Base step 900AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #205552 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#205552
Hue
177°
cyan
Saturation
45%
vivid
Lightness
23%
deep
Brightness
33%
HSV value
Perceived
29%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0741
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
86/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
8.46:1
Closest name
Dark Slate Gray
ΔE2000 4.9
Chroma
18.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.413
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
neutral
500 · ΔE 21.9
Web-safe
#336666
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue177° of 360°
Saturation45%
Lightness23%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #205552.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool86% 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
Red4%
Green88%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#205552
HEX (8-digit)#205552ff
RGBrgb(32, 85, 82)
RGBArgba(32, 85, 82, 1)
HSLhsl(177, 45%, 23%)
HSV / HSBhsv(177, 62%, 33%)
HWBhwb(177 13% 67%)
CMYKcmyk(62%, 0%, 4%, 67%)
LABlab(32.7 -18.2 -3.5)
LCHlch(32.7 18.6 190.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.413 0.056 190.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(5.37, 7.41, 9.13)
Decimal2118994
Display P3color(display-p3 0.125 0.333 0.322)
Web-safe#336666

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #205552;
background-color: #205552;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #205552;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#205552] bg-[#205552]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #205552;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.125, green: 0.333, blue: 0.322)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.125, green: 0.333, blue: 0.322, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#205552</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF205552)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF205552)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(82, 85, 32)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(32, 85, 82)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(32, 85, 82)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 32, 85, 82)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1255f, 0.3333f, 0.3216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{32,85,82}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #205552 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #205552 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#235D59, #D3EEED);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #205552 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: #F5FAFA;
  --brand-100: #EAF5F4;
  --brand-200: #D1EBEA;
  --brand-300: #ADE0DD;
  --brand-400: #85D1CD;
  --brand-500: #5CC2BC;
  --brand-600: #43B2AC;
  --brand-700: #38948F;
  --brand-800: #2D7772;
  --brand-900: #205552;
  --brand-950: #163634;
  --brand: #205552;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C4E9E7;
  --brand-hover: #163B39;
  --brand-pressed: #0C2120;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEED;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAFA',
        100: '#EAF5F4',
        200: '#D1EBEA',
        300: '#ADE0DD',
        400: '#85D1CD',
        500: '#5CC2BC',
        600: '#43B2AC',
        700: '#38948F',
        800: '#2D7772',
        900: '#205552',
        950: '#163634',
        DEFAULT: '#205552',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAFA,
  '100': #EAF5F4,
  '200': #D1EBEA,
  '300': #ADE0DD,
  '400': #85D1CD,
  '500': #5CC2BC,
  '600': #43B2AC,
  '700': #38948F,
  '800': #2D7772,
  '900': #205552,
  '950': #163634,
);
$brand-base: #205552;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5FAFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF5F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D1EBEA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ADE0DD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#85D1CD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5CC2BC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#43B2AC", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#38948F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2D7772", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#205552", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#163634", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #205552 · 8.46:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 8.46:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 2.48:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #205552 as text scores 8.46:1 on white and 2.48:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #ECF8F7 at 7.79:1.

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
#205552 · 8.46:1
AA on whitealready passes
#205552
The quick fox
#205552 · 8.46:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#205552
The quick fox
#31817D · 4.57:1
AA on black+12% L
#31817D
The quick fox
#3FA6A0 · 7.17:1
AAA on black+22% L
#3FA6A0

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #205552 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
#205552 on white: 8.46:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#205552 on black: 2.48:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #205552 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #205552.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White8.46:1AaAa
Slate 508.08:1AaAa
Slate 1007.72:1AaAa
Slate 2006.86:1AaAa
Slate 3005.70:1AaAa
Slate 4003.30:1AaAa
Slate 5001.78:1AaAa
Slate 6001.12:1AaAa
Slate 7001.22:1AaAa
Slate 8001.73:1AaAa
Slate 9002.11:1AaAa
Black2.48:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #505152
deuteranopia · #484A53
tritanopia · #005754

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. #205552 is pinned to step 900; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F5FAFA
#EAF5F4
#D1EBEA
#ADE0DD
#85D1CD
#5CC2BC
#43B2AC
#38948F
#2D7772
#205552
#163634
Base = 900Lightest = 50 · #F5FAFADarkest = 950 · #163634Text 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 0.014 190.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.022 190.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.034 190.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.044 190.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.052 190.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.056 190.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.056 190.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.053 190.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.047 190.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.039 190.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.031 190.1);
}

Colors that work with #205552

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#F4FAFA
Tinted page background
Border#C4E9E7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B96
Captions on the surface
Accent#571E2F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#235D59
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF8F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#163B39
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0C2120
Two steps down
Disabled#598C89
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#1F6B66
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 #205552

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • 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 on black or near-black surfaces
  • 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
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.

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
  • Weight77/100
  • 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#552023
Analogous left#205537
Analogous right#203D55
Split-complement 1#55203D
Split-complement 2#553720
Triadic 1#522055
Triadic 2#555220
Tetradic#372055
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°177°

#205552 sits at 177°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red12.5%
Green33.3%
Blue32.2%
R · 0–255
32
0x20
G · 0–255
85
0x55
B · 0–255
82
0x52

CMYK percentages

Cyan62.4%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow3.5%
Key (black)66.7%

Total ink coverage is 133%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#205552 text on a black background

contrast 2.48:1

Card sample

#205552 text on a white background

contrast 8.46:1

Card sample

#205552 on grey

7.72:1

#205552 on its own surface

8.02:1

#205552 on its dark surface

1.90:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #205552;
Background color
Panel with #205552 background
background-color: #205552;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #205552;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(32, 85, 82, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(32, 85, 82, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #205552;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #205552, #203555);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #205552, #202755);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #205552;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #205552;
caret-color: #205552;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #205552;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF8F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #205552;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#205552 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #205552 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(32, 85, 82, 0.5)
rgb(32 85 82 / 50%)
#20555280
hsl(177 45% 23% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #205552 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#2055521a#E9EEEE
20%#20555233#D2DDDC
40%#20555266#A6BBBA
60%#20555299#799997
80%#205552cc#4D7775

Gradients from #205552

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, #31817D, #205552 45%, #235D59);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #205552, #18243F);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #205552, #552023);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #399892 0%, #205552 45%, #235D59 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%, #2E7A49 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #28486B 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #235D59 0%, transparent 65%), #205552;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #205552

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.

#205552 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

Too dim on dark surfaces at 2.48:1 — lift it to #31817D 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.

#205552, answered

What color is #205552?

#205552 is a deep vivid cyan, closest to Dark Slate Gray (ΔE2000 4.9). It sits at 177° on the hue wheel with 45% saturation and 23% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #205552?

rgb(32, 85, 82) — 32 red, 85 green and 82 blue out of 255, or 12.5% / 33.3% / 32.2% by channel.

What is #205552 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(177, 45%, 23%) and hsv(177, 62%, 33%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #205552 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0741 and perceived brightness is 29%, so white text on it reaches 8.46:1.

Should I use black or white text on #205552?

White. It scores 8.46:1 against #205552, versus 2.48:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #205552 accessible on a white background?

#205552 on white scores 8.46:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #205552?

#552023 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #55203D and #553720, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #205552?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C4E9E7 for borders, #4B9B96 for secondary text, #571E2F as an accent and #235D59 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #205537 and #203D55 stays calm, while #552023 is the loudest partner.

What is #205552 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(62%, 0%, 4%, 67%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #205552 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 86 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #20553E; nudged cooler, #1F4556.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #205552?

The neutral family — its 500 step is #737373, ΔE2000 21.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #205552 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #205552 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#205552] or text-[#205552], 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 #205552 with 50% opacity?

rgba(32, 85, 82, 0.5), or #20555280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #90AAA9; over black, #102B29.

Is #205552 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #336666, ΔE2000 6.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #205552 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 #205552?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #31817D, #205552 45%, #235D59). For more colour, a short hue run to #18243F keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #205552 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #205552 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.