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green · cool

#78cdac

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

Token name suggestion: True Moss

RGB
120, 205, 172
HSL
157°, 46%, 64%
CMYK
42, 0, 16, 20
Luminance
0.5063

#78cdac is a balanced vivid green, 157° on the wheel and 78/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.13:1). As text it scores 1.89:1 on white — use #318564 instead. Nearest name is Medium Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(157 46% 64%)rgb(120 205 172)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #78cdac is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#78cdac
Hue
157°
green
Saturation
46%
vivid
Lightness
64%
balanced
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5063
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
78/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.13:1
Closest name
Medium Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 2.1
Chroma
34.4
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.785
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 10.1
Web-safe
#66CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue157° of 360°
Saturation46%
Lightness64%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #78cdac.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool78% 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
Red8%
Green86%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#78cdac
HEX (8-digit)#78cdacff
RGBrgb(120, 205, 172)
RGBArgba(120, 205, 172, 1)
HSLhsl(157, 46%, 64%)
HSV / HSBhsv(157, 41%, 80%)
HWBhwb(157 47% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(42%, 0%, 16%, 20%)
LABlab(76.5 -33.4 8.4)
LCHlch(76.5 34.4 165.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.785 0.096 167.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(37.02, 50.63, 46.84)
Decimal7916972
Display P3color(display-p3 0.471 0.804 0.675)
Web-safe#66CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #78cdac;
background-color: #78cdac;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #78cdac;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#78cdac] bg-[#78cdac]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #78cdac;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.471, green: 0.804, blue: 0.675)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.471, green: 0.804, blue: 0.675, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#78CDAC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF78CDAC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF78CDAC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(172, 205, 120)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(120, 205, 172)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(120, 205, 172)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 120, 205, 172)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4706f, 0.8039f, 0.6745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{120,205,172}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #78cdac 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #78cdac 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#225D46, #D3EEE3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #78cdac 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: #EAF5F1;
  --brand-200: #D0EBE1;
  --brand-300: #ADE1CD;
  --brand-400: #78cdac;
  --brand-500: #5BC29A;
  --brand-600: #42B387;
  --brand-700: #379570;
  --brand-800: #2C775A;
  --brand-900: #235743;
  --brand-950: #16362A;
  --brand: #78cdac;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF8;
  --brand-border: #C3E9DA;
  --brand-hover: #5EC39C;
  --brand-pressed: #45B98C;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #14241E;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF8',
        100: '#EAF5F1',
        200: '#D0EBE1',
        300: '#ADE1CD',
        400: '#78cdac',
        500: '#5BC29A',
        600: '#42B387',
        700: '#379570',
        800: '#2C775A',
        900: '#235743',
        950: '#16362A',
        DEFAULT: '#78cdac',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF8,
  '100': #EAF5F1,
  '200': #D0EBE1,
  '300': #ADE1CD,
  '400': #78cdac,
  '500': #5BC29A,
  '600': #42B387,
  '700': #379570,
  '800': #2C775A,
  '900': #235743,
  '950': #16362A,
);
$brand-base: #78cdac;
$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": "#EAF5F1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D0EBE1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ADE1CD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#78cdac", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5BC29A", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#42B387", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#379570", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2C775A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#235743", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#16362A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #78cdac · 11.13:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.89:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.13:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #78cdac as text scores 1.89:1 on white and 11.13:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #225D46 at 4.09:1.

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
#318564 · 4.50:1
AA on white−28% L
#318564
The quick fox
#25634B · 7.08:1
AAA on white−37% L
#25634B
The quick fox
#78cdac · 11.13:1
AA on blackalready passes
#78cdac
The quick fox
#78cdac · 11.13:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#78cdac

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #3EA67E 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
#78cdac on white: 1.89:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#78cdac on black: 11.13:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #78cdac as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #78cdac.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.89:1AaAa
Slate 501.80:1AaAa
Slate 1001.72:1AaAa
Slate 2001.53:1AaAa
Slate 3001.27:1AaAa
Slate 4001.36:1AaAa
Slate 5002.52:1AaAa
Slate 6004.02:1AaAa
Slate 7005.49:1AaAa
Slate 8007.75:1AaAa
Slate 9009.46:1AaAa
Black11.13:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C9C2AA
deuteranopia · #BCB9AE
tritanopia · #5FCEC3

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. #78cdac 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
#EAF5F1
#D0EBE1
#ADE1CD
#78cdac
#5BC29A
#42B387
#379570
#2C775A
#235743
#16362A
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF8Darkest = 950 · #16362AText 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 0.024 167.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.039 167.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.058 167.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.075 167.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.089 167.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.096 167.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.096 167.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.091 167.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.081 167.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.067 167.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.053 167.0);
}

Colors that work with #78cdac

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#C3E9DA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B7C
Captions on the surface
Accent#993374
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#225D46
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF8F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#14241E
Dark-mode background
Hover#5EC39C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#45B98C
Two steps down
Disabled#D3E3DC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#7FDBB7
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 #78cdac

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
  • Status meaning — pair it with an icon or label, never colour alone
  • 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 #225D46
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #3EA67E

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

safegrowingnaturalpermissive

Green means go, well, and grown. It carries finance, sustainability and health with almost no explanation needed.

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

Red/green pairs are the most common colour-blindness failure — never let the two carry meaning alone.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight36/100
  • 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#CD7899
Analogous left#78CD81
Analogous right#78C3CD
Split-complement 1#CD78C3
Split-complement 2#CD8178
Triadic 1#AC78CD
Triadic 2#CDAC78
Tetradic#8178CD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°157°

#78cdac sits at 157°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red47.1%
Green80.4%
Blue67.5%
R · 0–255
120
0x78
G · 0–255
205
0xcd
B · 0–255
172
0xac

CMYK percentages

Cyan41.5%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow16.1%
Key (black)19.6%

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

Color previews

#78cdac text on a black background

contrast 11.13:1

Card sample

#78cdac text on a white background

contrast 1.89:1

Card sample

#78cdac on grey

1.72:1

#78cdac on its own surface

1.79:1

#78cdac on its dark surface

8.55:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #78cdac;
Background color
Panel with #78cdac background
background-color: #78cdac;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #78cdac;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(120, 205, 172, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(120, 205, 172, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #78cdac;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #78cdac, #78B5CD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #78cdac, #78A0CD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #78cdac;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #78cdac;
caret-color: #78cdac;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #78cdac;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF8F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #78cdac;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#78cdac 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #78cdac 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(120, 205, 172, 0.5)
rgb(120 205 172 / 50%)
#78cdac80
hsl(157 46% 64% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #78cdac 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#78cdac1a#F2FAF7
20%#78cdac33#E4F5EE
40%#78cdac66#C9EBDE
60%#78cdac99#AEE1CD
80%#78cdaccc#93D7BD

Gradients from #78cdac

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, #A5DDC7, #78cdac 45%, #225D46);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #78cdac, #62A1C5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #78cdac, #CD7899);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #BBE6D5 0%, #78cdac 45%, #225D46 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%, #9DDB9F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8EC7D5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #225D46 0%, transparent 65%), #78cdac;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #78cdac

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.

#78cdac in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
SustainabilityFinanceHealth and wellnessAgriculture
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 11.13:1.

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.

#78cdac, answered

What color is #78cdac?

#78cdac is a balanced vivid green, closest to Medium Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 2.1). It sits at 157° on the hue wheel with 46% saturation and 64% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #78cdac?

rgb(120, 205, 172) — 120 red, 205 green and 172 blue out of 255, or 47.1% / 80.4% / 67.5% by channel.

What is #78cdac in HSL and HSV?

hsl(157, 46%, 64%) and hsv(157, 41%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #78cdac a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5063 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 11.13:1.

Should I use black or white text on #78cdac?

Black. It scores 11.13:1 against #78cdac, versus 1.89:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #78cdac accessible on a white background?

#78cdac on white scores 1.89:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #318564 to reach 4.5:1, or #25634B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #78cdac?

#CD7899 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CD78C3 and #CD8178, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #78cdac?

For interface work: #F4FAF8 as the surface, #C3E9DA for borders, #4B9B7C for secondary text, #993374 as an accent and #225D46 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #78CD81 and #78C3CD stays calm, while #CD7899 is the loudest partner.

What is #78cdac in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(42%, 0%, 16%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #78cdac warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 78 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #78CD8D; nudged cooler, #76CFCD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #78cdac?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 10.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #78cdac as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #78cdac in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#78cdac] or text-[#78cdac], 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 #78cdac with 50% opacity?

rgba(120, 205, 172, 0.5), or #78cdac80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #BCE6D6; over black, #3C6756.

Is #78cdac a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CC99, ΔE2000 4.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #78cdac mean?

As a green, it reads safe, growing, natural. Green means go, well, and grown. It carries finance, sustainability and health with almost no explanation needed. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #78cdac?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A5DDC7, #78cdac 45%, #225D46). For more colour, a short hue run to #62A1C5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #78cdac in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #78cdac at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.