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cyan · cool

#2b3b39

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

Token name suggestion: Abyss Teal

RGB
43, 59, 57
HSL
173°, 16%, 20%
CMYK
27, 0, 3, 77
Luminance
0.0394

#2b3b39 is a deep soft cyan, 173° on the wheel and 65/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (11.75:1). As text it scores 11.75:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Slate Gray, nearest Tailwind family is neutral.

hsl(173 16% 20%)rgb(43 59 57)Base step 900AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #2b3b39 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#2b3b39
Hue
173°
cyan
Saturation
16%
soft
Lightness
20%
deep
Brightness
23%
HSV value
Perceived
21%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.0394
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
65/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
11.75:1
Closest name
Dark Slate Gray
ΔE2000 7.5
Chroma
7.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.338
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
neutral
500 · ΔE 22.5
Web-safe
#333333
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue173° of 360°
Saturation16%
Lightness20%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #2b3b39.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool65% 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
Red13%
Green79%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#2b3b39
HEX (8-digit)#2b3b39ff
RGBrgb(43, 59, 57)
RGBArgba(43, 59, 57, 1)
HSLhsl(173, 16%, 20%)
HSV / HSBhsv(173, 27%, 23%)
HWBhwb(173 17% 77%)
CMYKcmyk(27%, 0%, 3%, 77%)
LABlab(23.5 -7.0 -0.9)
LCHlch(23.5 7.1 187.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.338 0.021 186.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(3.30, 3.94, 4.46)
Decimal2833209
Display P3color(display-p3 0.169 0.231 0.224)
Web-safe#333333

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #2b3b39;
background-color: #2b3b39;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #2b3b39;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#2b3b39] bg-[#2b3b39]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #2b3b39;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.169, green: 0.231, blue: 0.224)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.169, green: 0.231, blue: 0.224, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#2B3B39</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF2B3B39)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF2B3B39)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(57, 59, 43)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(43, 59, 57)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(43, 59, 57)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 43, 59, 57)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1686f, 0.2314f, 0.2235f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{43,59,57}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #2b3b39 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #2b3b39 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#364A47, #DCE5E4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #2b3b39 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: #F6F8F8;
  --brand-100: #EEF2F1;
  --brand-200: #D9E2E1;
  --brand-300: #BED0CE;
  --brand-400: #9EB8B5;
  --brand-500: #7DA09C;
  --brand-600: #678E89;
  --brand-700: #567672;
  --brand-800: #455E5B;
  --brand-900: #2b3b39;
  --brand-950: #212C2A;
  --brand: #2b3b39;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F6F9F8;
  --brand-border: #D0DDDB;
  --brand-hover: #1C2625;
  --brand-pressed: #0D1211;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #18201F;
    --brand-ink: #DCE5E4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F8F8',
        100: '#EEF2F1',
        200: '#D9E2E1',
        300: '#BED0CE',
        400: '#9EB8B5',
        500: '#7DA09C',
        600: '#678E89',
        700: '#567672',
        800: '#455E5B',
        900: '#2b3b39',
        950: '#212C2A',
        DEFAULT: '#2b3b39',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F8F8,
  '100': #EEF2F1,
  '200': #D9E2E1,
  '300': #BED0CE,
  '400': #9EB8B5,
  '500': #7DA09C,
  '600': #678E89,
  '700': #567672,
  '800': #455E5B,
  '900': #2b3b39,
  '950': #212C2A,
);
$brand-base: #2b3b39;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F8F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEF2F1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D9E2E1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BED0CE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9EB8B5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7DA09C", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#678E89", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#567672", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#455E5B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2b3b39", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#212C2A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #2b3b39 · 11.75:1
Use #ffffffAAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 11.75:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Aa
Black text · 1.79:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #2b3b39 as text scores 11.75:1 on white and 1.79:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F0F4F4 at 10.60:1.

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
#2b3b39 · 11.75:1
AA on whitealready passes
#2b3b39
The quick fox
#2b3b39 · 11.75:1
AAA on whitealready passes
#2b3b39
The quick fox
#5A7C78 · 4.59:1
AA on black+22% L
#5A7C78
The quick fox
#7A9E9A · 7.18:1
AAA on black+35% L
#7A9E9A

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #2B3B39 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
#2b3b39 on white: 11.75:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#2b3b39 on black: 1.79:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #2b3b39 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #2b3b39.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White11.75:1AaAa
Slate 5011.23:1AaAa
Slate 10010.72:1AaAa
Slate 2009.53:1AaAa
Slate 3007.91:1AaAa
Slate 4004.58:1AaAa
Slate 5002.47:1AaAa
Slate 6001.55:1AaAa
Slate 7001.13:1AaAa
Slate 8001.25:1AaAa
Slate 9001.52:1AaAa
Black1.79:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #393939
deuteranopia · #363739
tritanopia · #263C3A

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. #2b3b39 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.

#F6F8F8
#EEF2F1
#D9E2E1
#BED0CE
#9EB8B5
#7DA09C
#678E89
#567672
#455E5B
#2b3b39
#212C2A
Base = 900Lightest = 50 · #F6F8F8Darkest = 950 · #212C2AText step on white = 700
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 0.005 186.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.008 186.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.013 186.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.016 186.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.019 186.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.021 186.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.021 186.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.020 186.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.018 186.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.015 186.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.012 186.7);
}

Colors that work with #2b3b39

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#F6F9F8
Tinted page background
Border#D0DDDB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#618580
Captions on the surface
Accent#3D2930
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#364A47
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F4F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#18201F
Dark-mode background
Hover#1C2625
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0D1211
Two steps down
Disabled#5A7C78
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#2D4D49
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 #2b3b39

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text on black or near-black surfaces
  • 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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • Weight80/100
  • 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#3B2B2D
Analogous left#2B3B31
Analogous right#2B353B
Split-complement 1#3B2B35
Split-complement 2#3B312B
Triadic 1#392B3B
Triadic 2#3B392B
Tetradic#312B3B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°173°

#2b3b39 sits at 173°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red16.9%
Green23.1%
Blue22.4%
R · 0–255
43
0x2b
G · 0–255
59
0x3b
B · 0–255
57
0x39

CMYK percentages

Cyan27.1%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow3.4%
Key (black)76.9%

Total ink coverage is 107%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#2b3b39 text on a black background

contrast 1.79:1

Card sample

#2b3b39 text on a white background

contrast 11.75:1

Card sample

#2b3b39 on grey

10.72:1

#2b3b39 on its own surface

11.09:1

#2b3b39 on its dark surface

1.41:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #2b3b39;
Background color
Panel with #2b3b39 background
background-color: #2b3b39;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #2b3b39;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(43, 59, 57, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(43, 59, 57, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #2b3b39;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #2b3b39, #2B323B);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2b3b39, #2B2E3B);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #2b3b39;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #2b3b39;
caret-color: #2b3b39;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #2b3b39;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F4F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #2b3b39;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#2b3b39 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #2b3b39 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(43, 59, 57, 0.5)
rgb(43 59 57 / 50%)
#2b3b3980
hsl(173 16% 20% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #2b3b39 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#2b3b391a#EAEBEB
20%#2b3b3933#D5D8D7
40%#2b3b3966#AAB1B0
60%#2b3b3999#808988
80%#2b3b39cc#556261

Gradients from #2b3b39

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, #455E5B, #2b3b39 45%, #364A47);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #2b3b39, #1E2229);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2b3b39, #3B2B2D);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #52706C 0%, #2b3b39 45%, #364A47 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F9F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #405947 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #38434D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #364A47 0%, transparent 65%), #2b3b39;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #2b3b39

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.

#2b3b39 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

Very dark values collapse into each other on cheap panels — leave more lightness between your darkest steps than the numbers suggest.

In dark mode

Too dim on dark surfaces at 1.79:1 — lift it to #5A7C78 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.

#2b3b39, answered

What color is #2b3b39?

#2b3b39 is a deep soft cyan, closest to Dark Slate Gray (ΔE2000 7.5). It sits at 173° on the hue wheel with 16% saturation and 20% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #2b3b39?

rgb(43, 59, 57) — 43 red, 59 green and 57 blue out of 255, or 16.9% / 23.1% / 22.4% by channel.

What is #2b3b39 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(173, 16%, 20%) and hsv(173, 27%, 23%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #2b3b39 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.0394 and perceived brightness is 21%, so white text on it reaches 11.75:1.

Should I use black or white text on #2b3b39?

White. It scores 11.75:1 against #2b3b39, versus 1.79:1 for black — AAA at any size.

Is #2b3b39 accessible on a white background?

#2b3b39 on white scores 11.75:1, which clears AAA at every size.

What is the complementary color of #2b3b39?

#3B2B2D sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #3B2B35 and #3B312B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #2b3b39?

For interface work: #F6F9F8 as the surface, #D0DDDB for borders, #618580 for secondary text, #3D2930 as an accent and #364A47 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #2B3B31 and #2B353B stays calm, while #3B2B2D is the loudest partner.

What is #2b3b39 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(27%, 0%, 3%, 77%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #2b3b39 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 65 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #2B3B33; nudged cooler, #2A383C.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #2b3b39?

The neutral family — its 500 step is #737373, ΔE2000 22.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #2b3b39 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #2b3b39 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#2b3b39] or text-[#2b3b39], 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 #2b3b39 with 50% opacity?

rgba(43, 59, 57, 0.5), or #2b3b3980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #959D9C; over black, #161E1D.

Is #2b3b39 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #333333, ΔE2000 8.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #2b3b39 mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #2b3b39?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #455E5B, #2b3b39 45%, #364A47). For more colour, a short hue run to #1E2229 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #2b3b39 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #2b3b39 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.