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cyan · cool

#4eb69d

a balanced, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Light Sea Green

Token name suggestion: Studio Reef

RGB
78, 182, 157
HSL
166°, 42%, 51%
CMYK
57, 0, 14, 29
Luminance
0.3751

#4eb69d is a balanced soft cyan, 166° on the wheel and 82/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.50:1). As text it scores 2.47:1 on white — use #368270 instead. Nearest name is Light Sea Green, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(166 42% 51%)rgb(78 182 157)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #4eb69d is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#4eb69d
Hue
166°
cyan
Saturation
42%
soft
Lightness
51%
balanced
Brightness
71%
HSV value
Perceived
61%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3751
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
82/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.50:1
Closest name
Light Sea Green
ΔE2000 6.7
Chroma
36.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.708
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 4.1
Web-safe
#66CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue166° of 360°
Saturation42%
Lightness51%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #4eb69d.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool82% 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%
Green89%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#4eb69d
HEX (8-digit)#4eb69dff
RGBrgb(78, 182, 157)
RGBArgba(78, 182, 157, 1)
HSLhsl(166, 42%, 51%)
HSV / HSBhsv(166, 57%, 71%)
HWBhwb(166 31% 29%)
CMYKcmyk(57%, 0%, 14%, 29%)
LABlab(67.7 -36.2 3.7)
LCHlch(67.7 36.4 174.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.708 0.104 174.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(25.95, 37.51, 37.76)
Decimal5158557
Display P3color(display-p3 0.306 0.714 0.616)
Web-safe#66CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #4eb69d;
background-color: #4eb69d;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #4eb69d;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#4eb69d] bg-[#4eb69d]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #4eb69d;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.306, green: 0.714, blue: 0.616)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.306, green: 0.714, blue: 0.616, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#4EB69D</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF4EB69D)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF4EB69D)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(157, 182, 78)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(78, 182, 157)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(78, 182, 157)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 78, 182, 157)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3059f, 0.7137f, 0.6157f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{78,182,157}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #4eb69d 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #4eb69d 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#255A4E, #D4EDE7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #4eb69d 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: #F5FAF9;
  --brand-100: #EBF5F2;
  --brand-200: #D2EAE4;
  --brand-300: #B0DED3;
  --brand-400: #88CEBD;
  --brand-500: #60BDA7;
  --brand-600: #4eb69d;
  --brand-700: #3C907C;
  --brand-800: #307463;
  --brand-900: #265549;
  --brand-950: #18352E;
  --brand: #4eb69d;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C5E7DF;
  --brand-hover: #429F88;
  --brand-pressed: #378673;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142420;
    --brand-ink: #D4EDE7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF9',
        100: '#EBF5F2',
        200: '#D2EAE4',
        300: '#B0DED3',
        400: '#88CEBD',
        500: '#60BDA7',
        600: '#4eb69d',
        700: '#3C907C',
        800: '#307463',
        900: '#265549',
        950: '#18352E',
        DEFAULT: '#4eb69d',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF9,
  '100': #EBF5F2,
  '200': #D2EAE4,
  '300': #B0DED3,
  '400': #88CEBD,
  '500': #60BDA7,
  '600': #4eb69d,
  '700': #3C907C,
  '800': #307463,
  '900': #265549,
  '950': #18352E,
);
$brand-base: #4eb69d;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5FAF9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF5F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D2EAE4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B0DED3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#88CEBD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#60BDA7", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4eb69d", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3C907C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#307463", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#265549", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#18352E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #4eb69d · 8.50:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.47:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.50:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #4eb69d as text scores 2.47:1 on white and 8.50:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #255A4E at 3.21:1.

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
#368270 · 4.58:1
AA on white−15% L
#368270
The quick fox
#286154 · 7.17:1
AAA on white−24% L
#286154
The quick fox
#4eb69d · 8.50:1
AA on blackalready passes
#4eb69d
The quick fox
#4eb69d · 8.50:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#4eb69d

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #43A28C 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
#4eb69d on white: 2.47:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#4eb69d on black: 8.50:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #4eb69d as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #4eb69d.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.47:1AaAa
Slate 502.36:1AaAa
Slate 1002.25:1AaAa
Slate 2002.00:1AaAa
Slate 3001.66:1AaAa
Slate 4001.04:1AaAa
Slate 5001.93:1AaAa
Slate 6003.07:1AaAa
Slate 7004.19:1AaAa
Slate 8005.92:1AaAa
Slate 9007.23:1AaAa
Black8.50:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B0AC9C
deuteranopia · #A0A09F
tritanopia · #00B8AF

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. #4eb69d 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.

#F5FAF9
#EBF5F2
#D2EAE4
#B0DED3
#88CEBD
#60BDA7
#4eb69d
#3C907C
#307463
#265549
#18352E
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF9Darkest = 950 · #18352EText 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 0.026 174.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.041 174.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.062 174.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.081 174.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.095 174.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.104 174.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.104 174.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.097 174.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.087 174.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.073 174.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.057 174.9);
}

Colors that work with #4eb69d

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#C5E7DF
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B88
Captions on the surface
Accent#BB4981
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#255A4E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF8F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142420
Dark-mode background
Hover#429F88
One step down in lightness
Pressed#378673
Two steps down
Disabled#ABC9C2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#51C7AB
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 #4eb69d

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 #255A4E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #43A28C

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
  • Weight49/100
  • 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#B64E67
Analogous left#4EB669
Analogous right#4E9BB6
Split-complement 1#B64E9B
Split-complement 2#B6694E
Triadic 1#9D4EB6
Triadic 2#B69D4E
Tetradic#694EB6
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°166°

#4eb69d sits at 166°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red30.6%
Green71.4%
Blue61.6%
R · 0–255
78
0x4e
G · 0–255
182
0xb6
B · 0–255
157
0x9d

CMYK percentages

Cyan57.1%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow13.7%
Key (black)28.6%

Total ink coverage is 99%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#4eb69d text on a black background

contrast 8.50:1

Card sample

#4eb69d text on a white background

contrast 2.47:1

Card sample

#4eb69d on grey

2.25:1

#4eb69d on its own surface

2.34:1

#4eb69d on its dark surface

6.53:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #4eb69d;
Background color
Panel with #4eb69d background
background-color: #4eb69d;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #4eb69d;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(78, 182, 157, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(78, 182, 157, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #4eb69d;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #4eb69d, #4E8AB6);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #4eb69d, #4E70B6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #4eb69d;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #4eb69d;
caret-color: #4eb69d;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #4eb69d;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF8F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #4eb69d;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#4eb69d 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #4eb69d 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(78, 182, 157, 0.5)
rgb(78 182 157 / 50%)
#4eb69d80
hsl(166 42% 51% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #4eb69d 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#4eb69d1a#EDF8F5
20%#4eb69d33#DCF0EB
40%#4eb69d66#B8E2D8
60%#4eb69d99#95D3C4
80%#4eb69dcc#71C5B1

Gradients from #4eb69d

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, #79C8B5, #4eb69d 45%, #255A4E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #4eb69d, #4372A2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #4eb69d, #B64E67);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #8FD1C1 0%, #4eb69d 45%, #255A4E 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%, #72C581 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #64A0BF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #255A4E 0%, transparent 65%), #4eb69d;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #4eb69d

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.

#4eb69d 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 8.50:1.

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.

#4eb69d, answered

What color is #4eb69d?

#4eb69d is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Light Sea Green (ΔE2000 6.7). It sits at 166° on the hue wheel with 42% saturation and 51% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #4eb69d?

rgb(78, 182, 157) — 78 red, 182 green and 157 blue out of 255, or 30.6% / 71.4% / 61.6% by channel.

What is #4eb69d in HSL and HSV?

hsl(166, 42%, 51%) and hsv(166, 57%, 71%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #4eb69d a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3751 and perceived brightness is 61%, so black text on it reaches 8.50:1.

Should I use black or white text on #4eb69d?

Black. It scores 8.50:1 against #4eb69d, versus 2.47:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #4eb69d accessible on a white background?

#4eb69d on white scores 2.47:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #368270 to reach 4.5:1, or #286154 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #4eb69d?

#B64E67 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B64E9B and #B6694E, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #4eb69d?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C5E7DF for borders, #4B9B88 for secondary text, #BB4981 as an accent and #255A4E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #4EB669 and #4E9BB6 stays calm, while #B64E67 is the loudest partner.

What is #4eb69d in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(57%, 0%, 14%, 29%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #4eb69d warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 82 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #4EB677; nudged cooler, #4CABB9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #4eb69d?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 4.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #4eb69d as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #4eb69d in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#4eb69d] or text-[#4eb69d], 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 #4eb69d with 50% opacity?

rgba(78, 182, 157, 0.5), or #4eb69d80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A7DBCE; over black, #275B4F.

Is #4eb69d a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CC99, ΔE2000 9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #4eb69d 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 #4eb69d?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #79C8B5, #4eb69d 45%, #255A4E). For more colour, a short hue run to #4372A2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #4eb69d in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #4eb69d at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.