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cyan · cool

#72cfcf

a balanced, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Medium Turquoise

Token name suggestion: Atlas Teal

RGB
114, 207, 207
HSL
180°, 49%, 63%
CMYK
45, 0, 0, 19
Luminance
0.5271

#72cfcf is a balanced vivid cyan, 180° on the wheel and 88/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.54:1). As text it scores 1.82:1 on white — use #2C8181 instead. Nearest name is Medium Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(180 49% 63%)rgb(114 207 207)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #72cfcf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#72cfcf
Hue
180°
cyan
Saturation
49%
vivid
Lightness
63%
balanced
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5271
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
88/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.54:1
Closest name
Medium Turquoise
ΔE2000 4.2
Chroma
28.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.797
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 11.1
Web-safe
#66CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue180° of 360°
Saturation49%
Lightness63%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #72cfcf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool88% 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
Red7%
Green85%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#72cfcf
HEX (8-digit)#72cfcfff
RGBrgb(114, 207, 207)
RGBArgba(114, 207, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(180, 49%, 63%)
HSV / HSBhsv(180, 45%, 81%)
HWBhwb(180 45% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(45%, 0%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(77.7 -27.6 -8.6)
LCHlch(77.7 28.9 197.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.797 0.089 195.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(40.51, 52.70, 67.06)
Decimal7524303
Display P3color(display-p3 0.447 0.812 0.812)
Web-safe#66CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #72cfcf;
background-color: #72cfcf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #72cfcf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#72cfcf] bg-[#72cfcf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #72cfcf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.447, green: 0.812, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.447, green: 0.812, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#72CFCF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF72CFCF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF72CFCF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 207, 114)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(114, 207, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(114, 207, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 114, 207, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4471f, 0.8118f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{114,207,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #72cfcf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #72cfcf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#205F5F, #D3EEEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #72cfcf 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: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-100: #EAF6F6;
  --brand-200: #CFECEC;
  --brand-300: #ABE3E3;
  --brand-400: #72cfcf;
  --brand-500: #58C6C6;
  --brand-600: #3EB7B7;
  --brand-700: #349898;
  --brand-800: #297A7A;
  --brand-900: #215959;
  --brand-950: #153838;
  --brand: #72cfcf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C2EAEA;
  --brand-hover: #57C6C6;
  --brand-pressed: #3FBABA;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FAFA',
        100: '#EAF6F6',
        200: '#CFECEC',
        300: '#ABE3E3',
        400: '#72cfcf',
        500: '#58C6C6',
        600: '#3EB7B7',
        700: '#349898',
        800: '#297A7A',
        900: '#215959',
        950: '#153838',
        DEFAULT: '#72cfcf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FAFA,
  '100': #EAF6F6,
  '200': #CFECEC,
  '300': #ABE3E3,
  '400': #72cfcf,
  '500': #58C6C6,
  '600': #3EB7B7,
  '700': #349898,
  '800': #297A7A,
  '900': #215959,
  '950': #153838,
);
$brand-base: #72cfcf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4FAFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF6F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CFECEC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ABE3E3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#72cfcf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#58C6C6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3EB7B7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#349898", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#297A7A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#215959", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#153838", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #72cfcf · 11.54:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.82:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.54:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #72cfcf as text scores 1.82:1 on white and 11.54:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #205F5F at 4.03:1.

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
#2C8181 · 4.60:1
AA on white−29% L
#2C8181
The quick fox
#205F5F · 7.33:1
AAA on white−38% L
#205F5F
The quick fox
#72cfcf · 11.54:1
AA on blackalready passes
#72cfcf
The quick fox
#72cfcf · 11.54:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#72cfcf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #38A3A3 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
#72cfcf on white: 1.82:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#72cfcf on black: 11.54:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #72cfcf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #72cfcf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.82:1AaAa
Slate 501.74:1AaAa
Slate 1001.66:1AaAa
Slate 2001.48:1AaAa
Slate 3001.23:1AaAa
Slate 4001.41:1AaAa
Slate 5002.62:1AaAa
Slate 6004.16:1AaAa
Slate 7005.69:1AaAa
Slate 8008.04:1AaAa
Slate 9009.81:1AaAa
Black11.54:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C4C7CF
deuteranopia · #B4BBD0
tritanopia · #40D4CF

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. #72cfcf is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F4FAFA
#EAF6F6
#CFECEC
#ABE3E3
#72cfcf
#58C6C6
#3EB7B7
#349898
#297A7A
#215959
#153838
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F4FAFADarkest = 950 · #153838Text 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 0.022 195.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.036 195.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.053 195.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.069 195.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.082 195.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.089 195.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.089 195.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.083 195.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.075 195.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.062 195.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.049 195.5);
}

Colors that work with #72cfcf

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#F4FAFA
Tinted page background
Border#C2EAEA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#D36E87
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#205F5F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF9F9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#57C6C6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#3FBABA
Two steps down
Disabled#D0E1E1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#79DDDD
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 #72cfcf

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 #205F5F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #38A3A3

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
  • Weight37/100
  • 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#CF7272
Analogous left#72CFA0
Analogous right#72A0CF
Split-complement 1#CF72A0
Split-complement 2#CFA072
Triadic 1#CF72CF
Triadic 2#CFCF72
Tetradic#A072CF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°180°

#72cfcf sits at 180°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red44.7%
Green81.2%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
114
0x72
G · 0–255
207
0xcf
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan44.9%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 64%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#72cfcf text on a black background

contrast 11.54:1

Card sample

#72cfcf text on a white background

contrast 1.82:1

Card sample

#72cfcf on grey

1.66:1

#72cfcf on its own surface

1.72:1

#72cfcf on its dark surface

8.83:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #72cfcf;
Background color
Panel with #72cfcf background
background-color: #72cfcf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #72cfcf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(114, 207, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(114, 207, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #72cfcf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #72cfcf, #7291CF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #72cfcf, #727ACF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #72cfcf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #72cfcf;
caret-color: #72cfcf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #72cfcf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF9F9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #72cfcf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#72cfcf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #72cfcf 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(114, 207, 207, 0.5)
rgb(114 207 207 / 50%)
#72cfcf80
hsl(180 49% 63% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #72cfcf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#72cfcf1a#F1FAFA
20%#72cfcf33#E3F5F5
40%#72cfcf66#C7ECEC
60%#72cfcf99#AAE2E2
80%#72cfcfcc#8ED9D9

Gradients from #72cfcf

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, #A0DEDE, #72cfcf 45%, #205F5F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #72cfcf, #5B76C7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #72cfcf, #CF7272);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B6E6E6 0%, #72cfcf 45%, #205F5F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAFA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #98DCB4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #89A9D7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #205F5F 0%, transparent 65%), #72cfcf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #72cfcf

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.

#72cfcf 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 11.54:1.

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.

#72cfcf, answered

What color is #72cfcf?

#72cfcf is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Medium Turquoise (ΔE2000 4.2). It sits at 180° on the hue wheel with 49% saturation and 63% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #72cfcf?

rgb(114, 207, 207) — 114 red, 207 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 44.7% / 81.2% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #72cfcf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(180, 49%, 63%) and hsv(180, 45%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #72cfcf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5271 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 11.54:1.

Should I use black or white text on #72cfcf?

Black. It scores 11.54:1 against #72cfcf, versus 1.82:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #72cfcf accessible on a white background?

#72cfcf on white scores 1.82:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #2C8181 to reach 4.5:1, or #205F5F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #72cfcf?

#CF7272 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CF72A0 and #CFA072, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #72cfcf?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C2EAEA for borders, #4B9B9B for secondary text, #D36E87 as an accent and #205F5F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #72CFA0 and #72A0CF stays calm, while #CF7272 is the loudest partner.

What is #72cfcf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(45%, 0%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #72cfcf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 88 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #72CFAD; nudged cooler, #70AED1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #72cfcf?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 11.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #72cfcf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #72cfcf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#72cfcf] or text-[#72cfcf], 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 #72cfcf with 50% opacity?

rgba(114, 207, 207, 0.5), or #72cfcf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #B9E7E7; over black, #396868.

Is #72cfcf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCCC, ΔE2000 1.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #72cfcf 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 #72cfcf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A0DEDE, #72cfcf 45%, #205F5F). For more colour, a short hue run to #5B76C7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #72cfcf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #72cfcf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.