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cyan · cool

#48b395

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Teal

RGB
72, 179, 149
HSL
163°, 43%, 49%
CMYK
60, 0, 17, 30
Luminance
0.3579

#48b395 is a balanced soft cyan, 163° on the wheel and 81/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.16:1). As text it scores 2.57:1 on white — use #34806B instead. Nearest name is Medium Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(163 43% 49%)rgb(72 179 149)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #48b395 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#48b395
Hue
163°
cyan
Saturation
43%
soft
Lightness
49%
balanced
Brightness
70%
HSV value
Perceived
59%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3579
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
81/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.16:1
Closest name
Medium Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 7.2
Chroma
38.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.696
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 5.3
Web-safe
#33CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue163° of 360°
Saturation43%
Lightness49%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #48b395.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool81% 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%
Green90%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#48b395
HEX (8-digit)#48b395ff
RGBrgb(72, 179, 149)
RGBArgba(72, 179, 149, 1)
HSLhsl(163, 43%, 49%)
HSV / HSBhsv(163, 60%, 70%)
HWBhwb(163 28% 30%)
CMYKcmyk(60%, 0%, 17%, 30%)
LABlab(66.4 -38.0 6.2)
LCHlch(66.4 38.5 170.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.696 0.108 171.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(24.21, 35.79, 34.06)
Decimal4764565
Display P3color(display-p3 0.282 0.702 0.584)
Web-safe#33CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #48b395;
background-color: #48b395;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #48b395;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#48b395] bg-[#48b395]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #48b395;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.282, green: 0.702, blue: 0.584)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.282, green: 0.702, blue: 0.584, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#48B395</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF48B395)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF48B395)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(149, 179, 72)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(72, 179, 149)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(72, 179, 149)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 72, 179, 149)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2824f, 0.7020f, 0.5843f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{72,179,149}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #48b395 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #48b395 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#255B4C, #D3EDE6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #48b395 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: #EBF5F2;
  --brand-200: #D1EAE3;
  --brand-300: #AFDFD1;
  --brand-400: #87CFBB;
  --brand-500: #5FBFA4;
  --brand-600: #48b395;
  --brand-700: #3B9179;
  --brand-800: #2F7461;
  --brand-900: #255548;
  --brand-950: #17352D;
  --brand: #48b395;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C5E8DE;
  --brand-hover: #3E9980;
  --brand-pressed: #34806B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142420;
    --brand-ink: #D3EDE6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF8',
        100: '#EBF5F2',
        200: '#D1EAE3',
        300: '#AFDFD1',
        400: '#87CFBB',
        500: '#5FBFA4',
        600: '#48b395',
        700: '#3B9179',
        800: '#2F7461',
        900: '#255548',
        950: '#17352D',
        DEFAULT: '#48b395',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF8,
  '100': #EBF5F2,
  '200': #D1EAE3,
  '300': #AFDFD1,
  '400': #87CFBB,
  '500': #5FBFA4,
  '600': #48b395,
  '700': #3B9179,
  '800': #2F7461,
  '900': #255548,
  '950': #17352D,
);
$brand-base: #48b395;
$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": "#EBF5F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D1EAE3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AFDFD1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#87CFBB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5FBFA4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#48b395", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3B9179", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2F7461", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#255548", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#17352D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #48b395 · 8.16:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.57:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.16:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #48b395 as text scores 2.57:1 on white and 8.16:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #255B4C at 3.04:1.

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
#34806B · 4.72:1
AA on white−14% L
#34806B
The quick fox
#286352 · 7.01:1
AAA on white−22% L
#286352
The quick fox
#48b395 · 8.16:1
AA on blackalready passes
#48b395
The quick fox
#48b395 · 8.16:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#48b395

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #42A489 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
#48b395 on white: 2.57:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#48b395 on black: 8.16:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #48b395 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #48b395.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.57:1AaAa
Slate 502.46:1AaAa
Slate 1002.35:1AaAa
Slate 2002.09:1AaAa
Slate 3001.73:1AaAa
Slate 4001.00:1AaAa
Slate 5001.85:1AaAa
Slate 6002.94:1AaAa
Slate 7004.02:1AaAa
Slate 8005.68:1AaAa
Slate 9006.93:1AaAa
Black8.16:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AEA894
deuteranopia · #9E9D97
tritanopia · #00B4AA

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. #48b395 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
#EBF5F2
#D1EAE3
#AFDFD1
#87CFBB
#5FBFA4
#48b395
#3B9179
#2F7461
#255548
#17352D
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF8Darkest = 950 · #17352DText 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 0.027 171.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.043 171.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.065 171.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.085 171.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.100 171.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.108 171.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.108 171.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.102 171.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.091 171.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.076 171.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.060 171.6);
}

Colors that work with #48b395

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#C5E8DE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B84
Captions on the surface
Accent#B84381
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#255B4C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF8F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142420
Dark-mode background
Hover#3E9980
One step down in lightness
Pressed#34806B
Two steps down
Disabled#A5C6BD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#49C6A3
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 #48b395

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
  • 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 #255B4C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #42A489

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 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
  • Weight51/100
  • 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#B34866
Analogous left#48B360
Analogous right#489BB3
Split-complement 1#B3489B
Split-complement 2#B36048
Triadic 1#9548B3
Triadic 2#B39548
Tetradic#6048B3
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°163°

#48b395 sits at 163°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red28.2%
Green70.2%
Blue58.4%
R · 0–255
72
0x48
G · 0–255
179
0xb3
B · 0–255
149
0x95

CMYK percentages

Cyan59.8%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow16.8%
Key (black)29.8%

Total ink coverage is 106%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#48b395 text on a black background

contrast 8.16:1

Card sample

#48b395 text on a white background

contrast 2.57:1

Card sample

#48b395 on grey

2.35:1

#48b395 on its own surface

2.44:1

#48b395 on its dark surface

6.26:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #48b395;
Background color
Panel with #48b395 background
background-color: #48b395;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #48b395;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(72, 179, 149, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(72, 179, 149, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #48b395;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #48b395, #488AB3);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #48b395, #486FB3);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #48b395;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #48b395;
caret-color: #48b395;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #48b395;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF8F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #48b395;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#48b395 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #48b395 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, 179, 149, 0.5)
rgb(72 179 149 / 50%)
#48b39580
hsl(163 43% 49% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #48b395 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#48b3951a#EDF7F4
20%#48b39533#DAF0EA
40%#48b39566#B6E1D5
60%#48b39599#91D1BF
80%#48b395cc#6DC2AA

Gradients from #48b395

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, #72C6AF, #48b395 45%, #255B4C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #48b395, #3F719D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #48b395, #B34866);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #88CFBB 0%, #48b395 45%, #255B4C 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%, #6BC377 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #5CA0BD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #255B4C 0%, transparent 65%), #48b395;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #48b395

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.

#48b395 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 8.16:1.

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.

#48b395, answered

What color is #48b395?

#48b395 is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Medium Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 7.2). It sits at 163° on the hue wheel with 43% saturation and 49% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #48b395?

rgb(72, 179, 149) — 72 red, 179 green and 149 blue out of 255, or 28.2% / 70.2% / 58.4% by channel.

What is #48b395 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(163, 43%, 49%) and hsv(163, 60%, 70%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #48b395 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3579 and perceived brightness is 59%, so black text on it reaches 8.16:1.

Should I use black or white text on #48b395?

Black. It scores 8.16:1 against #48b395, versus 2.57:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #48b395 accessible on a white background?

#48b395 on white scores 2.57:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #34806B to reach 4.5:1, or #286352 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #48b395?

#B34866 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B3489B and #B36048, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #48b395?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C5E8DE for borders, #4B9B84 for secondary text, #B84381 as an accent and #255B4C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #48B360 and #489BB3 stays calm, while #B34866 is the loudest partner.

What is #48b395 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(60%, 0%, 17%, 30%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #48b395 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 81 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #48B36E; nudged cooler, #46ACB5.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #48b395?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 5.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #48b395 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #48b395 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#48b395] or text-[#48b395], 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 #48b395 with 50% opacity?

rgba(72, 179, 149, 0.5), or #48b39580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A4D9CA; over black, #245A4B.

Is #48b395 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33CC99, ΔE2000 7.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #48b395 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 #48b395?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #72C6AF, #48b395 45%, #255B4C). For more colour, a short hue run to #3F719D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #48b395 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #48b395 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.