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green · cool

#85cdaf

a light, soft green · cool · closest name: Medium Aqua Marine

Token name suggestion: Meadow Moss

RGB
133, 205, 175
HSL
155°, 42%, 66%
CMYK
35, 0, 15, 20
Luminance
0.5174

#85cdaf is a light soft green, 155° on the wheel and 77/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.35:1). As text it scores 1.85:1 on white — use #368363 instead. Nearest name is Medium Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(155 42% 66%)rgb(133 205 175)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #85cdaf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#85cdaf
Hue
155°
green
Saturation
42%
soft
Lightness
66%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5174
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
77/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.35:1
Closest name
Medium Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 3.9
Chroma
30.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.792
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 11
Web-safe
#99CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue155° of 360°
Saturation42%
Lightness66%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #85cdaf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool77% 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%
Green84%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#85cdaf
HEX (8-digit)#85cdafff
RGBrgb(133, 205, 175)
RGBArgba(133, 205, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(155, 42%, 66%)
HSV / HSBhsv(155, 35%, 80%)
HWBhwb(155 52% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(35%, 0%, 15%, 20%)
LABlab(77.1 -29.1 7.8)
LCHlch(77.1 30.1 164.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.792 0.085 166.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.24, 51.74, 48.47)
Decimal8768943
Display P3color(display-p3 0.522 0.804 0.686)
Web-safe#99CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #85cdaf;
background-color: #85cdaf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #85cdaf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#85cdaf] bg-[#85cdaf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #85cdaf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.522, green: 0.804, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.522, green: 0.804, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#85CDAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF85CDAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF85CDAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 205, 133)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(133, 205, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(133, 205, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 133, 205, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5216f, 0.8039f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{133,205,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #85cdaf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #85cdaf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#255A44, #D4EDE3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #85cdaf 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: #EBF5F1;
  --brand-200: #D2EAE0;
  --brand-300: #AFDECB;
  --brand-400: #85cdaf;
  --brand-500: #60BE97;
  --brand-600: #47AE83;
  --brand-700: #3B916D;
  --brand-800: #2F7457;
  --brand-900: #265541;
  --brand-950: #183529;
  --brand: #85cdaf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF8;
  --brand-border: #C5E7D9;
  --brand-hover: #6CC39E;
  --brand-pressed: #52B88E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #14241D;
    --brand-ink: #D4EDE3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF8',
        100: '#EBF5F1',
        200: '#D2EAE0',
        300: '#AFDECB',
        400: '#85cdaf',
        500: '#60BE97',
        600: '#47AE83',
        700: '#3B916D',
        800: '#2F7457',
        900: '#265541',
        950: '#183529',
        DEFAULT: '#85cdaf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF8,
  '100': #EBF5F1,
  '200': #D2EAE0,
  '300': #AFDECB,
  '400': #85cdaf,
  '500': #60BE97,
  '600': #47AE83,
  '700': #3B916D,
  '800': #2F7457,
  '900': #265541,
  '950': #183529,
);
$brand-base: #85cdaf;
$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": "#EBF5F1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D2EAE0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AFDECB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#85cdaf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#60BE97", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#47AE83", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3B916D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2F7457", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#265541", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#183529", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #85cdaf · 11.35:1
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 · 11.35:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #85cdaf as text scores 1.85:1 on white and 11.35:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #255A44 at 4.32:1.

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
#368363 · 4.58:1
AA on white−30% L
#368363
The quick fox
#28634A · 7.06:1
AAA on white−39% L
#28634A
The quick fox
#85cdaf · 11.35:1
AA on blackalready passes
#85cdaf
The quick fox
#85cdaf · 11.35:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#85cdaf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #43A47C 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
#85cdaf on white: 1.85:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#85cdaf on black: 11.35:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #85cdaf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #85cdaf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.85:1AaAa
Slate 501.77:1AaAa
Slate 1001.69:1AaAa
Slate 2001.50:1AaAa
Slate 3001.25:1AaAa
Slate 4001.39:1AaAa
Slate 5002.57:1AaAa
Slate 6004.10:1AaAa
Slate 7005.60:1AaAa
Slate 8007.91:1AaAa
Slate 9009.65:1AaAa
Black11.35:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CAC4AE
deuteranopia · #BEBBB1
tritanopia · #73CDC4

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. #85cdaf 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
#EBF5F1
#D2EAE0
#AFDECB
#85cdaf
#60BE97
#47AE83
#3B916D
#2F7457
#265541
#183529
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF8Darkest = 950 · #183529Text 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 0.021 166.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.034 166.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.051 166.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.066 166.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.078 166.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.085 166.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.085 166.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.079 166.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.071 166.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.059 166.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.046 166.1);
}

Colors that work with #85cdaf

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#C5E7D9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B79
Captions on the surface
Accent#953775
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#255A44
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF8F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#14241D
Dark-mode background
Hover#6CC39E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#52B88E
Two steps down
Disabled#DBE8E2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#8CDBBA
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 #85cdaf

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • White text placed on it
  • 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 #255A44
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #43A47C

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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight34/100
  • 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#CD85A3
Analogous left#85CD8B
Analogous right#85C7CD
Split-complement 1#CD85C7
Split-complement 2#CD8B85
Triadic 1#AF85CD
Triadic 2#CDAF85
Tetradic#8B85CD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°155°

#85cdaf sits at 155°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red52.2%
Green80.4%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
133
0x85
G · 0–255
205
0xcd
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan35.1%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow14.6%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 69%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#85cdaf text on a black background

contrast 11.35:1

Card sample

#85cdaf text on a white background

contrast 1.85:1

Card sample

#85cdaf on grey

1.69:1

#85cdaf on its own surface

1.75:1

#85cdaf on its dark surface

8.73:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #85cdaf;
Background color
Panel with #85cdaf background
background-color: #85cdaf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #85cdaf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(133, 205, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(133, 205, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #85cdaf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #85cdaf, #85BBCD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #85cdaf, #85A9CD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #85cdaf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #85cdaf;
caret-color: #85cdaf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #85cdaf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF8F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #85cdaf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#85cdaf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #85cdaf 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(133, 205, 175, 0.5)
rgb(133 205 175 / 50%)
#85cdaf80
hsl(155 42% 66% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #85cdaf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#85cdaf1a#F3FAF7
20%#85cdaf33#E7F5EF
40%#85cdaf66#CEEBDF
60%#85cdaf99#B6E1CF
80%#85cdafcc#9DD7BF

Gradients from #85cdaf

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, #B0DFCC, #85cdaf 45%, #255A44);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #85cdaf, #6FA8C4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #85cdaf, #CD85A3);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C6E8DA 0%, #85cdaf 45%, #255A44 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%, #A9DCA9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9BCCD6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #255A44 0%, transparent 65%), #85cdaf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #85cdaf

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.

#85cdaf 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
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
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 11.35:1.

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.

#85cdaf, answered

What color is #85cdaf?

#85cdaf is a light soft green, closest to Medium Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 3.9). It sits at 155° on the hue wheel with 42% saturation and 66% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #85cdaf?

rgb(133, 205, 175) — 133 red, 205 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 52.2% / 80.4% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #85cdaf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(155, 42%, 66%) and hsv(155, 35%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #85cdaf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5174 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 11.35:1.

Should I use black or white text on #85cdaf?

Black. It scores 11.35:1 against #85cdaf, versus 1.85:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #85cdaf accessible on a white background?

#85cdaf on white scores 1.85:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #368363 to reach 4.5:1, or #28634A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #85cdaf?

#CD85A3 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CD85C7 and #CD8B85, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #85cdaf?

For interface work: #F4FAF8 as the surface, #C5E7D9 for borders, #4B9B79 for secondary text, #953775 as an accent and #255A44 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #85CD8B and #85C7CD stays calm, while #CD85A3 is the loudest partner.

What is #85cdaf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(35%, 0%, 15%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #85cdaf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 77 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #85CD95; nudged cooler, #83CFCB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #85cdaf?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 11 away. That is a visible difference, so define #85cdaf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #85cdaf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#85cdaf] or text-[#85cdaf], 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 #85cdaf with 50% opacity?

rgba(133, 205, 175, 0.5), or #85cdaf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C2E6D7; over black, #436758.

Is #85cdaf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CC99, ΔE2000 7.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #85cdaf 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #85cdaf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B0DFCC, #85cdaf 45%, #255A44). For more colour, a short hue run to #6FA8C4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #85cdaf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #85cdaf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.