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cyan · cool

#28bcaf

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

Token name suggestion: Slate Lagoon

RGB
40, 188, 175
HSL
175°, 65%, 45%
CMYK
79, 0, 7, 26
Luminance
0.3951

#28bcaf is a dark vivid cyan, 175° on the wheel and 85/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.90:1). As text it scores 2.36:1 on white — use #1B8178 instead. Nearest name is Light Sea Green, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(175 65% 45%)rgb(40 188 175)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #28bcaf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#28bcaf
Hue
175°
cyan
Saturation
65%
vivid
Lightness
45%
dark
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
62%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3951
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
85/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.90:1
Closest name
Light Sea Green
ΔE2000 3.2
Chroma
40.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.719
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 2.2
Web-safe
#33CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue175° of 360°
Saturation65%
Lightness45%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #28bcaf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool85% 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%
Green91%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#28bcaf
HEX (8-digit)#28bcafff
RGBrgb(40, 188, 175)
RGBArgba(40, 188, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(175, 65%, 45%)
HSV / HSBhsv(175, 79%, 74%)
HWBhwb(175 16% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(79%, 0%, 7%, 26%)
LABlab(69.1 -39.9 -4.2)
LCHlch(69.1 40.1 185.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.719 0.119 185.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(26.59, 39.51, 46.77)
Decimal2669743
Display P3color(display-p3 0.157 0.737 0.686)
Web-safe#33CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #28bcaf;
background-color: #28bcaf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #28bcaf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#28bcaf] bg-[#28bcaf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #28bcaf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.157, green: 0.737, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.157, green: 0.737, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#28BCAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF28BCAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF28BCAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 188, 40)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(40, 188, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(40, 188, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 40, 188, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1569f, 0.7373f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{40,188,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #28bcaf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #28bcaf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#166962, #D3EEEC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #28bcaf 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: #F3FBFB;
  --brand-100: #E8F7F6;
  --brand-200: #CBF1ED;
  --brand-300: #A2EBE5;
  --brand-400: #74E1D8;
  --brand-500: #46D8CB;
  --brand-600: #28bcaf;
  --brand-700: #24A89D;
  --brand-800: #1D877D;
  --brand-900: #19625B;
  --brand-950: #0F3D39;
  --brand: #28bcaf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE9;
  --brand-hover: #229F94;
  --brand-pressed: #1B8178;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142423;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FBFB',
        100: '#E8F7F6',
        200: '#CBF1ED',
        300: '#A2EBE5',
        400: '#74E1D8',
        500: '#46D8CB',
        600: '#28bcaf',
        700: '#24A89D',
        800: '#1D877D',
        900: '#19625B',
        950: '#0F3D39',
        DEFAULT: '#28bcaf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FBFB,
  '100': #E8F7F6,
  '200': #CBF1ED,
  '300': #A2EBE5,
  '400': #74E1D8,
  '500': #46D8CB,
  '600': #28bcaf,
  '700': #24A89D,
  '800': #1D877D,
  '900': #19625B,
  '950': #0F3D39,
);
$brand-base: #28bcaf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FBFB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E8F7F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CBF1ED", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A2EBE5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#74E1D8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#46D8CB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#28bcaf", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#24A89D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1D877D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#19625B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0F3D39", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #28bcaf · 8.90:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.36:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.90:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #28bcaf as text scores 2.36:1 on white and 8.90:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #166962 at 2.76:1.

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
#1B8178 · 4.71:1
AA on white−14% L
#1B8178
The quick fox
#145F59 · 7.47:1
AAA on white−22% L
#145F59
The quick fox
#28bcaf · 8.90:1
AA on blackalready passes
#28bcaf
The quick fox
#28bcaf · 8.90:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#28bcaf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #23A397 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
#28bcaf on white: 2.36:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#28bcaf on black: 8.90:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #28bcaf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #28bcaf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.36:1AaAa
Slate 502.25:1AaAa
Slate 1002.15:1AaAa
Slate 2001.91:1AaAa
Slate 3001.59:1AaAa
Slate 4001.09:1AaAa
Slate 5002.02:1AaAa
Slate 6003.21:1AaAa
Slate 7004.39:1AaAa
Slate 8006.20:1AaAa
Slate 9007.57:1AaAa
Black8.90:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B2B1AF
deuteranopia · #9EA3B0
tritanopia · #00C0B8

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. #28bcaf 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.

#F3FBFB
#E8F7F6
#CBF1ED
#A2EBE5
#74E1D8
#46D8CB
#28bcaf
#24A89D
#1D877D
#19625B
#0F3D39
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F3FBFBDarkest = 950 · #0F3D39Text 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 0.030 185.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.047 185.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.071 185.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.093 185.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.109 185.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.119 185.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.119 185.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.112 185.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.100 185.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.083 185.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.065 185.7);
}

Colors that work with #28bcaf

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#C0EDE9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B94
Captions on the surface
Accent#C12359
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#166962
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAFBF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142423
Dark-mode background
Hover#229F94
One step down in lightness
Pressed#1B8178
Two steps down
Disabled#97BDB9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#1FD9C9
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 #28bcaf

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 #166962
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #23A397

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
  • Weight55/100
  • 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#BC2835
Analogous left#28BC65
Analogous right#287FBC
Split-complement 1#BC287F
Split-complement 2#BC6528
Triadic 1#AF28BC
Triadic 2#BCAF28
Tetradic#6528BC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°175°

#28bcaf sits at 175°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red15.7%
Green73.7%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
40
0x28
G · 0–255
188
0xbc
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan78.7%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow6.9%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 112%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#28bcaf text on a black background

contrast 8.90:1

Card sample

#28bcaf text on a white background

contrast 2.36:1

Card sample

#28bcaf on grey

2.15:1

#28bcaf on its own surface

2.24:1

#28bcaf on its dark surface

6.81:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #28bcaf;
Background color
Panel with #28bcaf background
background-color: #28bcaf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #28bcaf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(40, 188, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(40, 188, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #28bcaf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #28bcaf, #2866BC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #28bcaf, #2841BC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #28bcaf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #28bcaf;
caret-color: #28bcaf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #28bcaf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAFBF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #28bcaf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#28bcaf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #28bcaf 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(40, 188, 175, 0.5)
rgb(40 188 175 / 50%)
#28bcaf80
hsl(175 65% 45% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #28bcaf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#28bcaf1a#EAF8F7
20%#28bcaf33#D4F2EF
40%#28bcaf66#A9E4DF
60%#28bcaf99#7ED7CF
80%#28bcafcc#53C9BF

Gradients from #28bcaf

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, #49D8CC, #28bcaf 45%, #166962);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #28bcaf, #234EA3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #28bcaf, #BC2835);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #62DED3 0%, #28bcaf 45%, #166962 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%, #41D672 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #3082D3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #166962 0%, transparent 65%), #28bcaf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #28bcaf

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.

#28bcaf 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 8.90:1.

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.

#28bcaf, answered

What color is #28bcaf?

#28bcaf is a dark vivid cyan, closest to Light Sea Green (ΔE2000 3.2). It sits at 175° on the hue wheel with 65% saturation and 45% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #28bcaf?

rgb(40, 188, 175) — 40 red, 188 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 15.7% / 73.7% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #28bcaf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(175, 65%, 45%) and hsv(175, 79%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #28bcaf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3951 and perceived brightness is 62%, so black text on it reaches 8.90:1.

Should I use black or white text on #28bcaf?

Black. It scores 8.90:1 against #28bcaf, versus 2.36:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #28bcaf accessible on a white background?

#28bcaf on white scores 2.36:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #1B8178 to reach 4.5:1, or #145F59 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #28bcaf?

#BC2835 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BC287F and #BC6528, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #28bcaf?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EDE9 for borders, #4B9B94 for secondary text, #C12359 as an accent and #166962 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #28BC65 and #287FBC stays calm, while #BC2835 is the loudest partner.

What is #28bcaf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(79%, 0%, 7%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #28bcaf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 85 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #28BC79; nudged cooler, #2695BE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #28bcaf?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 2.2 away. That is close enough to swap in without anyone noticing.

How do I use #28bcaf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#28bcaf] or text-[#28bcaf], 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 #28bcaf with 50% opacity?

rgba(40, 188, 175, 0.5), or #28bcaf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #94DED7; over black, #145E58.

Is #28bcaf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33CC99, ΔE2000 11.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #28bcaf 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 #28bcaf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #49D8CC, #28bcaf 45%, #166962). For more colour, a short hue run to #234EA3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #28bcaf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #28bcaf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.