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cyan · cool

#44cdaf

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Glacier

RGB
68, 205, 175
HSL
167°, 58%, 54%
CMYK
67, 0, 15, 20
Luminance
0.4799

#44cdaf is a balanced vivid cyan, 167° on the wheel and 82/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.60:1). As text it scores 1.98:1 on white — use #23836E instead. Nearest name is Medium Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(167 58% 54%)rgb(68 205 175)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #44cdaf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#44cdaf
Hue
167°
cyan
Saturation
58%
vivid
Lightness
54%
balanced
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4799
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
82/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
10.60:1
Closest name
Medium Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 3.4
Chroma
44.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.767
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 6.7
Web-safe
#33CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue167° of 360°
Saturation58%
Lightness54%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #44cdaf.

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
Red3%
Green91%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#44cdaf
HEX (8-digit)#44cdafff
RGBrgb(68, 205, 175)
RGBArgba(68, 205, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(167, 58%, 54%)
HSV / HSBhsv(167, 67%, 80%)
HWBhwb(167 27% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(67%, 0%, 15%, 20%)
LABlab(74.8 -43.8 4.2)
LCHlch(74.8 44.0 174.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.767 0.125 175.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.95, 47.98, 48.13)
Decimal4509103
Display P3color(display-p3 0.267 0.804 0.686)
Web-safe#33CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #44cdaf;
background-color: #44cdaf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #44cdaf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#44cdaf] bg-[#44cdaf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #44cdaf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.267, green: 0.804, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.267, green: 0.804, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#44CDAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF44CDAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF44CDAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 205, 68)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(68, 205, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(68, 205, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 68, 205, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2667f, 0.8039f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{68,205,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #44cdaf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #44cdaf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1B6555, #D3EEE8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #44cdaf 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: #E9F7F4;
  --brand-200: #CDEFE7;
  --brand-300: #A6E7D9;
  --brand-400: #7ADBC6;
  --brand-500: #44cdaf;
  --brand-600: #34C1A2;
  --brand-700: #2BA187;
  --brand-800: #22816C;
  --brand-900: #1D5E50;
  --brand-950: #123B32;
  --brand: #44cdaf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE3;
  --brand-hover: #32BB9D;
  --brand-pressed: #2B9F86;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142421;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FBF9',
        100: '#E9F7F4',
        200: '#CDEFE7',
        300: '#A6E7D9',
        400: '#7ADBC6',
        500: '#44cdaf',
        600: '#34C1A2',
        700: '#2BA187',
        800: '#22816C',
        900: '#1D5E50',
        950: '#123B32',
        DEFAULT: '#44cdaf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FBF9,
  '100': #E9F7F4,
  '200': #CDEFE7,
  '300': #A6E7D9,
  '400': #7ADBC6,
  '500': #44cdaf,
  '600': #34C1A2,
  '700': #2BA187,
  '800': #22816C,
  '900': #1D5E50,
  '950': #123B32,
);
$brand-base: #44cdaf;
$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": "#E9F7F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CDEFE7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A6E7D9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7ADBC6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#44cdaf", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#34C1A2", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2BA187", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#22816C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1D5E50", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#123B32", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #44cdaf · 10.60:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.98:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.60:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #44cdaf as text scores 1.98:1 on white and 10.60:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1B6555 at 3.49:1.

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
#23836E · 4.62:1
AA on white−21% L
#23836E
The quick fox
#1A6353 · 7.11:1
AAA on white−29% L
#1A6353
The quick fox
#44cdaf · 10.60:1
AA on blackalready passes
#44cdaf
The quick fox
#44cdaf · 10.60:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#44cdaf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #2CA389 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
#44cdaf on white: 1.98:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#44cdaf on black: 10.60:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #44cdaf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #44cdaf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.98:1AaAa
Slate 501.89:1AaAa
Slate 1001.81:1AaAa
Slate 2001.61:1AaAa
Slate 3001.33:1AaAa
Slate 4001.29:1AaAa
Slate 5002.40:1AaAa
Slate 6003.82:1AaAa
Slate 7005.23:1AaAa
Slate 8007.38:1AaAa
Slate 9009.01:1AaAa
Black10.60:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C6C0AE
deuteranopia · #B3B2B1
tritanopia · #00CFC4

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. #44cdaf 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.

#F4FBF9
#E9F7F4
#CDEFE7
#A6E7D9
#7ADBC6
#44cdaf
#34C1A2
#2BA187
#22816C
#1D5E50
#123B32
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F4FBF9Darkest = 950 · #123B32Text 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 0.031 175.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.050 175.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.075 175.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.098 175.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.115 175.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.125 175.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.125 175.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.117 175.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.105 175.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.087 175.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.069 175.2);
}

Colors that work with #44cdaf

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#D23F84
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1B6555
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBFAF6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142421
Dark-mode background
Hover#32BB9D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#2B9F86
Two steps down
Disabled#B3CEC8
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#49DCBC
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 #44cdaf

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 #1B6555
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #2CA389

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
  • Weight47/100
  • 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#CD4462
Analogous left#44CD6A
Analogous right#44A6CD
Split-complement 1#CD44A6
Split-complement 2#CD6A44
Triadic 1#AF44CD
Triadic 2#CDAF44
Tetradic#6A44CD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°167°

#44cdaf sits at 167°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red26.7%
Green80.4%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
68
0x44
G · 0–255
205
0xcd
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan66.8%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow14.6%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 101%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#44cdaf text on a black background

contrast 10.60:1

Card sample

#44cdaf text on a white background

contrast 1.98:1

Card sample

#44cdaf on grey

1.81:1

#44cdaf on its own surface

1.88:1

#44cdaf on its dark surface

8.13:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #44cdaf;
Background color
Panel with #44cdaf background
background-color: #44cdaf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #44cdaf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(68, 205, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(68, 205, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #44cdaf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #44cdaf, #4490CD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #44cdaf, #446DCD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #44cdaf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #44cdaf;
caret-color: #44cdaf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #44cdaf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBFAF6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #44cdaf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#44cdaf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #44cdaf 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(68, 205, 175, 0.5)
rgb(68 205 175 / 50%)
#44cdaf80
hsl(167 58% 54% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #44cdaf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#44cdaf1a#ECFAF7
20%#44cdaf33#DAF5EF
40%#44cdaf66#B4EBDF
60%#44cdaf99#8FE1CF
80%#44cdafcc#69D7BF

Gradients from #44cdaf

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, #74DAC4, #44cdaf 45%, #1B6555);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #44cdaf, #3375BF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #44cdaf, #CD4462);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #8CE0CE 0%, #44cdaf 45%, #1B6555 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%, #6CD881 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #5CA8D3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1B6555 0%, transparent 65%), #44cdaf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #44cdaf

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.

#44cdaf 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 10.60:1.

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.

#44cdaf, answered

What color is #44cdaf?

#44cdaf is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Medium Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 3.4). It sits at 167° on the hue wheel with 58% saturation and 54% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #44cdaf?

rgb(68, 205, 175) — 68 red, 205 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 26.7% / 80.4% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #44cdaf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(167, 58%, 54%) and hsv(167, 67%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #44cdaf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4799 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 10.60:1.

Should I use black or white text on #44cdaf?

Black. It scores 10.60:1 against #44cdaf, versus 1.98:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #44cdaf accessible on a white background?

#44cdaf on white scores 1.98:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #23836E to reach 4.5:1, or #1A6353 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #44cdaf?

#CD4462 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CD44A6 and #CD6A44, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #44cdaf?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C0EDE3 for borders, #4B9B89 for secondary text, #D23F84 as an accent and #1B6555 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #44CD6A and #44A6CD stays calm, while #CD4462 is the loudest partner.

What is #44cdaf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(67%, 0%, 15%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #44cdaf 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 #44CD7D; nudged cooler, #42BACF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #44cdaf?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 6.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #44cdaf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #44cdaf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#44cdaf] or text-[#44cdaf], 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 #44cdaf with 50% opacity?

rgba(68, 205, 175, 0.5), or #44cdaf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A2E6D7; over black, #226758.

Is #44cdaf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33CC99, ΔE2000 5.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #44cdaf 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 #44cdaf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #74DAC4, #44cdaf 45%, #1B6555). For more colour, a short hue run to #3375BF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #44cdaf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #44cdaf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.