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cyan · cool

#74ccaf

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Lagoon

RGB
116, 204, 175
HSL
160°, 46%, 63%
CMYK
43, 0, 14, 20
Luminance
0.4999

#74ccaf is a balanced vivid cyan, 160° on the wheel and 79/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.00:1). As text it scores 1.91:1 on white — use #308166 instead. Nearest name is Medium Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(160 46% 63%)rgb(116 204 175)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #74ccaf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#74ccaf
Hue
160°
cyan
Saturation
46%
vivid
Lightness
63%
balanced
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4999
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
79/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.00:1
Closest name
Medium Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 2.1
Chroma
33.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.782
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 9
Web-safe
#66CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue160° of 360°
Saturation46%
Lightness63%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #74ccaf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool79% 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%
Green86%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#74ccaf
HEX (8-digit)#74ccafff
RGBrgb(116, 204, 175)
RGBArgba(116, 204, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(160, 46%, 63%)
HSV / HSBhsv(160, 43%, 80%)
HWBhwb(160 45% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(43%, 0%, 14%, 20%)
LABlab(76.1 -33.3 6.2)
LCHlch(76.1 33.9 169.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.782 0.096 170.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(36.53, 49.99, 48.27)
Decimal7654575
Display P3color(display-p3 0.455 0.800 0.686)
Web-safe#66CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #74ccaf;
background-color: #74ccaf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #74ccaf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#74ccaf] bg-[#74ccaf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #74ccaf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.455, green: 0.800, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.455, green: 0.800, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#74CCAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF74CCAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF74CCAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 204, 116)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(116, 204, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(116, 204, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 116, 204, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4549f, 0.8000f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{116,204,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #74ccaf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #74ccaf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#225D4A, #D3EEE5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #74ccaf 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: #F5FAF8;
  --brand-100: #EAF5F2;
  --brand-200: #D0EBE2;
  --brand-300: #ADE1D0;
  --brand-400: #74ccaf;
  --brand-500: #5BC3A0;
  --brand-600: #42B38E;
  --brand-700: #379576;
  --brand-800: #2C775E;
  --brand-900: #235746;
  --brand-950: #16372C;
  --brand: #74ccaf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF8;
  --brand-border: #C3E9DD;
  --brand-hover: #5AC2A0;
  --brand-pressed: #43B690;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #14241F;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF8',
        100: '#EAF5F2',
        200: '#D0EBE2',
        300: '#ADE1D0',
        400: '#74ccaf',
        500: '#5BC3A0',
        600: '#42B38E',
        700: '#379576',
        800: '#2C775E',
        900: '#235746',
        950: '#16372C',
        DEFAULT: '#74ccaf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF8,
  '100': #EAF5F2,
  '200': #D0EBE2,
  '300': #ADE1D0,
  '400': #74ccaf,
  '500': #5BC3A0,
  '600': #42B38E,
  '700': #379576,
  '800': #2C775E,
  '900': #235746,
  '950': #16372C,
);
$brand-base: #74ccaf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5FAF8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF5F2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D0EBE2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ADE1D0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#74ccaf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5BC3A0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#42B38E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#379576", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2C775E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#235746", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#16372C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #74ccaf · 11.00:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.91:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.00:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #74ccaf as text scores 1.91:1 on white and 11.00:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #225D4A at 4.02:1.

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
#308166 · 4.71:1
AA on white−28% L
#308166
The quick fox
#23604C · 7.37:1
AAA on white−37% L
#23604C
The quick fox
#74ccaf · 11.00:1
AA on blackalready passes
#74ccaf
The quick fox
#74ccaf · 11.00:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#74ccaf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #3CA381 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
#74ccaf on white: 1.91:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#74ccaf on black: 11.00:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #74ccaf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #74ccaf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.91:1AaAa
Slate 501.82:1AaAa
Slate 1001.74:1AaAa
Slate 2001.55:1AaAa
Slate 3001.29:1AaAa
Slate 4001.34:1AaAa
Slate 5002.49:1AaAa
Slate 6003.97:1AaAa
Slate 7005.42:1AaAa
Slate 8007.66:1AaAa
Slate 9009.35:1AaAa
Black11.00:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C8C2AE
deuteranopia · #B9B7B1
tritanopia · #57CDC3

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. #74ccaf 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.

#F5FAF8
#EAF5F2
#D0EBE2
#ADE1D0
#74ccaf
#5BC3A0
#42B38E
#379576
#2C775E
#235746
#16372C
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF8Darkest = 950 · #16372CText 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 0.024 170.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.038 170.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.057 170.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.075 170.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.088 170.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.096 170.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.096 170.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.090 170.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.080 170.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.067 170.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.053 170.4);
}

Colors that work with #74ccaf

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#C3E9DD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B80
Captions on the surface
Accent#D070A8
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#225D4A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF8F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#14241F
Dark-mode background
Hover#5AC2A0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#43B690
Two steps down
Disabled#CFE1DB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#7ADABA
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 #74ccaf

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 #225D4A
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #3CA381

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#CC7491
Analogous left#74CC83
Analogous right#74BDCC
Split-complement 1#CC74BD
Split-complement 2#CC8374
Triadic 1#AF74CC
Triadic 2#CCAF74
Tetradic#8374CC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°160°

#74ccaf sits at 160°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red45.5%
Green80.0%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
116
0x74
G · 0–255
204
0xcc
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan43.1%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow14.2%
Key (black)20.0%

Total ink coverage is 77%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#74ccaf text on a black background

contrast 11.00:1

Card sample

#74ccaf text on a white background

contrast 1.91:1

Card sample

#74ccaf on grey

1.74:1

#74ccaf on its own surface

1.81:1

#74ccaf on its dark surface

8.45:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #74ccaf;
Background color
Panel with #74ccaf background
background-color: #74ccaf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #74ccaf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(116, 204, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(116, 204, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #74ccaf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #74ccaf, #74AECC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #74ccaf, #7498CC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #74ccaf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #74ccaf;
caret-color: #74ccaf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #74ccaf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF8F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #74ccaf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#74ccaf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #74ccaf 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(116, 204, 175, 0.5)
rgb(116 204 175 / 50%)
#74ccaf80
hsl(160 46% 63% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #74ccaf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#74ccaf1a#F1FAF7
20%#74ccaf33#E3F5EF
40%#74ccaf66#C7EBDF
60%#74ccaf99#ACE0CF
80%#74ccafcc#90D6BF

Gradients from #74ccaf

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, #A1DCC9, #74ccaf 45%, #225D4A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #74ccaf, #5D99C4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #74ccaf, #CC7491);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B7E5D6 0%, #74ccaf 45%, #225D4A 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%, #99DA9F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8AC1D4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #225D4A 0%, transparent 65%), #74ccaf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #74ccaf

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.

#74ccaf 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 11.00:1.

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.

#74ccaf, answered

What color is #74ccaf?

#74ccaf is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Medium Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 2.1). It sits at 160° on the hue wheel with 46% saturation and 63% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #74ccaf?

rgb(116, 204, 175) — 116 red, 204 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 45.5% / 80% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #74ccaf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(160, 46%, 63%) and hsv(160, 43%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #74ccaf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4999 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 11.00:1.

Should I use black or white text on #74ccaf?

Black. It scores 11.00:1 against #74ccaf, versus 1.91:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #74ccaf accessible on a white background?

#74ccaf on white scores 1.91:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #308166 to reach 4.5:1, or #23604C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #74ccaf?

#CC7491 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CC74BD and #CC8374, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #74ccaf?

For interface work: #F4FAF8 as the surface, #C3E9DD for borders, #4B9B80 for secondary text, #D070A8 as an accent and #225D4A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #74CC83 and #74BDCC stays calm, while #CC7491 is the loudest partner.

What is #74ccaf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(43%, 0%, 14%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #74ccaf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 79 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #74CC8F; nudged cooler, #72CACE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #74ccaf?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #74ccaf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #74ccaf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#74ccaf] or text-[#74ccaf], 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 #74ccaf with 50% opacity?

rgba(116, 204, 175, 0.5), or #74ccaf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #BAE6D7; over black, #3A6658.

Is #74ccaf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CC99, ΔE2000 5.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #74ccaf 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 #74ccaf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A1DCC9, #74ccaf 45%, #225D4A). For more colour, a short hue run to #5D99C4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #74ccaf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #74ccaf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.