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cyan · cool

#3ba899

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

Token name suggestion: Shadow Lagoon

RGB
59, 168, 153
HSL
172°, 48%, 45%
CMYK
65, 0, 9, 34
Luminance
0.3123

#3ba899 is a dark vivid cyan, 172° on the wheel and 84/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.25:1). As text it scores 2.90:1 on white — use #2E8277 instead. Nearest name is Light Sea Green, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(172 48% 45%)rgb(59 168 153)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #3ba899 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#3ba899
Hue
172°
cyan
Saturation
48%
vivid
Lightness
45%
dark
Brightness
66%
HSV value
Perceived
56%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3123
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
84/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
7.25:1
Closest name
Light Sea Green
ΔE2000 4.2
Chroma
34.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.666
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 4.8
Web-safe
#339999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue172° of 360°
Saturation48%
Lightness45%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #3ba899.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool84% 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%
Green90%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#3ba899
HEX (8-digit)#3ba899ff
RGBrgb(59, 168, 153)
RGBArgba(59, 168, 153, 1)
HSLhsl(172, 48%, 45%)
HSV / HSBhsv(172, 65%, 66%)
HWBhwb(172 23% 34%)
CMYKcmyk(65%, 0%, 9%, 34%)
LABlab(62.7 -34.3 -1.3)
LCHlch(62.7 34.4 182.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.666 0.101 182.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(21.55, 31.23, 35.02)
Decimal3909785
Display P3color(display-p3 0.231 0.659 0.600)
Web-safe#339999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #3ba899;
background-color: #3ba899;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #3ba899;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#3ba899] bg-[#3ba899]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #3ba899;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.231, green: 0.659, blue: 0.600)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.231, green: 0.659, blue: 0.600, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#3BA899</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF3BA899)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF3BA899)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(153, 168, 59)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(59, 168, 153)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(59, 168, 153)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 59, 168, 153)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2314f, 0.6588f, 0.6000f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{59,168,153}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #3ba899 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #3ba899 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#215E56, #D3EEEA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #3ba899 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: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-100: #EAF5F4;
  --brand-200: #D0ECE8;
  --brand-300: #ACE2DA;
  --brand-400: #82D3C8;
  --brand-500: #59C5B6;
  --brand-600: #3ba899;
  --brand-700: #359789;
  --brand-800: #2A796E;
  --brand-900: #225851;
  --brand-950: #153732;
  --brand: #3ba899;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C3EAE4;
  --brand-hover: #328E81;
  --brand-pressed: #287369;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142422;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FAF9',
        100: '#EAF5F4',
        200: '#D0ECE8',
        300: '#ACE2DA',
        400: '#82D3C8',
        500: '#59C5B6',
        600: '#3ba899',
        700: '#359789',
        800: '#2A796E',
        900: '#225851',
        950: '#153732',
        DEFAULT: '#3ba899',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FAF9,
  '100': #EAF5F4,
  '200': #D0ECE8,
  '300': #ACE2DA,
  '400': #82D3C8,
  '500': #59C5B6,
  '600': #3ba899,
  '700': #359789,
  '800': #2A796E,
  '900': #225851,
  '950': #153732,
);
$brand-base: #3ba899;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4FAF9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF5F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D0ECE8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ACE2DA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#82D3C8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#59C5B6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3ba899", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#359789", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2A796E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#225851", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#153732", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #3ba899 · 7.25:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.90:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.25:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #3ba899 as text scores 2.90:1 on white and 7.25:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #215E56 at 2.59:1.

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
#2E8277 · 4.59:1
AA on white−10% L
#2E8277
The quick fox
#226058 · 7.29:1
AAA on white−19% L
#226058
The quick fox
#3ba899 · 7.25:1
AA on blackalready passes
#3ba899
The quick fox
#3ba899 · 7.25:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#3ba899

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #3AA495 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
#3ba899 on white: 2.90:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#3ba899 on black: 7.25:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #3ba899 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #3ba899.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.90:1AaAa
Slate 502.77:1AaAa
Slate 1002.65:1AaAa
Slate 2002.35:1AaAa
Slate 3001.95:1AaAa
Slate 4001.13:1AaAa
Slate 5001.64:1AaAa
Slate 6002.62:1AaAa
Slate 7003.57:1AaAa
Slate 8005.05:1AaAa
Slate 9006.16:1AaAa
Black7.25:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A09F98
deuteranopia · #90939A
tritanopia · #00ABA3

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. #3ba899 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.

#F4FAF9
#EAF5F4
#D0ECE8
#ACE2DA
#82D3C8
#59C5B6
#3ba899
#359789
#2A796E
#225851
#153732
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F4FAF9Darkest = 950 · #153732Text 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 0.025 182.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.040 182.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.060 182.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.078 182.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.092 182.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.101 182.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.101 182.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.094 182.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.084 182.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.070 182.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.055 182.4);
}

Colors that work with #3ba899

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#C3EAE4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B90
Captions on the surface
Accent#AC3664
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#215E56
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF8F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142422
Dark-mode background
Hover#328E81
One step down in lightness
Pressed#287369
Two steps down
Disabled#97BCB7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#34C3B0
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 #3ba899

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
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #215E56
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #3AA495

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
  • Weight56/100
  • 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#A83B4A
Analogous left#3BA862
Analogous right#3B81A8
Split-complement 1#A83B81
Split-complement 2#A8623B
Triadic 1#993BA8
Triadic 2#A8993B
Tetradic#623BA8
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°172°

#3ba899 sits at 172°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red23.1%
Green65.9%
Blue60.0%
R · 0–255
59
0x3b
G · 0–255
168
0xa8
B · 0–255
153
0x99

CMYK percentages

Cyan64.9%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow8.9%
Key (black)34.1%

Total ink coverage is 108%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#3ba899 text on a black background

contrast 7.25:1

Card sample

#3ba899 text on a white background

contrast 2.90:1

Card sample

#3ba899 on grey

2.65:1

#3ba899 on its own surface

2.75:1

#3ba899 on its dark surface

5.55:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #3ba899;
Background color
Panel with #3ba899 background
background-color: #3ba899;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #3ba899;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(59, 168, 153, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(59, 168, 153, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #3ba899;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #3ba899, #3B6EA8);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #3ba899, #3B53A8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #3ba899;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #3ba899;
caret-color: #3ba899;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #3ba899;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF8F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #3ba899;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#3ba899 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #3ba899 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(59, 168, 153, 0.5)
rgb(59 168 153 / 50%)
#3ba89980
hsl(172 48% 45% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #3ba899 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#3ba8991a#EBF6F5
20%#3ba89933#D8EEEB
40%#3ba89966#B1DCD6
60%#3ba89999#89CBC2
80%#3ba899cc#62B9AD

Gradients from #3ba899

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, #5BC5B7, #3ba899 45%, #215E56);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #3ba899, #335891);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #3ba899, #A83B4A);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #71CDC1 0%, #3ba899 45%, #215E56 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%, #53C372 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #4487BD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #215E56 0%, transparent 65%), #3ba899;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #3ba899

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.

#3ba899 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 7.25:1.

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.

#3ba899, answered

What color is #3ba899?

#3ba899 is a dark vivid cyan, closest to Light Sea Green (ΔE2000 4.2). It sits at 172° on the hue wheel with 48% saturation and 45% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #3ba899?

rgb(59, 168, 153) — 59 red, 168 green and 153 blue out of 255, or 23.1% / 65.9% / 60% by channel.

What is #3ba899 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(172, 48%, 45%) and hsv(172, 65%, 66%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #3ba899 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3123 and perceived brightness is 56%, so black text on it reaches 7.25:1.

Should I use black or white text on #3ba899?

Black. It scores 7.25:1 against #3ba899, versus 2.90:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #3ba899 accessible on a white background?

#3ba899 on white scores 2.90:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #2E8277 to reach 4.5:1, or #226058 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #3ba899?

#A83B4A sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #A83B81 and #A8623B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #3ba899?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C3EAE4 for borders, #4B9B90 for secondary text, #AC3664 as an accent and #215E56 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #3BA862 and #3B81A8 stays calm, while #A83B4A is the loudest partner.

What is #3ba899 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(65%, 0%, 9%, 34%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #3ba899 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 84 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #3BA871; nudged cooler, #3990AA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #3ba899?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 4.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #3ba899 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #3ba899 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#3ba899] or text-[#3ba899], 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 #3ba899 with 50% opacity?

rgba(59, 168, 153, 0.5), or #3ba89980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #9DD4CC; over black, #1E544D.

Is #3ba899 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #339999, ΔE2000 7.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #3ba899 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 #3ba899?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #5BC5B7, #3ba899 45%, #215E56). For more colour, a short hue run to #335891 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #3ba899 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #3ba899 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.