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cyan · cool

#78cfbc

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

Token name suggestion: True Teal

RGB
120, 207, 188
HSL
167°, 48%, 64%
CMYK
42, 0, 9, 19
Luminance
0.5225

#78cfbc is a balanced vivid cyan, 167° on the wheel and 82/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.45:1). As text it scores 1.83:1 on white — use #2F8471 instead. Nearest name is Medium Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(167 48% 64%)rgb(120 207 188)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#78cfbc
Hue
167°
cyan
Saturation
48%
vivid
Lightness
64%
balanced
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5225
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
82/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.45:1
Closest name
Medium Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 5.2
Chroma
30.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.794
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 8.9
Web-safe
#66CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue167° of 360°
Saturation48%
Lightness64%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool82% 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%
Green85%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#78cfbc
HEX (8-digit)#78cfbcff
RGBrgb(120, 207, 188)
RGBArgba(120, 207, 188, 1)
HSLhsl(167, 48%, 64%)
HSV / HSBhsv(167, 42%, 81%)
HWBhwb(167 47% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(42%, 0%, 9%, 19%)
LABlab(77.4 -30.7 1.2)
LCHlch(77.4 30.8 177.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.794 0.089 178.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.13, 52.25, 55.59)
Decimal7917500
Display P3color(display-p3 0.471 0.812 0.737)
Web-safe#66CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #78cfbc;
background-color: #78cfbc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #78cfbc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#78cfbc] bg-[#78cfbc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #78cfbc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.471, green: 0.812, blue: 0.737)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.471, green: 0.812, blue: 0.737, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#78CFBC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF78CFBC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF78CFBC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(188, 207, 120)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(120, 207, 188)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(120, 207, 188)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 120, 207, 188)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4706f, 0.8118f, 0.7373f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{120,207,188}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #78cfbc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #78cfbc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#215E51, #D3EEE8);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #78cfbc 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: #F5FAF9;
  --brand-100: #EAF5F3;
  --brand-200: #D0ECE6;
  --brand-300: #ACE2D6;
  --brand-400: #78cfbc;
  --brand-500: #5AC4AD;
  --brand-600: #40B59B;
  --brand-700: #369681;
  --brand-800: #2B7867;
  --brand-900: #22584C;
  --brand-950: #163730;
  --brand: #78cfbc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C3EAE1;
  --brand-hover: #5EC6AF;
  --brand-pressed: #43BCA2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142421;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE8;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF9',
        100: '#EAF5F3',
        200: '#D0ECE6',
        300: '#ACE2D6',
        400: '#78cfbc',
        500: '#5AC4AD',
        600: '#40B59B',
        700: '#369681',
        800: '#2B7867',
        900: '#22584C',
        950: '#163730',
        DEFAULT: '#78cfbc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF9,
  '100': #EAF5F3,
  '200': #D0ECE6,
  '300': #ACE2D6,
  '400': #78cfbc,
  '500': #5AC4AD,
  '600': #40B59B,
  '700': #369681,
  '800': #2B7867,
  '900': #22584C,
  '950': #163730,
);
$brand-base: #78cfbc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5FAF9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF5F3", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D0ECE6", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ACE2D6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#78cfbc", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5AC4AD", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#40B59B", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#369681", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2B7867", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#22584C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#163730", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #78cfbc · 11.45:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.83:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.45:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #78cfbc as text scores 1.83:1 on white and 11.45:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #215E51 at 4.11:1.

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
#2F8471 · 4.51:1
AA on white−29% L
#2F8471
The quick fox
#236254 · 7.13:1
AAA on white−38% L
#236254
The quick fox
#78cfbc · 11.45:1
AA on blackalready passes
#78cfbc
The quick fox
#78cfbc · 11.45:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#78cfbc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #3AA28B 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
#78cfbc on white: 1.83:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#78cfbc on black: 11.45:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.83:1AaAa
Slate 501.75:1AaAa
Slate 1001.67:1AaAa
Slate 2001.49:1AaAa
Slate 3001.24:1AaAa
Slate 4001.40:1AaAa
Slate 5002.59:1AaAa
Slate 6004.13:1AaAa
Slate 7005.65:1AaAa
Slate 8007.98:1AaAa
Slate 9009.73:1AaAa
Black11.45:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C9C6BB
deuteranopia · #BABBBD
tritanopia · #58D1C9

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. #78cfbc 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.

#F5FAF9
#EAF5F3
#D0ECE6
#ACE2D6
#78cfbc
#5AC4AD
#40B59B
#369681
#2B7867
#22584C
#163730
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF9Darkest = 950 · #163730Text 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 0.022 178.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.036 178.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.054 178.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.070 178.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.082 178.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.089 178.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.089 178.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.084 178.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.075 178.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.062 178.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.049 178.2);
}

Colors that work with #78cfbc

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#F4FAF9
Tinted page background
Border#C3EAE1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B89
Captions on the surface
Accent#9B3162
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#215E51
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF8F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142421
Dark-mode background
Hover#5EC6AF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#43BCA2
Two steps down
Disabled#D4E3E0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#7FDCC8
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 #78cfbc

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 #215E51
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #3AA28B

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
  • 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#CF788B
Analogous left#78CF90
Analogous right#78B6CF
Split-complement 1#CF78B6
Split-complement 2#CF9078
Triadic 1#BC78CF
Triadic 2#CFBC78
Tetradic#9078CF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°167°

#78cfbc sits at 167°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red47.1%
Green81.2%
Blue73.7%
R · 0–255
120
0x78
G · 0–255
207
0xcf
B · 0–255
188
0xbc

CMYK percentages

Cyan42.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow9.2%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 70%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#78cfbc text on a black background

contrast 11.45:1

Card sample

#78cfbc text on a white background

contrast 1.83:1

Card sample

#78cfbc on grey

1.67:1

#78cfbc on its own surface

1.74:1

#78cfbc on its dark surface

8.78:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(120, 207, 188, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(120, 207, 188, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #78cfbc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #78cfbc, #78A8CF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #78cfbc, #7892CF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #78cfbc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #78cfbc;
caret-color: #78cfbc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #78cfbc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF8F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #78cfbc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#78cfbc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #78cfbc 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, 207, 188, 0.5)
rgb(120 207 188 / 50%)
#78cfbc80
hsl(167 48% 64% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #78cfbc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#78cfbc1a#F2FAF8
20%#78cfbc33#E4F5F2
40%#78cfbc66#C9ECE4
60%#78cfbc99#AEE2D7
80%#78cfbccc#93D9C9

Gradients from #78cfbc

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, #A5DFD2, #78cfbc 45%, #215E51);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #78cfbc, #6191C7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #78cfbc, #CF788B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #BCE7DE 0%, #78cfbc 45%, #215E51 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #9EDCAA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8FBDD7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #215E51 0%, transparent 65%), #78cfbc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #78cfbc

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.

#78cfbc 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 11.45:1.

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.

#78cfbc, answered

What color is #78cfbc?

#78cfbc is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Medium Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 5.2). It sits at 167° on the hue wheel with 48% saturation and 64% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #78cfbc?

rgb(120, 207, 188) — 120 red, 207 green and 188 blue out of 255, or 47.1% / 81.2% / 73.7% by channel.

What is #78cfbc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(167, 48%, 64%) and hsv(167, 42%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #78cfbc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5225 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 11.45:1.

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

Black. It scores 11.45:1 against #78cfbc, versus 1.83:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #78cfbc accessible on a white background?

#78cfbc on white scores 1.83:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #2F8471 to reach 4.5:1, or #236254 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #78cfbc?

#CF788B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CF78B6 and #CF9078, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #78cfbc?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C3EAE1 for borders, #4B9B89 for secondary text, #9B3162 as an accent and #215E51 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #78CF90 and #78B6CF stays calm, while #CF788B is the loudest partner.

What is #78cfbc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(42%, 0%, 9%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #78cfbc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 82 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #78CF9C; nudged cooler, #76C3D1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #78cfbc?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 8.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #78cfbc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #78cfbc in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(120, 207, 188, 0.5), or #78cfbc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #BCE7DE; over black, #3C685E.

Is #78cfbc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCCC, ΔE2000 7.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #78cfbc 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 #78cfbc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A5DFD2, #78cfbc 45%, #215E51). For more colour, a short hue run to #6191C7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #78cfbc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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