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green · cool

#48af85

a balanced, soft green · cool · closest name: Medium Sea Green

Token name suggestion: Studio Basil

RGB
72, 175, 133
HSL
156°, 42%, 48%
CMYK
59, 0, 24, 31
Luminance
0.3373

#48af85 is a balanced soft green, 156° on the wheel and 77/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.75:1). As text it scores 2.71:1 on white — use #368464 instead. Nearest name is Medium Sea Green, nearest Tailwind family is emerald.

hsl(156 42% 48%)rgb(72 175 133)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #48af85 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#48af85
Hue
156°
green
Saturation
42%
soft
Lightness
48%
balanced
Brightness
69%
HSV value
Perceived
58%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3373
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
77/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.75:1
Closest name
Medium Sea Green
ΔE2000 5.5
Chroma
42.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.682
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
emerald
500 · ΔE 4.5
Web-safe
#339999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue156° of 360°
Saturation42%
Lightness48%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #48af85.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool77% 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
Red4%
Green91%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#48af85
HEX (8-digit)#48af85ff
RGBrgb(72, 175, 133)
RGBArgba(72, 175, 133, 1)
HSLhsl(156, 42%, 48%)
HSV / HSBhsv(156, 59%, 69%)
HWBhwb(156 28% 31%)
CMYKcmyk(59%, 0%, 24%, 31%)
LABlab(64.8 -40.0 12.8)
LCHlch(64.8 42.0 162.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.682 0.115 163.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(22.23, 33.73, 27.52)
Decimal4763525
Display P3color(display-p3 0.282 0.686 0.522)
Web-safe#339999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #48af85;
background-color: #48af85;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #48af85;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#48af85] bg-[#48af85]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #48af85;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.282, green: 0.686, blue: 0.522)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.282, green: 0.686, blue: 0.522, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#48AF85</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF48AF85)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF48AF85)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(133, 175, 72)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(72, 175, 133)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(72, 175, 133)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 72, 175, 133)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2824f, 0.6863f, 0.5216f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{72,175,133}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #48af85 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #48af85 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#255A45, #D4EDE3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #48af85 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: #F5FAF8;
  --brand-100: #EBF5F1;
  --brand-200: #D2EAE0;
  --brand-300: #B0DECB;
  --brand-400: #88CEB1;
  --brand-500: #60BE97;
  --brand-600: #48af85;
  --brand-700: #3B916E;
  --brand-800: #307458;
  --brand-900: #265542;
  --brand-950: #183529;
  --brand: #48af85;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF8;
  --brand-border: #C5E7D9;
  --brand-hover: #3E9672;
  --brand-pressed: #337C5E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #14241E;
    --brand-ink: #D4EDE3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF8',
        100: '#EBF5F1',
        200: '#D2EAE0',
        300: '#B0DECB',
        400: '#88CEB1',
        500: '#60BE97',
        600: '#48af85',
        700: '#3B916E',
        800: '#307458',
        900: '#265542',
        950: '#183529',
        DEFAULT: '#48af85',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF8,
  '100': #EBF5F1,
  '200': #D2EAE0,
  '300': #B0DECB,
  '400': #88CEB1,
  '500': #60BE97,
  '600': #48af85,
  '700': #3B916E,
  '800': #307458,
  '900': #265542,
  '950': #183529,
);
$brand-base: #48af85;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5FAF8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF5F1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D2EAE0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B0DECB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#88CEB1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#60BE97", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#48af85", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3B916E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#307458", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#265542", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#183529", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #48af85 · 7.75:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.71:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.75:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #48af85 as text scores 2.71:1 on white and 7.75:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #255A45 at 2.95:1.

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
#368464 · 4.52:1
AA on white−12% L
#368464
The quick fox
#29634B · 7.05:1
AAA on white−21% L
#29634B
The quick fox
#48af85 · 7.75:1
AA on blackalready passes
#48af85
The quick fox
#48af85 · 7.75:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#48af85

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #43A47D 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
#48af85 on white: 2.71:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#48af85 on black: 7.75:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #48af85 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #48af85.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.71:1AaAa
Slate 502.59:1AaAa
Slate 1002.47:1AaAa
Slate 2002.20:1AaAa
Slate 3001.83:1AaAa
Slate 4001.06:1AaAa
Slate 5001.76:1AaAa
Slate 6002.80:1AaAa
Slate 7003.82:1AaAa
Slate 8005.40:1AaAa
Slate 9006.59:1AaAa
Black7.75:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ACA383
deuteranopia · #9D9988
tritanopia · #13AFA3

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. #48af85 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.

#F5FAF8
#EBF5F1
#D2EAE0
#B0DECB
#88CEB1
#60BE97
#48af85
#3B916E
#307458
#265542
#183529
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF8Darkest = 950 · #183529Text 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 0.029 163.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.046 163.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.069 163.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.090 163.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.106 163.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.115 163.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.115 163.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.108 163.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.097 163.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.081 163.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.063 163.5);
}

Colors that work with #48af85

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#F4FAF8
Tinted page background
Border#C5E7D9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B7A
Captions on the surface
Accent#B4438D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#255A45
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF8F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#14241E
Dark-mode background
Hover#3E9672
One step down in lightness
Pressed#337C5E
Two steps down
Disabled#A3C4B7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#47C491
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 #48af85

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #255A45
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #43A47D

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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • 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#AF4872
Analogous left#48AF51
Analogous right#48A5AF
Split-complement 1#AF48A5
Split-complement 2#AF5148
Triadic 1#8548AF
Triadic 2#AF8548
Tetradic#5148AF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°156°

#48af85 sits at 156°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red28.2%
Green68.6%
Blue52.2%
R · 0–255
72
0x48
G · 0–255
175
0xaf
B · 0–255
133
0x85

CMYK percentages

Cyan58.9%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow24.0%
Key (black)31.4%

Total ink coverage is 114%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#48af85 text on a black background

contrast 7.75:1

Card sample

#48af85 text on a white background

contrast 2.71:1

Card sample

#48af85 on grey

2.47:1

#48af85 on its own surface

2.57:1

#48af85 on its dark surface

5.95:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #48af85;
Background color
Panel with #48af85 background
background-color: #48af85;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #48af85;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(72, 175, 133, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(72, 175, 133, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #48af85;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #48af85, #4894AF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #48af85, #487BAF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #48af85;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #48af85;
caret-color: #48af85;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #48af85;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF8F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #48af85;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#48af85 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #48af85 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, 175, 133, 0.5)
rgb(72 175 133 / 50%)
#48af8580
hsl(156 42% 48% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #48af85 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#48af851a#EDF7F3
20%#48af8533#DAEFE7
40%#48af8566#B6DFCE
60%#48af8599#91CFB6
80%#48af85cc#6DBF9D

Gradients from #48af85

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, #70C4A2, #48af85 45%, #255A45);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #48af85, #3F7A99);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #48af85, #AF4872);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #86CDB0 0%, #48af85 45%, #255A45 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #69C169 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #5AAABB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #255A45 0%, transparent 65%), #48af85;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #48af85

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.

#48af85 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 7.75:1.

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.

#48af85, answered

What color is #48af85?

#48af85 is a balanced soft green, closest to Medium Sea Green (ΔE2000 5.5). It sits at 156° on the hue wheel with 42% saturation and 48% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #48af85?

rgb(72, 175, 133) — 72 red, 175 green and 133 blue out of 255, or 28.2% / 68.6% / 52.2% by channel.

What is #48af85 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(156, 42%, 48%) and hsv(156, 59%, 69%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #48af85 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3373 and perceived brightness is 58%, so black text on it reaches 7.75:1.

Should I use black or white text on #48af85?

Black. It scores 7.75:1 against #48af85, versus 2.71:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #48af85 accessible on a white background?

#48af85 on white scores 2.71:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #368464 to reach 4.5:1, or #29634B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #48af85?

#AF4872 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AF48A5 and #AF5148, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #48af85?

For interface work: #F4FAF8 as the surface, #C5E7D9 for borders, #4B9B7A for secondary text, #B4438D as an accent and #255A45 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #48AF51 and #48A5AF stays calm, while #AF4872 is the loudest partner.

What is #48af85 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(59%, 0%, 24%, 31%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #48af85 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 77 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #48AF5F; nudged cooler, #45B1AD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #48af85?

The emerald family — its 500 step is #10b981, ΔE2000 4.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #48af85 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #48af85 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#48af85] or text-[#48af85], 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 #48af85 with 50% opacity?

rgba(72, 175, 133, 0.5), or #48af8580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A4D7C2; over black, #245843.

Is #48af85 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #339999, ΔE2000 15.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #48af85 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #48af85?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #70C4A2, #48af85 45%, #255A45). For more colour, a short hue run to #3F7A99 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #48af85 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #48af85 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.