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green · cool

#87cdad

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Moss

RGB
135, 205, 173
HSL
153°, 41%, 67%
CMYK
34, 0, 16, 20
Luminance
0.5183

#87cdad is a light soft green, 153° on the wheel and 76/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.37:1). As text it scores 1.85:1 on white — use #378461 instead. Nearest name is Medium Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(153 41% 67%)rgb(135 205 173)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #87cdad is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#87cdad
Hue
153°
green
Saturation
41%
soft
Lightness
67%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5183
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
76/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.37:1
Closest name
Medium Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 4.1
Chroma
30.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.793
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 11.6
Web-safe
#99CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue153° of 360°
Saturation41%
Lightness67%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #87cdad.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool76% 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#87cdad
HEX (8-digit)#87cdadff
RGBrgb(135, 205, 173)
RGBArgba(135, 205, 173, 1)
HSLhsl(153, 41%, 67%)
HSV / HSBhsv(153, 34%, 80%)
HWBhwb(153 53% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(34%, 0%, 16%, 20%)
LABlab(77.2 -28.9 9.0)
LCHlch(77.2 30.3 162.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.793 0.085 164.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(39.36, 51.83, 47.46)
Decimal8900013
Display P3color(display-p3 0.529 0.804 0.678)
Web-safe#99CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #87cdad;
background-color: #87cdad;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #87cdad;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#87cdad] bg-[#87cdad]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #87cdad;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.529, green: 0.804, blue: 0.678)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.529, green: 0.804, blue: 0.678, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#87CDAD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF87CDAD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF87CDAD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(173, 205, 135)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(135, 205, 173)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(135, 205, 173)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 135, 205, 173)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5294f, 0.8039f, 0.6784f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{135,205,173}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #87cdad 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #87cdad 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#255A42, #D4EDE1);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #87cdad 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: #EBF5F0;
  --brand-200: #D2EADF;
  --brand-300: #B0DEC9;
  --brand-400: #87cdad;
  --brand-500: #61BD93;
  --brand-600: #48AD7F;
  --brand-700: #3C906A;
  --brand-800: #307355;
  --brand-900: #26543F;
  --brand-950: #183528;
  --brand: #87cdad;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF8;
  --brand-border: #C5E7D8;
  --brand-hover: #6EC39C;
  --brand-pressed: #55B88B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #14241D;
    --brand-ink: #D4EDE1;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF8',
        100: '#EBF5F0',
        200: '#D2EADF',
        300: '#B0DEC9',
        400: '#87cdad',
        500: '#61BD93',
        600: '#48AD7F',
        700: '#3C906A',
        800: '#307355',
        900: '#26543F',
        950: '#183528',
        DEFAULT: '#87cdad',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF8,
  '100': #EBF5F0,
  '200': #D2EADF,
  '300': #B0DEC9,
  '400': #87cdad,
  '500': #61BD93,
  '600': #48AD7F,
  '700': #3C906A,
  '800': #307355,
  '900': #26543F,
  '950': #183528,
);
$brand-base: #87cdad;
$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": "#EBF5F0", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D2EADF", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B0DEC9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#87cdad", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#61BD93", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#48AD7F", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3C906A", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#307355", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#26543F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#183528", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #87cdad · 11.37:1
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 · 11.37:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #87cdad as text scores 1.85:1 on white and 11.37:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #255A42 at 4.34:1.

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
#378461 · 4.53:1
AA on white−30% L
#378461
The quick fox
#286047 · 7.36:1
AAA on white−40% L
#286047
The quick fox
#87cdad · 11.37:1
AA on blackalready passes
#87cdad
The quick fox
#87cdad · 11.37:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#87cdad

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #45A579 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
#87cdad on white: 1.85:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#87cdad on black: 11.37:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #87cdad as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #87cdad.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.85:1AaAa
Slate 501.77:1AaAa
Slate 1001.69:1AaAa
Slate 2001.50:1AaAa
Slate 3001.24:1AaAa
Slate 4001.39:1AaAa
Slate 5002.58:1AaAa
Slate 6004.10:1AaAa
Slate 7005.60:1AaAa
Slate 8007.92:1AaAa
Slate 9009.66:1AaAa
Black11.37:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CAC4AB
deuteranopia · #BFBBAF
tritanopia · #76CDC4

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. #87cdad 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
#EBF5F0
#D2EADF
#B0DEC9
#87cdad
#61BD93
#48AD7F
#3C906A
#307355
#26543F
#183528
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF8Darkest = 950 · #183528Text 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 0.021 164.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.034 164.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.051 164.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.066 164.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.078 164.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.085 164.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.085 164.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.079 164.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.071 164.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.059 164.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.046 164.0);
}

Colors that work with #87cdad

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#C5E7D8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B76
Captions on the surface
Accent#943879
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#255A42
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF8F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#14241D
Dark-mode background
Hover#6EC39C
One step down in lightness
Pressed#55B88B
Two steps down
Disabled#DCE9E3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#8EDBB8
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 #87cdad

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 #255A42
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #45A579

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
  • Weight33/100
  • 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#CD87A7
Analogous left#87CD8A
Analogous right#87CACD
Split-complement 1#CD87CA
Split-complement 2#CD8A87
Triadic 1#AD87CD
Triadic 2#CDAD87
Tetradic#8A87CD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°153°

#87cdad sits at 153°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red52.9%
Green80.4%
Blue67.8%
R · 0–255
135
0x87
G · 0–255
205
0xcd
B · 0–255
173
0xad

CMYK percentages

Cyan34.1%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow15.6%
Key (black)19.6%

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

Color previews

#87cdad text on a black background

contrast 11.37:1

Card sample

#87cdad text on a white background

contrast 1.85:1

Card sample

#87cdad on grey

1.69:1

#87cdad on its own surface

1.75:1

#87cdad on its dark surface

8.74:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #87cdad;
Background color
Panel with #87cdad background
background-color: #87cdad;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #87cdad;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(135, 205, 173, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(135, 205, 173, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #87cdad;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #87cdad, #87BECD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #87cdad, #87ADCD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #87cdad;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #87cdad;
caret-color: #87cdad;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #87cdad;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF8F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #87cdad;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#87cdad 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #87cdad 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(135, 205, 173, 0.5)
rgb(135 205 173 / 50%)
#87cdad80
hsl(153 41% 67% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #87cdad 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#87cdad1a#F3FAF7
20%#87cdad33#E7F5EF
40%#87cdad66#CFEBDE
60%#87cdad99#B7E1CE
80%#87cdadcc#9FD7BD

Gradients from #87cdad

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, #B2DFCB, #87cdad 45%, #255A42);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #87cdad, #71ACC4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #87cdad, #CD87A7);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C8E8D9 0%, #87cdad 45%, #255A42 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%, #ADDCAB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9DCFD6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #255A42 0%, transparent 65%), #87cdad;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #87cdad

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.

#87cdad 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 11.37:1.

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.

#87cdad, answered

What color is #87cdad?

#87cdad is a light soft green, closest to Medium Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 4.1). It sits at 153° on the hue wheel with 41% saturation and 67% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #87cdad?

rgb(135, 205, 173) — 135 red, 205 green and 173 blue out of 255, or 52.9% / 80.4% / 67.8% by channel.

What is #87cdad in HSL and HSV?

hsl(153, 41%, 67%) and hsv(153, 34%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #87cdad a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5183 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 11.37:1.

Should I use black or white text on #87cdad?

Black. It scores 11.37:1 against #87cdad, versus 1.85:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #87cdad accessible on a white background?

#87cdad on white scores 1.85:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #378461 to reach 4.5:1, or #286047 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #87cdad?

#CD87A7 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CD87CA and #CD8A87, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #87cdad?

For interface work: #F4FAF8 as the surface, #C5E7D8 for borders, #4B9B76 for secondary text, #943879 as an accent and #255A42 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #87CD8A and #87CACD stays calm, while #CD87A7 is the loudest partner.

What is #87cdad in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(34%, 0%, 16%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #87cdad warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 76 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #87CD93; nudged cooler, #85CFC8.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #87cdad?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 11.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #87cdad as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #87cdad in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#87cdad] or text-[#87cdad], 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 #87cdad with 50% opacity?

rgba(135, 205, 173, 0.5), or #87cdad80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C3E6D6; over black, #446757.

Is #87cdad a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CC99, ΔE2000 6.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #87cdad 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 #87cdad?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B2DFCB, #87cdad 45%, #255A42). For more colour, a short hue run to #71ACC4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #87cdad in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #87cdad at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.