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cyan · cool

#7bbabb

a balanced, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Cadet Blue

Token name suggestion: Atlas Reef

RGB
123, 186, 187
HSL
181°, 32%, 61%
CMYK
34, 1, 0, 27
Luminance
0.4292

#7bbabb is a balanced soft cyan, 181° on the wheel and 85/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.58:1). As text it scores 2.19:1 on white — use #427E7F instead. Nearest name is Cadet Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(181 32% 61%)rgb(123 186 187)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #7bbabb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#7bbabb
Hue
181°
cyan
Saturation
32%
soft
Lightness
61%
balanced
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4292
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
85/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.58:1
Closest name
Cadet Blue
ΔE2000 8.4
Chroma
21.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.747
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 10.7
Web-safe
#66CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue181° of 360°
Saturation32%
Lightness61%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #7bbabb.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool85% 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
Red10%
Green82%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#7bbabb
HEX (8-digit)#7bbabbff
RGBrgb(123, 186, 187)
RGBArgba(123, 186, 187, 1)
HSLhsl(181, 32%, 61%)
HSV / HSBhsv(181, 34%, 73%)
HWBhwb(181 48% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(34%, 1%, 0%, 27%)
LABlab(71.5 -19.8 -6.9)
LCHlch(71.5 21.0 199.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.747 0.065 197.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(34.69, 42.91, 53.46)
Decimal8108731
Display P3color(display-p3 0.482 0.729 0.733)
Web-safe#66CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #7bbabb;
background-color: #7bbabb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #7bbabb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#7bbabb] bg-[#7bbabb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #7bbabb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.482, green: 0.729, blue: 0.733)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.482, green: 0.729, blue: 0.733, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#7BBABB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF7BBABB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF7BBABB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(187, 186, 123)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(123, 186, 187)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(123, 186, 187)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 123, 186, 187)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.4824f, 0.7294f, 0.7333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{123,186,187}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #7bbabb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #7bbabb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2B5454, #D7EAEA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #7bbabb 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: #F5F9F9;
  --brand-100: #ECF3F4;
  --brand-200: #D5E7E7;
  --brand-300: #B5D8D9;
  --brand-400: #90C5C6;
  --brand-500: #7bbabb;
  --brand-600: #53A0A2;
  --brand-700: #458687;
  --brand-800: #376B6C;
  --brand-900: #2B4F4F;
  --brand-950: #1B3132;
  --brand: #7bbabb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C9E3E3;
  --brand-hover: #63AEAF;
  --brand-pressed: #519C9E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D7EAEA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F9F9',
        100: '#ECF3F4',
        200: '#D5E7E7',
        300: '#B5D8D9',
        400: '#90C5C6',
        500: '#7bbabb',
        600: '#53A0A2',
        700: '#458687',
        800: '#376B6C',
        900: '#2B4F4F',
        950: '#1B3132',
        DEFAULT: '#7bbabb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F9F9,
  '100': #ECF3F4,
  '200': #D5E7E7,
  '300': #B5D8D9,
  '400': #90C5C6,
  '500': #7bbabb,
  '600': #53A0A2,
  '700': #458687,
  '800': #376B6C,
  '900': #2B4F4F,
  '950': #1B3132,
);
$brand-base: #7bbabb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F9F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF3F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D5E7E7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B5D8D9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#90C5C6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7bbabb", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#53A0A2", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#458687", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#376B6C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2B4F4F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1B3132", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #7bbabb · 9.58:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.19:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.58:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #7bbabb as text scores 2.19:1 on white and 9.58:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2B5454 at 3.84:1.

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
#427E7F · 4.64:1
AA on white−23% L
#427E7F
The quick fox
#326061 · 7.04:1
AAA on white−32% L
#326061
The quick fox
#7bbabb · 9.58:1
AA on blackalready passes
#7bbabb
The quick fox
#7bbabb · 9.58:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#7bbabb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #53A0A1 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
#7bbabb on white: 2.19:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#7bbabb on black: 9.58:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #7bbabb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #7bbabb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.19:1AaAa
Slate 502.09:1AaAa
Slate 1002.00:1AaAa
Slate 2001.78:1AaAa
Slate 3001.48:1AaAa
Slate 4001.17:1AaAa
Slate 5002.17:1AaAa
Slate 6003.46:1AaAa
Slate 7004.73:1AaAa
Slate 8006.68:1AaAa
Slate 9008.15:1AaAa
Black9.58:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B2B4BB
deuteranopia · #A6ABBC
tritanopia · #62BEBA

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. #7bbabb is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F5F9F9
#ECF3F4
#D5E7E7
#B5D8D9
#90C5C6
#7bbabb
#53A0A2
#458687
#376B6C
#2B4F4F
#1B3132
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F5F9F9Darkest = 950 · #1B3132Text 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 0.016 197.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.026 197.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.039 197.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.050 197.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.059 197.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.065 197.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.065 197.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.061 197.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.054 197.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.045 197.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.035 197.1);
}

Colors that work with #7bbabb

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#F5FAFA
Tinted page background
Border#C9E3E3
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4E9697
Captions on the surface
Accent#BF7788
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2B5454
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF6F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#63AEAF
One step down in lightness
Pressed#519C9E
Two steps down
Disabled#C9DCDD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#80CACB
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 #7bbabb

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #2B5454
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #53A0A1

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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • Weight39/100
  • 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#BB7C7B
Analogous left#7BBB9C
Analogous right#7B9ABB
Split-complement 1#BB7B9A
Split-complement 2#BB9C7B
Triadic 1#BB7BBA
Triadic 2#BABB7B
Tetradic#9C7BBB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°181°

#7bbabb sits at 181°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red48.2%
Green72.9%
Blue73.3%
R · 0–255
123
0x7b
G · 0–255
186
0xba
B · 0–255
187
0xbb

CMYK percentages

Cyan34.2%
Magenta0.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)26.7%

Total ink coverage is 61%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#7bbabb text on a black background

contrast 9.58:1

Card sample

#7bbabb text on a white background

contrast 2.19:1

Card sample

#7bbabb on grey

2.00:1

#7bbabb on its own surface

2.08:1

#7bbabb on its dark surface

7.33:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #7bbabb;
Background color
Panel with #7bbabb background
background-color: #7bbabb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #7bbabb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(123, 186, 187, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(123, 186, 187, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #7bbabb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #7bbabb, #7B8FBB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #7bbabb, #7B7FBB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #7bbabb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #7bbabb;
caret-color: #7bbabb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #7bbabb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF6F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #7bbabb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#7bbabb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #7bbabb 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(123, 186, 187, 0.5)
rgb(123 186 187 / 50%)
#7bbabb80
hsl(181 32% 61% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #7bbabb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#7bbabb1a#F2F8F8
20%#7bbabb33#E5F1F1
40%#7bbabb66#CAE3E4
60%#7bbabb99#B0D6D6
80%#7bbabbcc#95C8C9

Gradients from #7bbabb

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, #A3CFD0, #7bbabb 45%, #2B5454);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #7bbabb, #6778B1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #7bbabb, #BB7C7B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B8DADA 0%, #7bbabb 45%, #2B5454 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5FAFA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #9DCCB1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #8FA5C5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2B5454 0%, transparent 65%), #7bbabb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #7bbabb

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.

#7bbabb 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 9.58:1.

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.

#7bbabb, answered

What color is #7bbabb?

#7bbabb is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Cadet Blue (ΔE2000 8.4). It sits at 181° on the hue wheel with 32% saturation and 61% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #7bbabb?

rgb(123, 186, 187) — 123 red, 186 green and 187 blue out of 255, or 48.2% / 72.9% / 73.3% by channel.

What is #7bbabb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(181, 32%, 61%) and hsv(181, 34%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #7bbabb a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4292 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 9.58:1.

Should I use black or white text on #7bbabb?

Black. It scores 9.58:1 against #7bbabb, versus 2.19:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #7bbabb accessible on a white background?

#7bbabb on white scores 2.19:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #427E7F to reach 4.5:1, or #326061 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #7bbabb?

#BB7C7B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BB7B9A and #BB9C7B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #7bbabb?

For interface work: #F5FAFA as the surface, #C9E3E3 for borders, #4E9697 for secondary text, #BF7788 as an accent and #2B5454 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #7BBB9C and #7B9ABB stays calm, while #BB7C7B is the loudest partner.

What is #7bbabb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(34%, 1%, 0%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #7bbabb warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 85 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #7BBBA5; nudged cooler, #79A3BD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #7bbabb?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 10.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #7bbabb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #7bbabb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#7bbabb] or text-[#7bbabb], 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 #7bbabb with 50% opacity?

rgba(123, 186, 187, 0.5), or #7bbabb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #BDDDDD; over black, #3E5D5E.

Is #7bbabb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCCC, ΔE2000 6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #7bbabb mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #7bbabb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #A3CFD0, #7bbabb 45%, #2B5454). For more colour, a short hue run to #6778B1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #7bbabb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #7bbabb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.