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cyan · cool

#557380

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

Token name suggestion: Dusk Teal

RGB
85, 115, 128
HSL
198°, 20%, 42%
CMYK
34, 10, 0, 50
Luminance
0.1575

#557380 is a dark soft cyan, 198° on the wheel and 76/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.06:1). As text it scores 5.06:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Slate Gray, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(198 20% 42%)rgb(85 115 128)Base step 700AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #557380 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#557380
Hue
198°
cyan
Saturation
20%
soft
Lightness
42%
dark
Brightness
50%
HSV value
Perceived
43%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1575
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
76/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
5.06:1
Closest name
Slate Gray
ΔE2000 8.4
Chroma
13.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.537
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 8.4
Web-safe
#666699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue198° of 360°
Saturation20%
Lightness42%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #557380.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool76% 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
Red12%
Green78%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#557380
HEX (8-digit)#557380ff
RGBrgb(85, 115, 128)
RGBArgba(85, 115, 128, 1)
HSLhsl(198, 20%, 42%)
HSV / HSBhsv(198, 34%, 50%)
HWBhwb(198 33% 50%)
CMYKcmyk(34%, 10%, 0%, 50%)
LABlab(46.6 -7.4 -10.6)
LCHlch(46.6 13.0 235.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.537 0.040 226.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(13.77, 15.75, 22.73)
Decimal5600128
Display P3color(display-p3 0.333 0.451 0.502)
Web-safe#666699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #557380;
background-color: #557380;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #557380;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#557380] bg-[#557380]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #557380;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.333, green: 0.451, blue: 0.502)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.333, green: 0.451, blue: 0.502, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#557380</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF557380)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF557380)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(128, 115, 85)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(85, 115, 128)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(85, 115, 128)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 85, 115, 128)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3333f, 0.4510f, 0.5020f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{85,115,128}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #557380 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #557380 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#33454D, #DAE3E7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #557380 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: #EDF1F2;
  --brand-200: #D8E0E4;
  --brand-300: #BCCBD2;
  --brand-400: #9AB2BC;
  --brand-500: #7898A5;
  --brand-600: #628493;
  --brand-700: #557380;
  --brand-800: #415862;
  --brand-900: #324249;
  --brand-950: #1F292D;
  --brand: #557380;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F6F8F9;
  --brand-border: #CED9DE;
  --brand-hover: #47606B;
  --brand-pressed: #394D55;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #161E22;
    --brand-ink: #DAE3E7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F8F9',
        100: '#EDF1F2',
        200: '#D8E0E4',
        300: '#BCCBD2',
        400: '#9AB2BC',
        500: '#7898A5',
        600: '#628493',
        700: '#557380',
        800: '#415862',
        900: '#324249',
        950: '#1F292D',
        DEFAULT: '#557380',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F8F9,
  '100': #EDF1F2,
  '200': #D8E0E4,
  '300': #BCCBD2,
  '400': #9AB2BC,
  '500': #7898A5,
  '600': #628493,
  '700': #557380,
  '800': #415862,
  '900': #324249,
  '950': #1F292D,
);
$brand-base: #557380;
$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": "#EDF1F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D8E0E4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BCCBD2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9AB2BC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7898A5", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#628493", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#557380", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#415862", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#324249", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1F292D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #557380 · 5.06:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.06:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.15:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #557380 as text scores 5.06:1 on white and 4.15:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F0F3F5 at 4.54:1.

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
#557380 · 5.06:1
AA on whitealready passes
#557380
The quick fox
#435A65 · 7.27:1
AAA on white−9% L
#435A65
The quick fox
#597986 · 4.50:1
AA on black+2% L
#597986
The quick fox
#7B9AA7 · 7.02:1
AAA on black+15% L
#7B9AA7

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #557380 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
#557380 on white: 5.06:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#557380 on black: 4.15:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #557380 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #557380.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.06:1AaAa
Slate 504.84:1AaAa
Slate 1004.62:1AaAa
Slate 2004.10:1AaAa
Slate 3003.41:1AaAa
Slate 4001.97:1AaAa
Slate 5001.06:1AaAa
Slate 6001.50:1AaAa
Slate 7002.05:1AaAa
Slate 8002.89:1AaAa
Slate 9003.53:1AaAa
Black4.15:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #6C7181
deuteranopia · #666C80
tritanopia · #477777

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. #557380 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
#EDF1F2
#D8E0E4
#BCCBD2
#9AB2BC
#7898A5
#628493
#557380
#415862
#324249
#1F292D
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F6F8F9Darkest = 950 · #1F292DText 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 0.010 226.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.016 226.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.024 226.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.031 226.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.037 226.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.040 226.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.040 226.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.038 226.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.034 226.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.028 226.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.022 226.5);
}

Colors that work with #557380

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#F6F8F9
Tinted page background
Border#CED9DE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5C7C8A
Captions on the surface
Accent#845351
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#33454D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F3F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#161E22
Dark-mode background
Hover#47606B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#394D55
Two steps down
Disabled#90AAB5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#528398
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 #557380

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
  • Weight58/100
  • 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#806255
Analogous left#558078
Analogous right#555E80
Split-complement 1#80555E
Split-complement 2#807855
Triadic 1#805573
Triadic 2#738055
Tetradic#785580
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°198°

#557380 sits at 198°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red33.3%
Green45.1%
Blue50.2%
R · 0–255
85
0x55
G · 0–255
115
0x73
B · 0–255
128
0x80

CMYK percentages

Cyan33.6%
Magenta10.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)49.8%

Total ink coverage is 94%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#557380 text on a black background

contrast 4.15:1

Card sample

#557380 text on a white background

contrast 5.06:1

Card sample

#557380 on grey

4.62:1

#557380 on its own surface

4.75:1

#557380 on its dark surface

3.34:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #557380;
Background color
Panel with #557380 background
background-color: #557380;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #557380;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(85, 115, 128, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(85, 115, 128, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #557380;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #557380, #555680);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #557380, #5E5580);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #557380;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #557380;
caret-color: #557380;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #557380;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F3F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #557380;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#557380 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #557380 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(85, 115, 128, 0.5)
rgb(85 115 128 / 50%)
#55738080
hsl(198 20% 42% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #557380 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#5573801a#EEF1F2
20%#55738033#DDE3E6
40%#55738066#BBC7CC
60%#55738099#99ABB3
80%#557380cc#778F99

Gradients from #557380

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, #7193A1, #557380 45%, #33454D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #557380, #4B496E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #557380, #806255);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #84A1AD 0%, #557380 45%, #33454D 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F8F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #6B9D8F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #616793 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #33454D 0%, transparent 65%), #557380;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #557380

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.

#557380 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 4.15:1 — lift it to #597986 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.

#557380, answered

What color is #557380?

#557380 is a dark soft cyan, closest to Slate Gray (ΔE2000 8.4). It sits at 198° on the hue wheel with 20% saturation and 42% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #557380?

rgb(85, 115, 128) — 85 red, 115 green and 128 blue out of 255, or 33.3% / 45.1% / 50.2% by channel.

What is #557380 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(198, 20%, 42%) and hsv(198, 34%, 50%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #557380 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1575 and perceived brightness is 43%, so white text on it reaches 5.06:1.

Should I use black or white text on #557380?

White. It scores 5.06:1 against #557380, versus 4.15:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #557380 accessible on a white background?

#557380 on white scores 5.06:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #557380?

#806255 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #80555E and #807855, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #557380?

For interface work: #F6F8F9 as the surface, #CED9DE for borders, #5C7C8A for secondary text, #845351 as an accent and #33454D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #558078 and #555E80 stays calm, while #806255 is the loudest partner.

What is #557380 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(34%, 10%, 0%, 50%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #557380 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 76 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #55807D; nudged cooler, #536B82.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #557380?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 8.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #557380 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #557380 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#557380] or text-[#557380], 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 #557380 with 50% opacity?

rgba(85, 115, 128, 0.5), or #55738080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #AAB9C0; over black, #2B3A40.

Is #557380 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #666699, ΔE2000 16.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #557380 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 #557380?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #7193A1, #557380 45%, #33454D). For more colour, a short hue run to #4B496E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #557380 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #557380 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.