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cyan · cool

#2afbc9

a balanced, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Aqua Marine

Token name suggestion: Studio Teal

RGB
42, 251, 201
HSL
166°, 96%, 58%
CMYK
83, 0, 20, 2
Luminance
0.7370

#2afbc9 is a balanced electric cyan, 166° on the wheel and 82/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.74:1). As text it scores 1.33:1 on white — use #038565 instead. Nearest name is Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is emerald.

hsl(166 96% 58%)rgb(42 251 201)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #2afbc9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#2afbc9
Hue
166°
cyan
Saturation
96%
electric
Lightness
58%
balanced
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
80%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7370
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
82/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
15.74:1
Closest name
Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 4.6
Chroma
60.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.882
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
emerald
500 · ΔE 16.2
Web-safe
#33FFCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue166° of 360°
Saturation96%
Lightness58%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #2afbc9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool82% 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%
Green94%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#2afbc9
HEX (8-digit)#2afbc9ff
RGBrgb(42, 251, 201)
RGBArgba(42, 251, 201, 1)
HSLhsl(166, 96%, 58%)
HSV / HSBhsv(166, 83%, 98%)
HWBhwb(166 16% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(83%, 0%, 20%, 2%)
LABlab(88.8 -59.1 10.5)
LCHlch(88.8 60.0 169.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.882 0.167 170.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(45.99, 73.70, 67.05)
Decimal2816969
Display P3color(display-p3 0.165 0.984 0.788)
Web-safe#33FFCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #2afbc9;
background-color: #2afbc9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #2afbc9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#2afbc9] bg-[#2afbc9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #2afbc9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.165, green: 0.984, blue: 0.788)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.165, green: 0.984, blue: 0.788, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#2AFBC9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF2AFBC9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF2AFBC9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(201, 251, 42)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(42, 251, 201)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(42, 251, 201)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 42, 251, 201)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1647f, 0.9843f, 0.7882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{42,251,201}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #2afbc9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #2afbc9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#027D60, #D3EEE8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #2afbc9 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: #F1FDFA;
  --brand-100: #E4FCF6;
  --brand-200: #C1FAED;
  --brand-300: #91FDE3;
  --brand-400: #5AFCD5;
  --brand-500: #2afbc9;
  --brand-600: #05F0B8;
  --brand-700: #04C899;
  --brand-800: #03A07A;
  --brand-900: #077359;
  --brand-950: #044838;
  --brand: #2afbc9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE2;
  --brand-hover: #07FAC0;
  --brand-pressed: #04DAA6;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142420;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1FDFA',
        100: '#E4FCF6',
        200: '#C1FAED',
        300: '#91FDE3',
        400: '#5AFCD5',
        500: '#2afbc9',
        600: '#05F0B8',
        700: '#04C899',
        800: '#03A07A',
        900: '#077359',
        950: '#044838',
        DEFAULT: '#2afbc9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1FDFA,
  '100': #E4FCF6,
  '200': #C1FAED,
  '300': #91FDE3,
  '400': #5AFCD5,
  '500': #2afbc9,
  '600': #05F0B8,
  '700': #04C899,
  '800': #03A07A,
  '900': #077359,
  '950': #044838,
);
$brand-base: #2afbc9;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1FDFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4FCF6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C1FAED", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#91FDE3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#5AFCD5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#2afbc9", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#05F0B8", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#04C899", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#03A07A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#077359", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#044838", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #2afbc9 · 15.74:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.33:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.74:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #2afbc9 as text scores 1.33:1 on white and 15.74:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #027D60 at 3.83:1.

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
#038565 · 4.62:1
AA on white−31% L
#038565
The quick fox
#02624B · 7.37:1
AAA on white−38% L
#02624B
The quick fox
#2afbc9 · 15.74:1
AA on blackalready passes
#2afbc9
The quick fox
#2afbc9 · 15.74:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#2afbc9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #03A880 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
#2afbc9 on white: 1.33:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#2afbc9 on black: 15.74:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #2afbc9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #2afbc9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.33:1AaAa
Slate 501.28:1AaAa
Slate 1001.22:1AaAa
Slate 2001.08:1AaAa
Slate 3001.11:1AaAa
Slate 4001.92:1AaAa
Slate 5003.57:1AaAa
Slate 6005.68:1AaAa
Slate 7007.76:1AaAa
Slate 80010.97:1AaAa
Slate 90013.38:1AaAa
Black15.74:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #F3EAC7
deuteranopia · #DBD7CC
tritanopia · #00FDED

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. #2afbc9 is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F1FDFA
#E4FCF6
#C1FAED
#91FDE3
#5AFCD5
#2afbc9
#05F0B8
#04C899
#03A07A
#077359
#044838
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F1FDFADarkest = 950 · #044838Text 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 0.042 170.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.067 170.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.100 170.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.130 170.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.154 170.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.167 170.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.167 170.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.157 170.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.140 170.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.117 170.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.092 170.8);
}

Colors that work with #2afbc9

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#C0EDE2
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B88
Captions on the surface
Accent#FF2690
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#027D60
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6FFF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142420
Dark-mode background
Hover#07FAC0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#04DAA6
Two steps down
Disabled#BFD6D1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#3BFFD0
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 #2afbc9

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 #027D60
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #03A880

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight43/100
  • 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#FB2A5C
Analogous left#2AFB61
Analogous right#2AC5FB
Split-complement 1#FB2AC5
Split-complement 2#FB612A
Triadic 1#C92AFB
Triadic 2#FBC92A
Tetradic#612AFB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°166°

#2afbc9 sits at 166°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red16.5%
Green98.4%
Blue78.8%
R · 0–255
42
0x2a
G · 0–255
251
0xfb
B · 0–255
201
0xc9

CMYK percentages

Cyan83.3%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow19.9%
Key (black)1.6%

Total ink coverage is 105%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#2afbc9 text on a black background

contrast 15.74:1

Card sample

#2afbc9 text on a white background

contrast 1.33:1

Card sample

#2afbc9 on grey

1.22:1

#2afbc9 on its own surface

1.26:1

#2afbc9 on its dark surface

12.08:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #2afbc9;
Background color
Panel with #2afbc9 background
background-color: #2afbc9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #2afbc9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(42, 251, 201, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(42, 251, 201, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #2afbc9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #2afbc9, #2AA2FB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2afbc9, #2A6EFB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #2afbc9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #2afbc9;
caret-color: #2afbc9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #2afbc9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6FFF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #2afbc9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#2afbc9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #2afbc9 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(42, 251, 201, 0.5)
rgb(42 251 201 / 50%)
#2afbc980
hsl(166 96% 58% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #2afbc9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#2afbc91a#EAFFFA
20%#2afbc933#D4FEF4
40%#2afbc966#AAFDE9
60%#2afbc999#7FFDDF
80%#2afbc9cc#55FCD4

Gradients from #2afbc9

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, #66FCD8, #2afbc9 45%, #027D60);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #2afbc9, #0C81FA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2afbc9, #FB2A5C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #84FDE0 0%, #2afbc9 45%, #027D60 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%, #5CFC79 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #48BEFC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #027D60 0%, transparent 65%), #2afbc9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #2afbc9

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.

#2afbc9 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 15.74:1.

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.

#2afbc9, answered

What color is #2afbc9?

#2afbc9 is a balanced electric cyan, closest to Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 4.6). It sits at 166° on the hue wheel with 96% saturation and 58% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #2afbc9?

rgb(42, 251, 201) — 42 red, 251 green and 201 blue out of 255, or 16.5% / 98.4% / 78.8% by channel.

What is #2afbc9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(166, 96%, 58%) and hsv(166, 83%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #2afbc9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7370 and perceived brightness is 80%, so black text on it reaches 15.74:1.

Should I use black or white text on #2afbc9?

Black. It scores 15.74:1 against #2afbc9, versus 1.33:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #2afbc9 accessible on a white background?

#2afbc9 on white scores 1.33:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #038565 to reach 4.5:1, or #02624B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #2afbc9?

#FB2A5C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FB2AC5 and #FB612A, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #2afbc9?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C0EDE2 for borders, #4B9B88 for secondary text, #FF2690 as an accent and #027D60 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #2AFB61 and #2AC5FB stays calm, while #FB2A5C is the loudest partner.

What is #2afbc9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(83%, 0%, 20%, 2%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #2afbc9 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 82 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #2AFB7C; nudged cooler, #28E2FD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #2afbc9?

The emerald family — its 500 step is #10b981, ΔE2000 16.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #2afbc9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #2afbc9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#2afbc9] or text-[#2afbc9], 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 #2afbc9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(42, 251, 201, 0.5), or #2afbc980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #95FDE4; over black, #157E65.

Is #2afbc9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33FFCC, ΔE2000 0.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #2afbc9 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 #2afbc9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #66FCD8, #2afbc9 45%, #027D60). For more colour, a short hue run to #0C81FA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #2afbc9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #2afbc9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.