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cyan · cool

#4adeaf

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Reef

RGB
74, 222, 175
HSL
161°, 69%, 58%
CMYK
67, 0, 21, 13
Luminance
0.5679

#4adeaf is a balanced vivid cyan, 161° on the wheel and 80/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.36:1). As text it scores 1.70:1 on white — use #188663 instead. Nearest name is Medium Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is emerald.

hsl(161 69% 58%)rgb(74 222 175)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #4adeaf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#4adeaf
Hue
161°
cyan
Saturation
69%
vivid
Lightness
58%
balanced
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5679
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
80/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.36:1
Closest name
Medium Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 5.1
Chroma
51.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.810
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
emerald
500 · ΔE 10.2
Web-safe
#33CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue161° of 360°
Saturation69%
Lightness58%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #4adeaf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool80% 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%
Green92%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#4adeaf
HEX (8-digit)#4adeafff
RGBrgb(74, 222, 175)
RGBArgba(74, 222, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(161, 69%, 58%)
HSV / HSBhsv(161, 67%, 87%)
HWBhwb(161 29% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(67%, 0%, 21%, 13%)
LABlab(80.1 -50.0 11.8)
LCHlch(80.1 51.4 166.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.810 0.142 167.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(36.68, 56.79, 49.58)
Decimal4906671
Display P3color(display-p3 0.290 0.871 0.686)
Web-safe#33CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #4adeaf;
background-color: #4adeaf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #4adeaf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#4adeaf] bg-[#4adeaf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #4adeaf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.290, green: 0.871, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.290, green: 0.871, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#4ADEAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF4ADEAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF4ADEAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 222, 74)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(74, 222, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(74, 222, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 74, 222, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2902f, 0.8706f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{74,222,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #4adeaf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #4adeaf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#146C50, #D3EEE5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #4adeaf 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: #F3FBF9;
  --brand-100: #E7F8F3;
  --brand-200: #CAF2E5;
  --brand-300: #A0EED5;
  --brand-400: #71E5C0;
  --brand-500: #4adeaf;
  --brand-600: #26CF99;
  --brand-700: #1FAD80;
  --brand-800: #198A66;
  --brand-900: #16644B;
  --brand-950: #0E3F2F;
  --brand: #4adeaf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF8;
  --brand-border: #C0EDDE;
  --brand-hover: #2CD9A1;
  --brand-pressed: #23BE8C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #14241F;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FBF9',
        100: '#E7F8F3',
        200: '#CAF2E5',
        300: '#A0EED5',
        400: '#71E5C0',
        500: '#4adeaf',
        600: '#26CF99',
        700: '#1FAD80',
        800: '#198A66',
        900: '#16644B',
        950: '#0E3F2F',
        DEFAULT: '#4adeaf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FBF9,
  '100': #E7F8F3,
  '200': #CAF2E5,
  '300': #A0EED5,
  '400': #71E5C0,
  '500': #4adeaf,
  '600': #26CF99,
  '700': #1FAD80,
  '800': #198A66,
  '900': #16644B,
  '950': #0E3F2F,
);
$brand-base: #4adeaf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FBF9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F8F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CAF2E5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A0EED5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#71E5C0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4adeaf", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#26CF99", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1FAD80", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#198A66", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#16644B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0E3F2F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #4adeaf · 12.36:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.70:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.36:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #4adeaf as text scores 1.70:1 on white and 12.36:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #146C50 at 3.76:1.

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
#188663 · 4.54:1
AA on white−27% L
#188663
The quick fox
#126349 · 7.22:1
AAA on white−35% L
#126349
The quick fox
#4adeaf · 12.36:1
AA on blackalready passes
#4adeaf
The quick fox
#4adeaf · 12.36:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#4adeaf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #1FA87C 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
#4adeaf on white: 1.70:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#4adeaf on black: 12.36:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #4adeaf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #4adeaf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.70:1AaAa
Slate 501.62:1AaAa
Slate 1001.55:1AaAa
Slate 2001.38:1AaAa
Slate 3001.14:1AaAa
Slate 4001.51:1AaAa
Slate 5002.80:1AaAa
Slate 6004.46:1AaAa
Slate 7006.09:1AaAa
Slate 8008.61:1AaAa
Slate 90010.51:1AaAa
Black12.36:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D9CFAD
deuteranopia · #C5C1B2
tritanopia · #00DFD1

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. #4adeaf 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.

#F3FBF9
#E7F8F3
#CAF2E5
#A0EED5
#71E5C0
#4adeaf
#26CF99
#1FAD80
#198A66
#16644B
#0E3F2F
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F3FBF9Darkest = 950 · #0E3F2FText step on white = 900
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 0.036 167.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.057 167.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.085 167.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.111 167.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.131 167.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.142 167.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.142 167.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.134 167.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.120 167.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.100 167.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.078 167.8);
}

Colors that work with #4adeaf

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#C0EDDE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B81
Captions on the surface
Accent#E2469F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#146C50
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9FBF5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#14241F
Dark-mode background
Hover#2CD9A1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#23BE8C
Two steps down
Disabled#C1D7D0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#51EBBA
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 #4adeaf

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 #146C50
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #1FA87C

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
  • Weight42/100
  • 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#DE4A79
Analogous left#4ADE65
Analogous right#4AC3DE
Split-complement 1#DE4AC3
Split-complement 2#DE654A
Triadic 1#AF4ADE
Triadic 2#DEAF4A
Tetradic#654ADE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°161°

#4adeaf sits at 161°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red29.0%
Green87.1%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
74
0x4a
G · 0–255
222
0xde
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan66.7%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow21.2%
Key (black)12.9%

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

Color previews

#4adeaf text on a black background

contrast 12.36:1

Card sample

#4adeaf text on a white background

contrast 1.70:1

Card sample

#4adeaf on grey

1.55:1

#4adeaf on its own surface

1.61:1

#4adeaf on its dark surface

9.49:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #4adeaf;
Background color
Panel with #4adeaf background
background-color: #4adeaf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #4adeaf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(74, 222, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(74, 222, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #4adeaf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #4adeaf, #4AAADE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #4adeaf, #4A85DE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #4adeaf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #4adeaf;
caret-color: #4adeaf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #4adeaf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9FBF5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #4adeaf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#4adeaf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #4adeaf 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(74, 222, 175, 0.5)
rgb(74 222 175 / 50%)
#4adeaf80
hsl(161 69% 58% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #4adeaf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#4adeaf1a#EDFCF7
20%#4adeaf33#DBF8EF
40%#4adeaf66#B7F2DF
60%#4adeaf99#92EBCF
80%#4adeafcc#6EE5BF

Gradients from #4adeaf

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, #7EE7C6, #4adeaf 45%, #146C50);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #4adeaf, #3090D9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #4adeaf, #DE4A79);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #97ECD1 0%, #4adeaf 45%, #146C50 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%, #75E680 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #64C1E3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #146C50 0%, transparent 65%), #4adeaf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #4adeaf

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.

#4adeaf 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 12.36:1.

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.

#4adeaf, answered

What color is #4adeaf?

#4adeaf is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Medium Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 5.1). It sits at 161° on the hue wheel with 69% saturation and 58% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #4adeaf?

rgb(74, 222, 175) — 74 red, 222 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 29% / 87.1% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #4adeaf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(161, 69%, 58%) and hsv(161, 67%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #4adeaf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5679 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 12.36:1.

Should I use black or white text on #4adeaf?

Black. It scores 12.36:1 against #4adeaf, versus 1.70:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #4adeaf accessible on a white background?

#4adeaf on white scores 1.70:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #188663 to reach 4.5:1, or #126349 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #4adeaf?

#DE4A79 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DE4AC3 and #DE654A, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #4adeaf?

For interface work: #F4FAF8 as the surface, #C0EDDE for borders, #4B9B81 for secondary text, #E2469F as an accent and #146C50 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #4ADE65 and #4AC3DE stays calm, while #DE4A79 is the loudest partner.

What is #4adeaf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(67%, 0%, 21%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #4adeaf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 80 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #4ADE78; nudged cooler, #48D9E0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #4adeaf?

The emerald family — its 500 step is #10b981, ΔE2000 10.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #4adeaf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #4adeaf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#4adeaf] or text-[#4adeaf], 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 #4adeaf with 50% opacity?

rgba(74, 222, 175, 0.5), or #4adeaf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A5EFD7; over black, #256F58.

Is #4adeaf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33CC99, ΔE2000 4.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #4adeaf 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 #4adeaf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #7EE7C6, #4adeaf 45%, #146C50). For more colour, a short hue run to #3090D9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #4adeaf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #4adeaf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.