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cyan · cool

#35baad

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Reef

RGB
53, 186, 173
HSL
174°, 56%, 47%
CMYK
72, 0, 7, 27
Luminance
0.3889

#35baad is a balanced vivid cyan, 174° on the wheel and 85/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.78:1). As text it scores 2.39:1 on white — use #258379 instead. Nearest name is Light Sea Green, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(174 56% 47%)rgb(53 186 173)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #35baad is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#35baad
Hue
174°
cyan
Saturation
56%
vivid
Lightness
47%
balanced
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
61%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3889
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
85/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.78:1
Closest name
Light Sea Green
ΔE2000 2.9
Chroma
38.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.716
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 2.2
Web-safe
#33CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue174° of 360°
Saturation56%
Lightness47%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #35baad.

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
Red2%
Green90%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#35baad
HEX (8-digit)#35baadff
RGBrgb(53, 186, 173)
RGBArgba(53, 186, 173, 1)
HSLhsl(174, 56%, 47%)
HSV / HSBhsv(174, 72%, 73%)
HWBhwb(174 21% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(72%, 0%, 7%, 27%)
LABlab(68.7 -38.0 -3.7)
LCHlch(68.7 38.2 185.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.716 0.113 185.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(26.57, 38.89, 45.63)
Decimal3521197
Display P3color(display-p3 0.208 0.729 0.678)
Web-safe#33CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #35baad;
background-color: #35baad;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #35baad;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#35baad] bg-[#35baad]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #35baad;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.208, green: 0.729, blue: 0.678)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.208, green: 0.729, blue: 0.678, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#35BAAD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF35BAAD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF35BAAD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(173, 186, 53)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(53, 186, 173)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(53, 186, 173)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 53, 186, 173)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2078f, 0.7294f, 0.6784f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{53,186,173}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #35baad 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #35baad 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1C635C, #D3EEEB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #35baad 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: #F4FBFA;
  --brand-100: #E9F6F5;
  --brand-200: #CEEEEB;
  --brand-300: #A8E6E0;
  --brand-400: #7CDAD0;
  --brand-500: #50CDC1;
  --brand-600: #35baad;
  --brand-700: #2D9F94;
  --brand-800: #247F76;
  --brand-900: #1E5D56;
  --brand-950: #133A36;
  --brand: #35baad;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE8;
  --brand-hover: #2D9E93;
  --brand-pressed: #258379;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142423;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FBFA',
        100: '#E9F6F5',
        200: '#CEEEEB',
        300: '#A8E6E0',
        400: '#7CDAD0',
        500: '#50CDC1',
        600: '#35baad',
        700: '#2D9F94',
        800: '#247F76',
        900: '#1E5D56',
        950: '#133A36',
        DEFAULT: '#35baad',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FBFA,
  '100': #E9F6F5,
  '200': #CEEEEB,
  '300': #A8E6E0,
  '400': #7CDAD0,
  '500': #50CDC1,
  '600': #35baad,
  '700': #2D9F94,
  '800': #247F76,
  '900': #1E5D56,
  '950': #133A36,
);
$brand-base: #35baad;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4FBFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9F6F5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CEEEEB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A8E6E0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7CDAD0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#50CDC1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#35baad", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2D9F94", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#247F76", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1E5D56", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#133A36", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #35baad · 8.78:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.39:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.78:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #35baad as text scores 2.39:1 on white and 8.78:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1C635C at 2.94:1.

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
#258379 · 4.56:1
AA on white−14% L
#258379
The quick fox
#1C635C · 7.03:1
AAA on white−22% L
#1C635C
The quick fox
#35baad · 8.78:1
AA on blackalready passes
#35baad
The quick fox
#35baad · 8.78:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#35baad

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #2EA297 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
#35baad on white: 2.39:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#35baad on black: 8.78:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #35baad as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #35baad.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.39:1AaAa
Slate 502.29:1AaAa
Slate 1002.18:1AaAa
Slate 2001.94:1AaAa
Slate 3001.61:1AaAa
Slate 4001.07:1AaAa
Slate 5001.99:1AaAa
Slate 6003.17:1AaAa
Slate 7004.33:1AaAa
Slate 8006.12:1AaAa
Slate 9007.46:1AaAa
Black8.78:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B0B0AD
deuteranopia · #9EA2AE
tritanopia · #00BEB6

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. #35baad 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.

#F4FBFA
#E9F6F5
#CEEEEB
#A8E6E0
#7CDAD0
#50CDC1
#35baad
#2D9F94
#247F76
#1E5D56
#133A36
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F4FBFADarkest = 950 · #133A36Text step on white = 800
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 0.028 185.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.045 185.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.068 185.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.088 185.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.104 185.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.113 185.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.113 185.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.106 185.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.095 185.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.079 185.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.062 185.4);
}

Colors that work with #35baad

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#C0EDE8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B93
Captions on the surface
Accent#BF3062
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1C635C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBF9F8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142423
Dark-mode background
Hover#2D9E93
One step down in lightness
Pressed#258379
Two steps down
Disabled#9EC1BE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#30D4C4
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 #35baad

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 #1C635C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #2EA297

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#BA3542
Analogous left#35BA6B
Analogous right#3585BA
Split-complement 1#BA3585
Split-complement 2#BA6B35
Triadic 1#AD35BA
Triadic 2#BAAD35
Tetradic#6B35BA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°174°

#35baad sits at 174°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red20.8%
Green72.9%
Blue67.8%
R · 0–255
53
0x35
G · 0–255
186
0xba
B · 0–255
173
0xad

CMYK percentages

Cyan71.5%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow7.0%
Key (black)27.1%

Total ink coverage is 106%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#35baad text on a black background

contrast 8.78:1

Card sample

#35baad text on a white background

contrast 2.39:1

Card sample

#35baad on grey

2.18:1

#35baad on its own surface

2.27:1

#35baad on its dark surface

6.72:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #35baad;
Background color
Panel with #35baad background
background-color: #35baad;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #35baad;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(53, 186, 173, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(53, 186, 173, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #35baad;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #35baad, #356FBA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #35baad, #354DBA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #35baad;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #35baad;
caret-color: #35baad;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #35baad;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBF9F8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #35baad;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#35baad 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #35baad 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(53, 186, 173, 0.5)
rgb(53 186 173 / 50%)
#35baad80
hsl(174 56% 47% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #35baad 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#35baad1a#EBF8F7
20%#35baad33#D7F1EF
40%#35baad66#AEE3DE
60%#35baad99#86D6CE
80%#35baadcc#5DC8BD

Gradients from #35baad

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, #5CD0C5, #35baad 45%, #1C635C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #35baad, #2E57A2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #35baad, #BA3542);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #74D7CD 0%, #35baad 45%, #1C635C 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%, #54CE7B 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #4489CA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1C635C 0%, transparent 65%), #35baad;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #35baad

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.

#35baad 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 8.78:1.

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.

#35baad, answered

What color is #35baad?

#35baad is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Light Sea Green (ΔE2000 2.9). It sits at 174° on the hue wheel with 56% saturation and 47% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #35baad?

rgb(53, 186, 173) — 53 red, 186 green and 173 blue out of 255, or 20.8% / 72.9% / 67.8% by channel.

What is #35baad in HSL and HSV?

hsl(174, 56%, 47%) and hsv(174, 72%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #35baad a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3889 and perceived brightness is 61%, so black text on it reaches 8.78:1.

Should I use black or white text on #35baad?

Black. It scores 8.78:1 against #35baad, versus 2.39:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #35baad accessible on a white background?

#35baad on white scores 2.39:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #258379 to reach 4.5:1, or #1C635C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #35baad?

#BA3542 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BA3585 and #BA6B35, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #35baad?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EDE8 for borders, #4B9B93 for secondary text, #BF3062 as an accent and #1C635C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #35BA6B and #3585BA stays calm, while #BA3542 is the loudest partner.

What is #35baad in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(72%, 0%, 7%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #35baad 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 #35BA7C; nudged cooler, #3398BC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #35baad?

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 #35baad in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#35baad] or text-[#35baad], 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 #35baad with 50% opacity?

rgba(53, 186, 173, 0.5), or #35baad80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #9ADDD6; over black, #1B5D57.

Is #35baad a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33CC99, ΔE2000 11.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #35baad 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 #35baad?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #5CD0C5, #35baad 45%, #1C635C). For more colour, a short hue run to #2E57A2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #35baad in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #35baad at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.