Skip to content
cyan · cool

#48848f

a dark, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Dark Cyan

Token name suggestion: Slate Lagoon

RGB
72, 132, 143
HSL
189°, 33%, 42%
CMYK
50, 8, 0, 44
Luminance
0.1986

#48848f is a dark soft cyan, 189° on the wheel and 89/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (4.97:1). As text it scores 4.22:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Dark Cyan, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(189 33% 42%)rgb(72 132 143)Base step 700AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #48848f is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#48848f
Hue
189°
cyan
Saturation
33%
soft
Lightness
42%
dark
Brightness
56%
HSV value
Perceived
47%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1986
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
89/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
4.97:1
Closest name
Dark Cyan
ΔE2000 8.5
Chroma
20.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.577
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 14.9
Web-safe
#339999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue189° of 360°
Saturation33%
Lightness42%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #48848f.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool89% 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
Red7%
Green83%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#48848f
HEX (8-digit)#48848fff
RGBrgb(72, 132, 143)
RGBArgba(72, 132, 143, 1)
HSLhsl(189, 33%, 42%)
HSV / HSBhsv(189, 50%, 56%)
HWBhwb(189 28% 44%)
CMYKcmyk(50%, 8%, 0%, 44%)
LABlab(51.7 -16.3 -12.0)
LCHlch(51.7 20.3 216.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.577 0.065 210.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(15.88, 19.86, 28.98)
Decimal4752527
Display P3color(display-p3 0.282 0.518 0.561)
Web-safe#339999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #48848f;
background-color: #48848f;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #48848f;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#48848f] bg-[#48848f]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #48848f;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.282, green: 0.518, blue: 0.561)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.282, green: 0.518, blue: 0.561, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#48848F</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF48848F)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF48848F)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(143, 132, 72)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(72, 132, 143)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(72, 132, 143)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 72, 132, 143)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2824f, 0.5176f, 0.5608f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{72,132,143}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #48848f 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #48848f 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2B4E55, #D6E7EA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #48848f 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: #F5F9F9;
  --brand-100: #ECF2F4;
  --brand-200: #D4E4E7;
  --brand-300: #B4D4D9;
  --brand-400: #8FBEC7;
  --brand-500: #6AA8B4;
  --brand-600: #5296A3;
  --brand-700: #48848f;
  --brand-800: #37646D;
  --brand-900: #2B4A50;
  --brand-950: #1B2E32;
  --brand: #48848f;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C9DFE4;
  --brand-hover: #3C6E77;
  --brand-pressed: #305860;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142224;
    --brand-ink: #D6E7EA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F9F9',
        100: '#ECF2F4',
        200: '#D4E4E7',
        300: '#B4D4D9',
        400: '#8FBEC7',
        500: '#6AA8B4',
        600: '#5296A3',
        700: '#48848f',
        800: '#37646D',
        900: '#2B4A50',
        950: '#1B2E32',
        DEFAULT: '#48848f',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F9F9,
  '100': #ECF2F4,
  '200': #D4E4E7,
  '300': #B4D4D9,
  '400': #8FBEC7,
  '500': #6AA8B4,
  '600': #5296A3,
  '700': #48848f,
  '800': #37646D,
  '900': #2B4A50,
  '950': #1B2E32,
);
$brand-base: #48848f;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F9F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF2F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4E4E7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B4D4D9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8FBEC7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6AA8B4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5296A3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#48848f", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#37646D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2B4A50", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1B2E32", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #48848f · 4.97:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.22:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.97:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #48848f as text scores 4.22:1 on white and 4.97:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2B4E55 at 2.14:1.

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
#457E88 · 4.57:1
AA on white−2% L
#457E88
The quick fox
#345F66 · 7.06:1
AAA on white−12% L
#345F66
The quick fox
#48848f · 4.97:1
AA on blackalready passes
#48848f
The quick fox
#5DA1AD · 7.17:1
AAA on black+10% L
#5DA1AD

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #48848F 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
#48848f on white: 4.22:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#48848f on black: 4.97:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #48848f as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #48848f.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.22:1AaAa
Slate 504.04:1AaAa
Slate 1003.85:1AaAa
Slate 2003.43:1AaAa
Slate 3002.84:1AaAa
Slate 4001.65:1AaAa
Slate 5001.13:1AaAa
Slate 6001.79:1AaAa
Slate 7002.45:1AaAa
Slate 8003.46:1AaAa
Slate 9004.23:1AaAa
Black4.97:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #7B8090
deuteranopia · #6F788F
tritanopia · #208987

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. #48848f is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F5F9F9
#ECF2F4
#D4E4E7
#B4D4D9
#8FBEC7
#6AA8B4
#5296A3
#48848f
#37646D
#2B4A50
#1B2E32
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F5F9F9Darkest = 950 · #1B2E32Text 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 0.016 210.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.026 210.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.039 210.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.050 210.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.059 210.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.065 210.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.065 210.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.061 210.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.054 210.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.045 210.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.035 210.7);
}

Colors that work with #48848f

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#F5F9FA
Tinted page background
Border#C9DFE4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4D8D99
Captions on the surface
Accent#93444B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2B4E55
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF5F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142224
Dark-mode background
Hover#3C6E77
One step down in lightness
Pressed#305860
Two steps down
Disabled#90B2B8
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#4399A8
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 #48848f

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • 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
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #2B4E55
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • Weight58/100
  • 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#8F5348
Analogous left#488F77
Analogous right#48618F
Split-complement 1#8F4861
Split-complement 2#8F7748
Triadic 1#8F4884
Triadic 2#848F48
Tetradic#77488F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°189°

#48848f sits at 189°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red28.2%
Green51.8%
Blue56.1%
R · 0–255
72
0x48
G · 0–255
132
0x84
B · 0–255
143
0x8f

CMYK percentages

Cyan49.7%
Magenta7.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)43.9%

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

Color previews

#48848f text on a black background

contrast 4.97:1

Card sample

#48848f text on a white background

contrast 4.22:1

Card sample

#48848f on grey

3.85:1

#48848f on its own surface

3.98:1

#48848f on its dark surface

3.87:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #48848f;
Background color
Panel with #48848f background
background-color: #48848f;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #48848f;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(72, 132, 143, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(72, 132, 143, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #48848f;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #48848f, #48558F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #48848f, #4D488F);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #48848f;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #48848f;
caret-color: #48848f;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #48848f;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF5F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #48848f;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#48848f 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #48848f 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(72, 132, 143, 0.5)
rgb(72 132 143 / 50%)
#48848f80
hsl(189 33% 42% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #48848f 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#48848f1a#EDF3F4
20%#48848f33#DAE6E9
40%#48848f66#B6CED2
60%#48848f99#91B5BC
80%#48848fcc#6D9DA5

Gradients from #48848f

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, #64A5B1, #48848f 45%, #2B4E55);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #48848f, #3E447B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #48848f, #8F5348);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #78B1BB 0%, #48848f 45%, #2B4E55 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F9FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #5DAD8B 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #5268A3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2B4E55 0%, transparent 65%), #48848f;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #48848f

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.

#48848f 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 4.97:1.

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.

#48848f, answered

What color is #48848f?

#48848f is a dark soft cyan, closest to Dark Cyan (ΔE2000 8.5). It sits at 189° on the hue wheel with 33% saturation and 42% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #48848f?

rgb(72, 132, 143) — 72 red, 132 green and 143 blue out of 255, or 28.2% / 51.8% / 56.1% by channel.

What is #48848f in HSL and HSV?

hsl(189, 33%, 42%) and hsv(189, 50%, 56%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #48848f a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.1986 and perceived brightness is 47%, so black text on it reaches 4.97:1.

Should I use black or white text on #48848f?

Black. It scores 4.97:1 against #48848f, versus 4.22:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #48848f accessible on a white background?

#48848f on white scores 4.22:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #457E88 to reach 4.5:1, or #345F66 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #48848f?

#8F5348 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #8F4861 and #8F7748, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #48848f?

For interface work: #F5F9FA as the surface, #C9DFE4 for borders, #4D8D99 for secondary text, #93444B as an accent and #2B4E55 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #488F77 and #48618F stays calm, while #8F5348 is the loudest partner.

What is #48848f in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(50%, 8%, 0%, 44%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #48848f warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 89 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #488F80; nudged cooler, #467191.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #48848f?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 14.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #48848f as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #48848f in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#48848f] or text-[#48848f], 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 #48848f with 50% opacity?

rgba(72, 132, 143, 0.5), or #48848f80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A4C2C7; over black, #244248.

Is #48848f a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #339999, ΔE2000 9.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #48848f mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #48848f?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #64A5B1, #48848f 45%, #2B4E55). For more colour, a short hue run to #3E447B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #48848f in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #48848f at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.