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cyan · cool

#3bcaaa

a balanced, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Medium Aqua Marine

Token name suggestion: Signal Reef

RGB
59, 202, 170
HSL
167°, 57%, 51%
CMYK
71, 0, 16, 21
Luminance
0.4607

#3bcaaa is a balanced vivid cyan, 167° on the wheel and 82/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.21:1). As text it scores 2.06:1 on white — use #248570 instead. Nearest name is Medium Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(167 57% 51%)rgb(59 202 170)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#3bcaaa
Hue
167°
cyan
Saturation
57%
vivid
Lightness
51%
balanced
Brightness
79%
HSV value
Perceived
66%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4607
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
82/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
10.21:1
Closest name
Medium Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 3.6
Chroma
45.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.756
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 6.3
Web-safe
#33CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue167° of 360°
Saturation57%
Lightness51%
Saturation × lightness field

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

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
Red2%
Green92%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#3bcaaa
HEX (8-digit)#3bcaaaff
RGBrgb(59, 202, 170)
RGBArgba(59, 202, 170, 1)
HSLhsl(167, 57%, 51%)
HSV / HSBhsv(167, 71%, 79%)
HWBhwb(167 23% 21%)
CMYKcmyk(71%, 0%, 16%, 21%)
LABlab(73.6 -45.1 5.1)
LCHlch(73.6 45.4 173.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.756 0.128 174.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(30.18, 46.07, 45.32)
Decimal3918506
Display P3color(display-p3 0.231 0.792 0.667)
Web-safe#33CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #3bcaaa;
background-color: #3bcaaa;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #3bcaaa;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#3bcaaa] bg-[#3bcaaa]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #3bcaaa;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.231, green: 0.792, blue: 0.667)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.231, green: 0.792, blue: 0.667, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#3BCAAA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF3BCAAA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF3BCAAA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(170, 202, 59)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(59, 202, 170)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(59, 202, 170)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 59, 202, 170)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2314f, 0.7922f, 0.6667f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{59,202,170}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #3bcaaa 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #3bcaaa 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1B6454, #D3EEE8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #3bcaaa 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: #F4FBF9;
  --brand-100: #E9F7F3;
  --brand-200: #CDEFE7;
  --brand-300: #A7E7D9;
  --brand-400: #7BDBC6;
  --brand-500: #4ECFB2;
  --brand-600: #3bcaaa;
  --brand-700: #2BA186;
  --brand-800: #23806C;
  --brand-900: #1D5E4F;
  --brand-950: #123A31;
  --brand: #3bcaaa;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE3;
  --brand-hover: #30B195;
  --brand-pressed: #28957D;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142421;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FBF9',
        100: '#E9F7F3',
        200: '#CDEFE7',
        300: '#A7E7D9',
        400: '#7BDBC6',
        500: '#4ECFB2',
        600: '#3bcaaa',
        700: '#2BA186',
        800: '#23806C',
        900: '#1D5E4F',
        950: '#123A31',
        DEFAULT: '#3bcaaa',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FBF9,
  '100': #E9F7F3,
  '200': #CDEFE7,
  '300': #A7E7D9,
  '400': #7BDBC6,
  '500': #4ECFB2,
  '600': #3bcaaa,
  '700': #2BA186,
  '800': #23806C,
  '900': #1D5E4F,
  '950': #123A31,
);
$brand-base: #3bcaaa;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4FBF9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9F7F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CDEFE7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A7E7D9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7BDBC6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4ECFB2", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3bcaaa", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2BA186", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#23806C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1D5E4F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#123A31", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #3bcaaa · 10.21:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.06:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.21:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #3bcaaa as text scores 2.06:1 on white and 10.21:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1B6454 at 3.41:1.

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
#248570 · 4.50:1
AA on white−18% L
#248570
The quick fox
#1A6151 · 7.31:1
AAA on white−27% L
#1A6151
The quick fox
#3bcaaa · 10.21:1
AA on blackalready passes
#3bcaaa
The quick fox
#3bcaaa · 10.21:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#3bcaaa

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #2DA58A 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
#3bcaaa on white: 2.06:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#3bcaaa on black: 10.21:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.06:1AaAa
Slate 501.96:1AaAa
Slate 1001.88:1AaAa
Slate 2001.67:1AaAa
Slate 3001.38:1AaAa
Slate 4001.25:1AaAa
Slate 5002.31:1AaAa
Slate 6003.69:1AaAa
Slate 7005.04:1AaAa
Slate 8007.12:1AaAa
Slate 9008.68:1AaAa
Black10.21:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C3BDA9
deuteranopia · #B0AFAC
tritanopia · #00CCC1

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. #3bcaaa 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.

#F4FBF9
#E9F7F3
#CDEFE7
#A7E7D9
#7BDBC6
#4ECFB2
#3bcaaa
#2BA186
#23806C
#1D5E4F
#123A31
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F4FBF9Darkest = 950 · #123A31Text 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 0.032 174.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.051 174.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.077 174.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.100 174.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.118 174.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.128 174.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.128 174.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.121 174.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.108 174.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.090 174.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.071 174.2);
}

Colors that work with #3bcaaa

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#C0EDE3
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B89
Captions on the surface
Accent#CF367E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1B6454
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBFAF6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142421
Dark-mode background
Hover#30B195
One step down in lightness
Pressed#28957D
Two steps down
Disabled#ACCAC3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#40DAB7
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 #3bcaaa

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 #1B6454
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #2DA58A

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
  • Weight49/100
  • 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#CA3B5B
Analogous left#3BCA63
Analogous right#3BA2CA
Split-complement 1#CA3BA2
Split-complement 2#CA633B
Triadic 1#AA3BCA
Triadic 2#CAAA3B
Tetradic#633BCA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°167°

#3bcaaa sits at 167°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red23.1%
Green79.2%
Blue66.7%
R · 0–255
59
0x3b
G · 0–255
202
0xca
B · 0–255
170
0xaa

CMYK percentages

Cyan70.8%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow15.8%
Key (black)20.8%

Total ink coverage is 107%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#3bcaaa text on a black background

contrast 10.21:1

Card sample

#3bcaaa text on a white background

contrast 2.06:1

Card sample

#3bcaaa on grey

1.88:1

#3bcaaa on its own surface

1.95:1

#3bcaaa on its dark surface

7.83:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(59, 202, 170, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(59, 202, 170, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #3bcaaa;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #3bcaaa, #3B8BCA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #3bcaaa, #3B67CA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #3bcaaa;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #3bcaaa;
caret-color: #3bcaaa;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #3bcaaa;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBFAF6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #3bcaaa;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#3bcaaa 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #3bcaaa 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, 202, 170, 0.5)
rgb(59 202 170 / 50%)
#3bcaaa80
hsl(167 57% 51% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #3bcaaa 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#3bcaaa1a#EBFAF7
20%#3bcaaa33#D8F4EE
40%#3bcaaa66#B1EADD
60%#3bcaaa99#89DFCC
80%#3bcaaacc#62D5BB

Gradients from #3bcaaa

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, #6BD7BF, #3bcaaa 45%, #1B6454);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #3bcaaa, #3170B5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #3bcaaa, #CA3B5B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #83DEC9 0%, #3bcaaa 45%, #1B6454 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%, #63D579 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #53A3D1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1B6454 0%, transparent 65%), #3bcaaa;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #3bcaaa

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.

#3bcaaa 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 10.21:1.

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.

#3bcaaa, answered

What color is #3bcaaa?

#3bcaaa is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Medium Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 3.6). It sits at 167° on the hue wheel with 57% saturation and 51% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #3bcaaa?

rgb(59, 202, 170) — 59 red, 202 green and 170 blue out of 255, or 23.1% / 79.2% / 66.7% by channel.

What is #3bcaaa in HSL and HSV?

hsl(167, 57%, 51%) and hsv(167, 71%, 79%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #3bcaaa a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4607 and perceived brightness is 66%, so black text on it reaches 10.21:1.

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

Black. It scores 10.21:1 against #3bcaaa, versus 2.06:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #3bcaaa accessible on a white background?

#3bcaaa on white scores 2.06:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #248570 to reach 4.5:1, or #1A6151 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #3bcaaa?

#CA3B5B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CA3BA2 and #CA633B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #3bcaaa?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C0EDE3 for borders, #4B9B89 for secondary text, #CF367E as an accent and #1B6454 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #3BCA63 and #3BA2CA stays calm, while #CA3B5B is the loudest partner.

What is #3bcaaa in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(71%, 0%, 16%, 21%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #3bcaaa 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 #3BCA76; nudged cooler, #39B7CC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #3bcaaa?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 6.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #3bcaaa as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #3bcaaa in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(59, 202, 170, 0.5), or #3bcaaa80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #9DE5D5; over black, #1E6555.

Is #3bcaaa a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33CC99, ΔE2000 4.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #3bcaaa 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 #3bcaaa?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #6BD7BF, #3bcaaa 45%, #1B6454). For more colour, a short hue run to #3170B5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #3bcaaa in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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