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cyan · cool

#22cdaf

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Glacier

RGB
34, 205, 175
HSL
170°, 72%, 47%
CMYK
83, 0, 15, 20
Luminance
0.4710

#22cdaf is a balanced vivid cyan, 170° on the wheel and 83/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.42:1). As text it scores 2.02:1 on white — use #168370 instead. Nearest name is Medium Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(170 72% 47%)rgb(34 205 175)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #22cdaf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#22cdaf
Hue
170°
cyan
Saturation
72%
vivid
Lightness
47%
balanced
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
66%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4710
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
83/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
10.42:1
Closest name
Medium Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 4.8
Chroma
47.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.761
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 6.3
Web-safe
#33CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue170° of 360°
Saturation72%
Lightness47%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #22cdaf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool83% 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%
Green93%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#22cdaf
HEX (8-digit)#22cdafff
RGBrgb(34, 205, 175)
RGBArgba(34, 205, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(170, 72%, 47%)
HSV / HSBhsv(169, 83%, 80%)
HWBhwb(170 13% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(83%, 0%, 15%, 20%)
LABlab(74.3 -47.7 3.3)
LCHlch(74.3 47.9 176.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.761 0.136 176.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(30.22, 47.09, 48.05)
Decimal2280879
Display P3color(display-p3 0.133 0.804 0.686)
Web-safe#33CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #22cdaf;
background-color: #22cdaf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #22cdaf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#22cdaf] bg-[#22cdaf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #22cdaf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.133, green: 0.804, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.133, green: 0.804, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#22CDAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF22CDAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF22CDAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 205, 34)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(34, 205, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(34, 205, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 34, 205, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1333f, 0.8039f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{34,205,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #22cdaf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #22cdaf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#126D5D, #D3EEE9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #22cdaf 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: #E7F8F5;
  --brand-200: #C9F3EB;
  --brand-300: #9FEFE1;
  --brand-400: #6FE7D2;
  --brand-500: #3FDFC3;
  --brand-600: #22cdaf;
  --brand-700: #1DAF95;
  --brand-800: #178C78;
  --brand-900: #156557;
  --brand-950: #0D3F37;
  --brand: #22cdaf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE5;
  --brand-hover: #1DAE95;
  --brand-pressed: #18907B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142422;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FCFA',
        100: '#E7F8F5',
        200: '#C9F3EB',
        300: '#9FEFE1',
        400: '#6FE7D2',
        500: '#3FDFC3',
        600: '#22cdaf',
        700: '#1DAF95',
        800: '#178C78',
        900: '#156557',
        950: '#0D3F37',
        DEFAULT: '#22cdaf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FCFA,
  '100': #E7F8F5,
  '200': #C9F3EB,
  '300': #9FEFE1,
  '400': #6FE7D2,
  '500': #3FDFC3,
  '600': #22cdaf,
  '700': #1DAF95,
  '800': #178C78,
  '900': #156557,
  '950': #0D3F37,
);
$brand-base: #22cdaf;
$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": "#E7F8F5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C9F3EB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9FEFE1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6FE7D2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3FDFC3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#22cdaf", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1DAF95", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#178C78", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#156557", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0D3F37", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #22cdaf · 10.42:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.02:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.42:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #22cdaf as text scores 2.02:1 on white and 10.42:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #126D5D at 3.09:1.

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
#168370 · 4.65:1
AA on white−17% L
#168370
The quick fox
#116456 · 7.04:1
AAA on white−24% L
#116456
The quick fox
#22cdaf · 10.42:1
AA on blackalready passes
#22cdaf
The quick fox
#22cdaf · 10.42:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#22cdaf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #1CA68E 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
#22cdaf on white: 2.02:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#22cdaf on black: 10.42:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #22cdaf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #22cdaf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.02:1AaAa
Slate 501.93:1AaAa
Slate 1001.84:1AaAa
Slate 2001.63:1AaAa
Slate 3001.36:1AaAa
Slate 4001.27:1AaAa
Slate 5002.36:1AaAa
Slate 6003.76:1AaAa
Slate 7005.14:1AaAa
Slate 8007.26:1AaAa
Slate 9008.86:1AaAa
Black10.42:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C5C0AE
deuteranopia · #B0B0B1
tritanopia · #00D0C4

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. #22cdaf 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.

#F3FCFA
#E7F8F5
#C9F3EB
#9FEFE1
#6FE7D2
#3FDFC3
#22cdaf
#1DAF95
#178C78
#156557
#0D3F37
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F3FCFADarkest = 950 · #0D3F37Text 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 0.034 176.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.054 176.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.082 176.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.106 176.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.125 176.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.136 176.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.136 176.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.128 176.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.114 176.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.095 176.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.075 176.6);
}

Colors that work with #22cdaf

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#C0EDE5
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B8D
Captions on the surface
Accent#D21D6A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#126D5D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9FBF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142422
Dark-mode background
Hover#1DAE95
One step down in lightness
Pressed#18907B
Two steps down
Disabled#9EC1BB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#1CE8C4
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 #22cdaf

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 #126D5D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #1CA68E

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 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • 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#CD2240
Analogous left#22CD5A
Analogous right#2296CD
Split-complement 1#CD2296
Split-complement 2#CD5A22
Triadic 1#AF22CD
Triadic 2#CDAF22
Tetradic#5A22CD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°170°

#22cdaf sits at 170°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red13.3%
Green80.4%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
34
0x22
G · 0–255
205
0xcd
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan83.4%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow14.6%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 118%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#22cdaf text on a black background

contrast 10.42:1

Card sample

#22cdaf text on a white background

contrast 2.02:1

Card sample

#22cdaf on grey

1.84:1

#22cdaf on its own surface

1.91:1

#22cdaf on its dark surface

7.98:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #22cdaf;
Background color
Panel with #22cdaf background
background-color: #22cdaf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #22cdaf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(34, 205, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(34, 205, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #22cdaf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #22cdaf, #2279CD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #22cdaf, #224ECD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #22cdaf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #22cdaf;
caret-color: #22cdaf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #22cdaf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9FBF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #22cdaf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#22cdaf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #22cdaf 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(34, 205, 175, 0.5)
rgb(34 205 175 / 50%)
#22cdaf80
hsl(170 72% 47% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #22cdaf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#22cdaf1a#E9FAF7
20%#22cdaf33#D3F5EF
40%#22cdaf66#A7EBDF
60%#22cdaf99#7AE1CF
80%#22cdafcc#4ED7BF

Gradients from #22cdaf

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, #4BE1C7, #22cdaf 45%, #126D5D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #22cdaf, #1E5DB3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #22cdaf, #CD2240);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #65E5CF 0%, #22cdaf 45%, #126D5D 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%, #43E068 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #3197DD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #126D5D 0%, transparent 65%), #22cdaf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #22cdaf

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.

#22cdaf 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 10.42:1.

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.

#22cdaf, answered

What color is #22cdaf?

#22cdaf is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Medium Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 4.8). It sits at 170° on the hue wheel with 72% saturation and 47% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #22cdaf?

rgb(34, 205, 175) — 34 red, 205 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 13.3% / 80.4% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #22cdaf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(170, 72%, 47%) and hsv(169, 83%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #22cdaf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4710 and perceived brightness is 66%, so black text on it reaches 10.42:1.

Should I use black or white text on #22cdaf?

Black. It scores 10.42:1 against #22cdaf, versus 2.02:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #22cdaf accessible on a white background?

#22cdaf on white scores 2.02:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #168370 to reach 4.5:1, or #116456 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #22cdaf?

#CD2240 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CD2296 and #CD5A22, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #22cdaf?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C0EDE5 for borders, #4B9B8D for secondary text, #D21D6A as an accent and #126D5D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #22CD5A and #2296CD stays calm, while #CD2240 is the loudest partner.

What is #22cdaf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(83%, 0%, 15%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #22cdaf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 83 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #22CD70; nudged cooler, #20AECF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #22cdaf?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 6.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #22cdaf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #22cdaf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#22cdaf] or text-[#22cdaf], 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 #22cdaf with 50% opacity?

rgba(34, 205, 175, 0.5), or #22cdaf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #91E6D7; over black, #116758.

Is #22cdaf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33CC99, ΔE2000 5.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #22cdaf 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 #22cdaf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #4BE1C7, #22cdaf 45%, #126D5D). For more colour, a short hue run to #1E5DB3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #22cdaf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #22cdaf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.