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green · cool

#38bc4d

a balanced, vivid green · cool · closest name: Lime Green

Token name suggestion: Studio Fern

RGB
56, 188, 77
HSL
130°, 54%, 48%
CMYK
70, 0, 59, 26
Luminance
0.3734

#38bc4d is a balanced vivid green, 130° on the wheel and 66/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.47:1). As text it scores 2.48:1 on white — use #288536 instead. Nearest name is Lime Green, nearest Tailwind family is green.

hsl(130 54% 48%)rgb(56 188 77)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #38bc4d is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#38bc4d
Hue
130°
green
Saturation
54%
vivid
Lightness
48%
balanced
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
59%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3734
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
66/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
8.47:1
Closest name
Lime Green
ΔE2000 5.9
Chroma
73.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.701
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
green
500 · ΔE 3.2
Web-safe
#33CC66
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue130° of 360°
Saturation54%
Lightness48%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #38bc4d.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool66% 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%
Green96%
Blue1%

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

Every format

HEX#38bc4d
HEX (8-digit)#38bc4dff
RGBrgb(56, 188, 77)
RGBArgba(56, 188, 77, 1)
HSLhsl(130, 54%, 48%)
HSV / HSBhsv(130, 70%, 74%)
HWBhwb(130 22% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(70%, 0%, 59%, 26%)
LABlab(67.5 -58.0 45.2)
LCHlch(67.5 73.6 142.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.701 0.190 145.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(20.95, 37.34, 13.12)
Decimal3718221
Display P3color(display-p3 0.220 0.737 0.302)
Web-safe#33CC66

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #38bc4d;
background-color: #38bc4d;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #38bc4d;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#38bc4d] bg-[#38bc4d]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #38bc4d;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.220, green: 0.737, blue: 0.302)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.220, green: 0.737, blue: 0.302, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#38BC4D</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF38BC4D)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF38BC4D)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(77, 188, 56)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(56, 188, 77)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(56, 188, 77)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 56, 188, 77)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2196f, 0.7373f, 0.3020f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{56,188,77}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #38bc4d 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #38bc4d 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1D6228, #D3EED7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #38bc4d 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: #F4FBF5;
  --brand-100: #E9F6EB;
  --brand-200: #CEEED3;
  --brand-300: #A9E5B2;
  --brand-400: #7DD88C;
  --brand-500: #52CC65;
  --brand-600: #38bc4d;
  --brand-700: #2F9D40;
  --brand-800: #257E33;
  --brand-900: #1F5C28;
  --brand-950: #133919;
  --brand: #38bc4d;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF5;
  --brand-border: #C0ECC7;
  --brand-hover: #30A042;
  --brand-pressed: #288536;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142416;
    --brand-ink: #D3EED7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FBF5',
        100: '#E9F6EB',
        200: '#CEEED3',
        300: '#A9E5B2',
        400: '#7DD88C',
        500: '#52CC65',
        600: '#38bc4d',
        700: '#2F9D40',
        800: '#257E33',
        900: '#1F5C28',
        950: '#133919',
        DEFAULT: '#38bc4d',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FBF5,
  '100': #E9F6EB,
  '200': #CEEED3,
  '300': #A9E5B2,
  '400': #7DD88C,
  '500': #52CC65,
  '600': #38bc4d,
  '700': #2F9D40,
  '800': #257E33,
  '900': #1F5C28,
  '950': #133919,
);
$brand-base: #38bc4d;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4FBF5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9F6EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CEEED3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A9E5B2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7DD88C", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#52CC65", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#38bc4d", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2F9D40", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#257E33", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1F5C28", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#133919", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #38bc4d · 8.47:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.48:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.47:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #38bc4d as text scores 2.48:1 on white and 8.47:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1D6228 at 2.99:1.

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
#288536 · 4.67:1
AA on white−14% L
#288536
The quick fox
#1E6529 · 7.12:1
AAA on white−22% L
#1E6529
The quick fox
#38bc4d · 8.47:1
AA on blackalready passes
#38bc4d
The quick fox
#38bc4d · 8.47:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#38bc4d

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #32A845 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
#38bc4d on white: 2.48:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#38bc4d on black: 8.47:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #38bc4d as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #38bc4d.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.48:1AaAa
Slate 502.37:1AaAa
Slate 1002.26:1AaAa
Slate 2002.01:1AaAa
Slate 3001.67:1AaAa
Slate 4001.03:1AaAa
Slate 5001.92:1AaAa
Slate 6003.06:1AaAa
Slate 7004.18:1AaAa
Slate 8005.90:1AaAa
Slate 9007.20:1AaAa
Black8.47:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BFAB42
deuteranopia · #AFA056
tritanopia · #00B7A4

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. #38bc4d 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.

#F4FBF5
#E9F6EB
#CEEED3
#A9E5B2
#7DD88C
#52CC65
#38bc4d
#2F9D40
#257E33
#1F5C28
#133919
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F4FBF5Darkest = 950 · #133919Text 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 0.047 145.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.076 145.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.114 145.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.148 145.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.174 145.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.190 145.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.190 145.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.178 145.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.159 145.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.133 145.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.104 145.7);
}

Colors that work with #38bc4d

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#F4FAF5
Tinted page background
Border#C0ECC7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B57
Captions on the surface
Accent#B433C1
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1D6228
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBF9EE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142416
Dark-mode background
Hover#30A042
One step down in lightness
Pressed#288536
Two steps down
Disabled#A1C3A6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#35D34E
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 #38bc4d

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
  • Status meaning — pair it with an icon or label, never colour alone
  • 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 #1D6228
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #32A845

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

safegrowingnaturalpermissive

Green means go, well, and grown. It carries finance, sustainability and health with almost no explanation needed.

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

Red/green pairs are the most common colour-blindness failure — never let the two carry meaning alone.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight52/100
  • 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#BC38A7
Analogous left#65BC38
Analogous right#38BC8F
Split-complement 1#8F38BC
Split-complement 2#BC3865
Triadic 1#4D38BC
Triadic 2#BC4D38
Tetradic#3865BC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°130°

#38bc4d sits at 130°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red22.0%
Green73.7%
Blue30.2%
R · 0–255
56
0x38
G · 0–255
188
0xbc
B · 0–255
77
0x4d

CMYK percentages

Cyan70.2%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow59.0%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 156%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#38bc4d text on a black background

contrast 8.47:1

Card sample

#38bc4d text on a white background

contrast 2.48:1

Card sample

#38bc4d on grey

2.26:1

#38bc4d on its own surface

2.34:1

#38bc4d on its dark surface

6.55:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #38bc4d;
Background color
Panel with #38bc4d background
background-color: #38bc4d;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #38bc4d;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(56, 188, 77, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(56, 188, 77, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #38bc4d;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #38bc4d, #38BCA5);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #38bc4d, #38B2BC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #38bc4d;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #38bc4d;
caret-color: #38bc4d;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #38bc4d;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBF9EE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #38bc4d;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#38bc4d 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #38bc4d 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(56, 188, 77, 0.5)
rgb(56 188 77 / 50%)
#38bc4d80
hsl(130 54% 48% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #38bc4d 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#38bc4d1a#EBF8ED
20%#38bc4d33#D7F2DB
40%#38bc4d66#AFE4B8
60%#38bc4d99#88D794
80%#38bc4dcc#60C971

Gradients from #38bc4d

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, #61D073, #38bc4d 45%, #1D6228);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #38bc4d, #31A49A);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #38bc4d, #BC38A7);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #79D788 0%, #38bc4d 45%, #1D6228 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #8BCE59 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #49C9A8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1D6228 0%, transparent 65%), #38bc4d;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #38bc4d

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.

#38bc4d in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
SustainabilityFinanceHealth and wellnessAgriculture
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 8.47:1.

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.

#38bc4d, answered

What color is #38bc4d?

#38bc4d is a balanced vivid green, closest to Lime Green (ΔE2000 5.9). It sits at 130° on the hue wheel with 54% saturation and 48% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #38bc4d?

rgb(56, 188, 77) — 56 red, 188 green and 77 blue out of 255, or 22% / 73.7% / 30.2% by channel.

What is #38bc4d in HSL and HSV?

hsl(130, 54%, 48%) and hsv(130, 70%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #38bc4d a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3734 and perceived brightness is 59%, so black text on it reaches 8.47:1.

Should I use black or white text on #38bc4d?

Black. It scores 8.47:1 against #38bc4d, versus 2.48:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #38bc4d accessible on a white background?

#38bc4d on white scores 2.48:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #288536 to reach 4.5:1, or #1E6529 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #38bc4d?

#BC38A7 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #8F38BC and #BC3865, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #38bc4d?

For interface work: #F4FAF5 as the surface, #C0ECC7 for borders, #4B9B57 for secondary text, #B433C1 as an accent and #1D6228 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #65BC38 and #38BC8F stays calm, while #BC38A7 is the loudest partner.

What is #38bc4d in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(70%, 0%, 59%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #38bc4d warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 66 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #53BC38; nudged cooler, #36BE7D.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #38bc4d?

The green family — its 500 step is #22c55e, ΔE2000 3.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #38bc4d as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #38bc4d in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#38bc4d] or text-[#38bc4d], 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 #38bc4d with 50% opacity?

rgba(56, 188, 77, 0.5), or #38bc4d80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #9CDEA6; over black, #1C5E27.

Is #38bc4d a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33CC66, ΔE2000 4.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #38bc4d mean?

As a green, it reads safe, growing, natural. Green means go, well, and grown. It carries finance, sustainability and health with almost no explanation needed. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #38bc4d?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #61D073, #38bc4d 45%, #1D6228). For more colour, a short hue run to #31A49A keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #38bc4d in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #38bc4d at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.