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cyan · cool

#74cdcb

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Glacier

RGB
116, 205, 203
HSL
179°, 47%, 63%
CMYK
43, 0, 1, 20
Luminance
0.5169

#74cdcb is a balanced vivid cyan, 179° on the wheel and 87/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.34:1). As text it scores 1.85:1 on white — use #2E7F7D instead. Nearest name is Medium Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(179 47% 63%)rgb(116 205 203)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#74cdcb
Hue
179°
cyan
Saturation
47%
vivid
Lightness
63%
balanced
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5169
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
87/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.34:1
Closest name
Medium Turquoise
ΔE2000 4.2
Chroma
28.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.792
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 10.5
Web-safe
#66CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue179° of 360°
Saturation47%
Lightness63%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool87% 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%
Green84%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#74cdcb
HEX (8-digit)#74cdcbff
RGBrgb(116, 205, 203)
RGBArgba(116, 205, 203, 1)
HSLhsl(179, 47%, 63%)
HSV / HSBhsv(179, 43%, 80%)
HWBhwb(179 45% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(43%, 0%, 1%, 20%)
LABlab(77.1 -27.2 -7.3)
LCHlch(77.1 28.1 195.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.792 0.086 193.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.81, 51.68, 64.37)
Decimal7654859
Display P3color(display-p3 0.455 0.804 0.796)
Web-safe#66CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #74cdcb;
background-color: #74cdcb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #74cdcb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#74cdcb] bg-[#74cdcb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #74cdcb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.455, green: 0.804, blue: 0.796)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.455, green: 0.804, blue: 0.796, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#74CDCB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF74CDCB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF74CDCB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(203, 205, 116)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(116, 205, 203)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(116, 205, 203)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 116, 205, 203)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4549f, 0.8039f, 0.7961f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{116,205,203}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #74cdcb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #74cdcb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#225E5C, #D3EEEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #74cdcb 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: #F5FAFA;
  --brand-100: #EAF5F5;
  --brand-200: #D0ECEB;
  --brand-300: #ACE1E0;
  --brand-400: #74cdcb;
  --brand-500: #5AC4C1;
  --brand-600: #41B4B2;
  --brand-700: #369694;
  --brand-800: #2B7876;
  --brand-900: #235857;
  --brand-950: #163736;
  --brand: #74cdcb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C3E9E9;
  --brand-hover: #5AC4C1;
  --brand-pressed: #42B7B5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAFA',
        100: '#EAF5F5',
        200: '#D0ECEB',
        300: '#ACE1E0',
        400: '#74cdcb',
        500: '#5AC4C1',
        600: '#41B4B2',
        700: '#369694',
        800: '#2B7876',
        900: '#235857',
        950: '#163736',
        DEFAULT: '#74cdcb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAFA,
  '100': #EAF5F5,
  '200': #D0ECEB,
  '300': #ACE1E0,
  '400': #74cdcb,
  '500': #5AC4C1,
  '600': #41B4B2,
  '700': #369694,
  '800': #2B7876,
  '900': #235857,
  '950': #163736,
);
$brand-base: #74cdcb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5FAFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF5F5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D0ECEB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ACE1E0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#74cdcb", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5AC4C1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#41B4B2", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#369694", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2B7876", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#235857", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#163736", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #74cdcb · 11.34:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.85:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.34:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #74cdcb as text scores 1.85:1 on white and 11.34:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #225E5C 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
#2E7F7D · 4.72:1
AA on white−29% L
#2E7F7D
The quick fox
#236160 · 7.12:1
AAA on white−37% L
#236160
The quick fox
#74cdcb · 11.34:1
AA on blackalready passes
#74cdcb
The quick fox
#74cdcb · 11.34:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#74cdcb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #3AA19F 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
#74cdcb on white: 1.85:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#74cdcb on black: 11.34:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.85:1AaAa
Slate 501.77:1AaAa
Slate 1001.69:1AaAa
Slate 2001.50:1AaAa
Slate 3001.25:1AaAa
Slate 4001.38:1AaAa
Slate 5002.57:1AaAa
Slate 6004.09:1AaAa
Slate 7005.59:1AaAa
Slate 8007.90:1AaAa
Slate 9009.64:1AaAa
Black11.34:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C3C5CB
deuteranopia · #B3B9CC
tritanopia · #48D2CC

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. #74cdcb 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.

#F5FAFA
#EAF5F5
#D0ECEB
#ACE1E0
#74cdcb
#5AC4C1
#41B4B2
#369694
#2B7876
#235857
#163736
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5FAFADarkest = 950 · #163736Text 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 0.021 193.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.034 193.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.052 193.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.067 193.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.079 193.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.086 193.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.086 193.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.081 193.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.072 193.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.060 193.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.047 193.7);
}

Colors that work with #74cdcb

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#C3E9E9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B99
Captions on the surface
Accent#D1708A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#225E5C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF8F8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#5AC4C1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#42B7B5
Two steps down
Disabled#D0E1E1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#7ADBD9
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 #74cdcb

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 #225E5C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #3AA19F

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#CD7476
Analogous left#74CD9E
Analogous right#74A2CD
Split-complement 1#CD74A2
Split-complement 2#CD9E74
Triadic 1#CB74CD
Triadic 2#CDCB74
Tetradic#9E74CD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°179°

#74cdcb sits at 179°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red45.5%
Green80.4%
Blue79.6%
R · 0–255
116
0x74
G · 0–255
205
0xcd
B · 0–255
203
0xcb

CMYK percentages

Cyan43.4%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow1.0%
Key (black)19.6%

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

Color previews

#74cdcb text on a black background

contrast 11.34:1

Card sample

#74cdcb text on a white background

contrast 1.85:1

Card sample

#74cdcb on grey

1.69:1

#74cdcb on its own surface

1.76:1

#74cdcb on its dark surface

8.67:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(116, 205, 203, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(116, 205, 203, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #74cdcb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #74cdcb, #7493CD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #74cdcb, #747DCD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #74cdcb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #74cdcb;
caret-color: #74cdcb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #74cdcb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF8F8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #74cdcb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#74cdcb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #74cdcb 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, 205, 203, 0.5)
rgb(116 205 203 / 50%)
#74cdcb80
hsl(179 47% 63% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #74cdcb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#74cdcb1a#F1FAFA
20%#74cdcb33#E3F5F5
40%#74cdcb66#C7EBEA
60%#74cdcb99#ACE1E0
80%#74cdcbcc#90D7D5

Gradients from #74cdcb

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, #A1DDDC, #74cdcb 45%, #225E5C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #74cdcb, #5D79C5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #74cdcb, #CD7476);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B7E5E4 0%, #74cdcb 45%, #225E5C 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%, #99DAB3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8AABD5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #225E5C 0%, transparent 65%), #74cdcb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #74cdcb

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.

#74cdcb 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 11.34:1.

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.

#74cdcb, answered

What color is #74cdcb?

#74cdcb is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Medium Turquoise (ΔE2000 4.2). It sits at 179° on the hue wheel with 47% saturation and 63% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #74cdcb?

rgb(116, 205, 203) — 116 red, 205 green and 203 blue out of 255, or 45.5% / 80.4% / 79.6% by channel.

What is #74cdcb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(179, 47%, 63%) and hsv(179, 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 #74cdcb a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5169 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 11.34:1.

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

Black. It scores 11.34:1 against #74cdcb, versus 1.85:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #74cdcb accessible on a white background?

#74cdcb on white scores 1.85:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #2E7F7D to reach 4.5:1, or #236160 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #74cdcb?

#CD7476 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CD74A2 and #CD9E74, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #74cdcb?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C3E9E9 for borders, #4B9B99 for secondary text, #D1708A as an accent and #225E5C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #74CD9E and #74A2CD stays calm, while #CD7476 is the loudest partner.

What is #74cdcb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(43%, 0%, 1%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #74cdcb warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 87 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #74CDAA; nudged cooler, #72AFCF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #74cdcb?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 10.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #74cdcb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #74cdcb in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(116, 205, 203, 0.5), or #74cdcb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #BAE6E5; over black, #3A6766.

Is #74cdcb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCCC, ΔE2000 1.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #74cdcb 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 #74cdcb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A1DDDC, #74cdcb 45%, #225E5C). For more colour, a short hue run to #5D79C5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #74cdcb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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