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cyan · cool

#496e80

a dark, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Slate Gray

Token name suggestion: Dusk Reef

RGB
73, 110, 128
HSL
200°, 27%, 39%
CMYK
43, 14, 0, 50
Luminance
0.1413

#496e80 is a dark soft cyan, 200° on the wheel and 86/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.49:1). As text it scores 5.49:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Slate Gray, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(200 27% 39%)rgb(73 110 128)Base step 700AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #496e80 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#496e80
Hue
200°
cyan
Saturation
27%
soft
Lightness
39%
dark
Brightness
50%
HSV value
Perceived
40%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1413
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
86/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
5.49:1
Closest name
Slate Gray
ΔE2000 10.4
Chroma
16.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.517
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 9
Web-safe
#336699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue200° of 360°
Saturation27%
Lightness39%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #496e80.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool86% 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
Red10%
Green79%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#496e80
HEX (8-digit)#496e80ff
RGBrgb(73, 110, 128)
RGBArgba(73, 110, 128, 1)
HSLhsl(200, 27%, 39%)
HSV / HSBhsv(200, 43%, 50%)
HWBhwb(200 29% 50%)
CMYKcmyk(43%, 14%, 0%, 50%)
LABlab(44.4 -8.1 -14.1)
LCHlch(44.4 16.2 240.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.517 0.051 230.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(12.22, 14.13, 22.50)
Decimal4812416
Display P3color(display-p3 0.286 0.431 0.502)
Web-safe#336699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #496e80;
background-color: #496e80;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #496e80;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#496e80] bg-[#496e80]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #496e80;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.286, green: 0.431, blue: 0.502)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.286, green: 0.431, blue: 0.502, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#496E80</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF496E80)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF496E80)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(128, 110, 73)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(73, 110, 128)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(73, 110, 128)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 73, 110, 128)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2863f, 0.4314f, 0.5020f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{73,110,128}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #496e80 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #496e80 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2E4651, #D8E3E9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #496e80 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: #F6F8F9;
  --brand-100: #ECF1F3;
  --brand-200: #D6E1E6;
  --brand-300: #B8CCD6;
  --brand-400: #94B3C2;
  --brand-500: #7099AE;
  --brand-600: #59869C;
  --brand-700: #496e80;
  --brand-800: #3B5968;
  --brand-900: #2E434D;
  --brand-950: #1D2A30;
  --brand: #496e80;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F5F8F9;
  --brand-border: #CBDAE1;
  --brand-hover: #3C5A69;
  --brand-pressed: #2F4753;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D8E3E9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F8F9',
        100: '#ECF1F3',
        200: '#D6E1E6',
        300: '#B8CCD6',
        400: '#94B3C2',
        500: '#7099AE',
        600: '#59869C',
        700: '#496e80',
        800: '#3B5968',
        900: '#2E434D',
        950: '#1D2A30',
        DEFAULT: '#496e80',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F8F9,
  '100': #ECF1F3,
  '200': #D6E1E6,
  '300': #B8CCD6,
  '400': #94B3C2,
  '500': #7099AE,
  '600': #59869C,
  '700': #496e80,
  '800': #3B5968,
  '900': #2E434D,
  '950': #1D2A30,
);
$brand-base: #496e80;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F8F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF1F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D6E1E6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B8CCD6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#94B3C2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7099AE", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#59869C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#496e80", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3B5968", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2E434D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1D2A30", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#ffffff", "$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#ffffff on #496e80 · 5.49:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.49:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.83:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #496e80 as text scores 5.49:1 on white and 3.83:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EFF3F6 at 4.92:1.

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
#496e80 · 5.49:1
AA on whitealready passes
#496e80
The quick fox
#3E5D6D · 7.02:1
AAA on white−6% L
#3E5D6D
The quick fox
#527C90 · 4.64:1
AA on black+5% L
#527C90
The quick fox
#759DB0 · 7.21:1
AAA on black+18% L
#759DB0

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #496E80 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
#496e80 on white: 5.49:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#496e80 on black: 3.83:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #496e80 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #496e80.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.49:1AaAa
Slate 505.25:1AaAa
Slate 1005.01:1AaAa
Slate 2004.45:1AaAa
Slate 3003.70:1AaAa
Slate 4002.14:1AaAa
Slate 5001.15:1AaAa
Slate 6001.38:1AaAa
Slate 7001.89:1AaAa
Slate 8002.66:1AaAa
Slate 9003.25:1AaAa
Black3.83:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #656D81
deuteranopia · #5D6680
tritanopia · #337374

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. #496e80 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.

#F6F8F9
#ECF1F3
#D6E1E6
#B8CCD6
#94B3C2
#7099AE
#59869C
#496e80
#3B5968
#2E434D
#1D2A30
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F6F8F9Darkest = 950 · #1D2A30Text step on white = 700
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 0.013 230.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.020 230.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.030 230.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.040 230.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.047 230.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.051 230.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.051 230.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.048 230.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.043 230.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.035 230.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.028 230.0);
}

Colors that work with #496e80

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#ffffff
White wins here
Surface#F5F8F9
Tinted page background
Border#CBDAE1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#537E92
Captions on the surface
Accent#844A45
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2E4651
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF3F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#3C5A69
One step down in lightness
Pressed#2F4753
Two steps down
Disabled#87A4B2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#457D98
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 #496e80

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • 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
Any size
Safe as a fill behind white type
Yes
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
  • Weight61/100
  • 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#805B49
Analogous left#498076
Analogous right#495280
Split-complement 1#804952
Split-complement 2#807649
Triadic 1#80496E
Triadic 2#6E8049
Tetradic#764980
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°200°

#496e80 sits at 200°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red28.6%
Green43.1%
Blue50.2%
R · 0–255
73
0x49
G · 0–255
110
0x6e
B · 0–255
128
0x80

CMYK percentages

Cyan43.0%
Magenta14.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)49.8%

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

Color previews

#496e80 text on a black background

contrast 3.83:1

Card sample

#496e80 text on a white background

contrast 5.49:1

Card sample

#496e80 on grey

5.01:1

#496e80 on its own surface

5.14:1

#496e80 on its dark surface

3.06:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #496e80;
Background color
Panel with #496e80 background
background-color: #496e80;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #496e80;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(73, 110, 128, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(73, 110, 128, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #496e80;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #496e80, #494980);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #496e80, #564980);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #496e80;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #496e80;
caret-color: #496e80;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #496e80;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF3F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #496e80;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#496e80 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #496e80 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(73, 110, 128, 0.5)
rgb(73 110 128 / 50%)
#496e8080
hsl(200 27% 39% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #496e80 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#496e801a#EDF1F2
20%#496e8033#DBE2E6
40%#496e8066#B6C5CC
60%#496e8099#92A8B3
80%#496e80cc#6D8B99

Gradients from #496e80

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, #618FA5, #496e80 45%, #2E4651);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #496e80, #413E6D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #496e80, #805B49);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #759DB0 0%, #496e80 45%, #2E4651 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F8F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #5BA08F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #545A93 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2E4651 0%, transparent 65%), #496e80;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #496e80

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.

#496e80 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

Too dim on dark surfaces at 3.83:1 — lift it to #527C90 for body text, or reserve it for fills.

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.

#496e80, answered

What color is #496e80?

#496e80 is a dark soft cyan, closest to Slate Gray (ΔE2000 10.4). It sits at 200° on the hue wheel with 27% saturation and 39% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #496e80?

rgb(73, 110, 128) — 73 red, 110 green and 128 blue out of 255, or 28.6% / 43.1% / 50.2% by channel.

What is #496e80 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(200, 27%, 39%) and hsv(200, 43%, 50%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #496e80 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1413 and perceived brightness is 40%, so white text on it reaches 5.49:1.

Should I use black or white text on #496e80?

White. It scores 5.49:1 against #496e80, versus 3.83:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #496e80 accessible on a white background?

#496e80 on white scores 5.49:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #496e80?

#805B49 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #804952 and #807649, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #496e80?

For interface work: #F5F8F9 as the surface, #CBDAE1 for borders, #537E92 for secondary text, #844A45 as an accent and #2E4651 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #498076 and #495280 stays calm, while #805B49 is the loudest partner.

What is #496e80 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(43%, 14%, 0%, 50%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #496e80 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 86 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #49807E; nudged cooler, #476582.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #496e80?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #496e80 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #496e80 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#496e80] or text-[#496e80], 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 #496e80 with 50% opacity?

rgba(73, 110, 128, 0.5), or #496e8080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A4B7C0; over black, #253740.

Is #496e80 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #336699, ΔE2000 10 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #496e80 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 #496e80?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #618FA5, #496e80 45%, #2E4651). For more colour, a short hue run to #413E6D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #496e80 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #496e80 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.