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cyan · cool

#2c7ba0

a dark, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Steel Blue

Token name suggestion: Dusk Teal

RGB
44, 123, 160
HSL
199°, 57%, 40%
CMYK
73, 23, 0, 37
Luminance
0.1724

#2c7ba0 is a dark vivid cyan, 199° on the wheel and 95/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (4.72:1). As text it scores 4.72:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(199 57% 40%)rgb(44 123 160)Base step 700AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #2c7ba0 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#2c7ba0
Hue
199°
cyan
Saturation
57%
vivid
Lightness
40%
dark
Brightness
63%
HSV value
Perceived
44%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1724
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
95/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
4.72:1
Closest name
Steel Blue
ΔE2000 6.4
Chroma
29.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.552
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 11.7
Web-safe
#336699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue199° of 360°
Saturation57%
Lightness40%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #2c7ba0.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool95% 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
Red3%
Green82%
Blue15%

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

Every format

HEX#2c7ba0
HEX (8-digit)#2c7ba0ff
RGBrgb(44, 123, 160)
RGBArgba(44, 123, 160, 1)
HSLhsl(199, 57%, 40%)
HSV / HSBhsv(199, 73%, 63%)
HWBhwb(199 17% 37%)
CMYKcmyk(73%, 23%, 0%, 37%)
LABlab(48.6 -11.3 -26.8)
LCHlch(48.6 29.1 247.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.552 0.095 232.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(14.46, 17.24, 35.82)
Decimal2915232
Display P3color(display-p3 0.173 0.482 0.627)
Web-safe#336699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #2c7ba0;
background-color: #2c7ba0;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #2c7ba0;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#2c7ba0] bg-[#2c7ba0]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #2c7ba0;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.173, green: 0.482, blue: 0.627)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.173, green: 0.482, blue: 0.627, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#2C7BA0</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF2C7BA0)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF2C7BA0)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(160, 123, 44)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(44, 123, 160)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(44, 123, 160)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 44, 123, 160)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1725f, 0.4824f, 0.6275f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{44,123,160}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #2c7ba0 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #2c7ba0 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1B4D64, #D3E5EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #2c7ba0 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: #F4F9FB;
  --brand-100: #E9F2F6;
  --brand-200: #CDE4EE;
  --brand-300: #A7D2E7;
  --brand-400: #7BBCDB;
  --brand-500: #4FA6CF;
  --brand-600: #3594C0;
  --brand-700: #2c7ba0;
  --brand-800: #236280;
  --brand-900: #1D495D;
  --brand-950: #122E3A;
  --brand: #2c7ba0;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DEED;
  --brand-hover: #246684;
  --brand-pressed: #1D5068;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E5EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F9FB',
        100: '#E9F2F6',
        200: '#CDE4EE',
        300: '#A7D2E7',
        400: '#7BBCDB',
        500: '#4FA6CF',
        600: '#3594C0',
        700: '#2c7ba0',
        800: '#236280',
        900: '#1D495D',
        950: '#122E3A',
        DEFAULT: '#2c7ba0',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F9FB,
  '100': #E9F2F6,
  '200': #CDE4EE,
  '300': #A7D2E7,
  '400': #7BBCDB,
  '500': #4FA6CF,
  '600': #3594C0,
  '700': #2c7ba0,
  '800': #236280,
  '900': #1D495D,
  '950': #122E3A,
);
$brand-base: #2c7ba0;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F9FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9F2F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CDE4EE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A7D2E7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7BBCDB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4FA6CF", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3594C0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2c7ba0", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#236280", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1D495D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#122E3A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #2c7ba0 · 4.72:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.72:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.45:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #2c7ba0 as text scores 4.72:1 on white and 4.45:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EBF5FA at 4.27:1.

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
#2c7ba0 · 4.72:1
AA on whitealready passes
#2c7ba0
The quick fox
#225F7C · 7.01:1
AAA on white−9% L
#225F7C
The quick fox
#2D7EA4 · 4.63:1
AA on black+1% L
#2D7EA4
The quick fox
#43A0CB · 7.13:1
AAA on black+13% L
#43A0CB

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #2C7BA0 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
#2c7ba0 on white: 4.72:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#2c7ba0 on black: 4.45:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #2c7ba0 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #2c7ba0.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.72:1AaAa
Slate 504.51:1AaAa
Slate 1004.31:1AaAa
Slate 2003.83:1AaAa
Slate 3003.18:1AaAa
Slate 4001.84:1AaAa
Slate 5001.01:1AaAa
Slate 6001.60:1AaAa
Slate 7002.19:1AaAa
Slate 8003.10:1AaAa
Slate 9003.78:1AaAa
Black4.45:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #697AA2
deuteranopia · #596E9F
tritanopia · #008587

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. #2c7ba0 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.

#F4F9FB
#E9F2F6
#CDE4EE
#A7D2E7
#7BBCDB
#4FA6CF
#3594C0
#2c7ba0
#236280
#1D495D
#122E3A
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F4F9FBDarkest = 950 · #122E3AText 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 0.024 232.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.038 232.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.057 232.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.074 232.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.087 232.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.095 232.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.095 232.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.089 232.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.079 232.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.066 232.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.052 232.6);
}

Colors that work with #2c7ba0

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#F4F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0DEED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B819B
Captions on the surface
Accent#A43028
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1B4D64
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBF5FA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#246684
One step down in lightness
Pressed#1D5068
Two steps down
Disabled#89A6B3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#258BBB
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 #2c7ba0

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
  • 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
  • Weight60/100
  • 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#A0512C
Analogous left#2CA08B
Analogous right#2C41A0
Split-complement 1#A02C41
Split-complement 2#A08B2C
Triadic 1#A02C7B
Triadic 2#7BA02C
Tetradic#8B2CA0
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°199°

#2c7ba0 sits at 199°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red17.3%
Green48.2%
Blue62.7%
R · 0–255
44
0x2c
G · 0–255
123
0x7b
B · 0–255
160
0xa0

CMYK percentages

Cyan72.5%
Magenta23.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)37.3%

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

Color previews

#2c7ba0 text on a black background

contrast 4.45:1

Card sample

#2c7ba0 text on a white background

contrast 4.72:1

Card sample

#2c7ba0 on grey

4.31:1

#2c7ba0 on its own surface

4.42:1

#2c7ba0 on its dark surface

3.55:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #2c7ba0;
Background color
Panel with #2c7ba0 background
background-color: #2c7ba0;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #2c7ba0;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(44, 123, 160, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(44, 123, 160, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #2c7ba0;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #2c7ba0, #2C2EA0);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2c7ba0, #472CA0);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #2c7ba0;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #2c7ba0;
caret-color: #2c7ba0;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #2c7ba0;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBF5FA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #2c7ba0;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#2c7ba0 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #2c7ba0 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(44, 123, 160, 0.5)
rgb(44 123 160 / 50%)
#2c7ba080
hsl(199 57% 40% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #2c7ba0 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#2c7ba01a#EAF2F6
20%#2c7ba033#D5E5EC
40%#2c7ba066#ABCAD9
60%#2c7ba099#80B0C6
80%#2c7ba0cc#5695B3

Gradients from #2c7ba0

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, #3F9ECA, #2c7ba0 45%, #1B4D64);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #2c7ba0, #2C2588);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2c7ba0, #A0512C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #57AAD1 0%, #2c7ba0 45%, #1B4D64 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #37C8A2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #3340B8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1B4D64 0%, transparent 65%), #2c7ba0;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #2c7ba0

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.

#2c7ba0 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 4.45:1 — lift it to #2D7EA4 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.

#2c7ba0, answered

What color is #2c7ba0?

#2c7ba0 is a dark vivid cyan, closest to Steel Blue (ΔE2000 6.4). It sits at 199° on the hue wheel with 57% saturation and 40% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #2c7ba0?

rgb(44, 123, 160) — 44 red, 123 green and 160 blue out of 255, or 17.3% / 48.2% / 62.7% by channel.

What is #2c7ba0 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(199, 57%, 40%) and hsv(199, 73%, 63%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #2c7ba0 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1724 and perceived brightness is 44%, so white text on it reaches 4.72:1.

Should I use black or white text on #2c7ba0?

White. It scores 4.72:1 against #2c7ba0, versus 4.45:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #2c7ba0 accessible on a white background?

#2c7ba0 on white scores 4.72:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #2c7ba0?

#A0512C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #A02C41 and #A08B2C, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #2c7ba0?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DEED for borders, #4B819B for secondary text, #A43028 as an accent and #1B4D64 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #2CA08B and #2C41A0 stays calm, while #A0512C is the loudest partner.

What is #2c7ba0 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(73%, 23%, 0%, 37%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #2c7ba0 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 95 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #2CA09A; nudged cooler, #2A6CA2.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #2c7ba0?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 11.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #2c7ba0 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #2c7ba0 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#2c7ba0] or text-[#2c7ba0], 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 #2c7ba0 with 50% opacity?

rgba(44, 123, 160, 0.5), or #2c7ba080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #96BDD0; over black, #163E50.

Is #2c7ba0 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #336699, ΔE2000 9.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #2c7ba0 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 #2c7ba0?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #3F9ECA, #2c7ba0 45%, #1B4D64). For more colour, a short hue run to #2C2588 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #2c7ba0 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #2c7ba0 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.