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cyan · cool

#87bbaf

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Teal

RGB
135, 187, 175
HSL
166°, 28%, 63%
CMYK
28, 0, 6, 27
Luminance
0.4379

#87bbaf is a balanced soft cyan, 166° on the wheel and 75/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.76:1). As text it scores 2.15:1 on white — use #487F73 instead. Nearest name is Medium Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(166 28% 63%)rgb(135 187 175)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#87bbaf
Hue
166°
cyan
Saturation
28%
soft
Lightness
63%
balanced
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4379
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
75/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.76:1
Closest name
Medium Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 9.7
Chroma
19.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.752
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 10.4
Web-safe
#99CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue166° of 360°
Saturation28%
Lightness63%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool75% 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
Red12%
Green81%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#87bbaf
HEX (8-digit)#87bbafff
RGBrgb(135, 187, 175)
RGBArgba(135, 187, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(166, 28%, 63%)
HSV / HSBhsv(166, 28%, 73%)
HWBhwb(166 53% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(28%, 0%, 6%, 27%)
LABlab(72.1 -19.6 0.6)
LCHlch(72.1 19.6 178.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.752 0.057 178.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.50, 43.79, 47.13)
Decimal8895407
Display P3color(display-p3 0.529 0.733 0.686)
Web-safe#99CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #87bbaf;
background-color: #87bbaf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #87bbaf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#87bbaf] bg-[#87bbaf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #87bbaf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.529, green: 0.733, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.529, green: 0.733, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#87BBAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF87BBAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF87BBAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 187, 135)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(135, 187, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(135, 187, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 135, 187, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5294f, 0.7333f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{135,187,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #87bbaf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #87bbaf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2E5149, #D8E9E5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #87bbaf 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: #F6F9F8;
  --brand-100: #ECF3F1;
  --brand-200: #D6E6E2;
  --brand-300: #B7D6CF;
  --brand-400: #87bbaf;
  --brand-500: #70AEA0;
  --brand-600: #589C8D;
  --brand-700: #4A8275;
  --brand-800: #3B685E;
  --brand-900: #2E4D46;
  --brand-950: #1D302C;
  --brand: #87bbaf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F9F8;
  --brand-border: #CBE2DC;
  --brand-hover: #70AEA0;
  --brand-pressed: #5BA090;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142420;
    --brand-ink: #D8E9E5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F9F8',
        100: '#ECF3F1',
        200: '#D6E6E2',
        300: '#B7D6CF',
        400: '#87bbaf',
        500: '#70AEA0',
        600: '#589C8D',
        700: '#4A8275',
        800: '#3B685E',
        900: '#2E4D46',
        950: '#1D302C',
        DEFAULT: '#87bbaf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F9F8,
  '100': #ECF3F1,
  '200': #D6E6E2,
  '300': #B7D6CF,
  '400': #87bbaf,
  '500': #70AEA0,
  '600': #589C8D,
  '700': #4A8275,
  '800': #3B685E,
  '900': #2E4D46,
  '950': #1D302C,
);
$brand-base: #87bbaf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F9F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF3F1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D6E6E2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B7D6CF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#87bbaf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#70AEA0", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#589C8D", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4A8275", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3B685E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2E4D46", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1D302C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #87bbaf · 9.76:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.15:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.76:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #87bbaf as text scores 2.15:1 on white and 9.76:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2E5149 at 4.08:1.

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
#487F73 · 4.61:1
AA on white−24% L
#487F73
The quick fox
#365F55 · 7.18:1
AAA on white−34% L
#365F55
The quick fox
#87bbaf · 9.76:1
AA on blackalready passes
#87bbaf
The quick fox
#87bbaf · 9.76:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#87bbaf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #5BA090 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
#87bbaf on white: 2.15:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#87bbaf on black: 9.76:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.15:1AaAa
Slate 502.06:1AaAa
Slate 1001.96:1AaAa
Slate 2001.75:1AaAa
Slate 3001.45:1AaAa
Slate 4001.19:1AaAa
Slate 5002.21:1AaAa
Slate 6003.52:1AaAa
Slate 7004.81:1AaAa
Slate 8006.80:1AaAa
Slate 9008.29:1AaAa
Black9.76:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B7B5AF
deuteranopia · #ADAEB0
tritanopia · #78BDB7

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. #87bbaf 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.

#F6F9F8
#ECF3F1
#D6E6E2
#B7D6CF
#87bbaf
#70AEA0
#589C8D
#4A8275
#3B685E
#2E4D46
#1D302C
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F9F8Darkest = 950 · #1D302CText 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 0.014 178.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.023 178.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.034 178.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.045 178.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.053 178.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.057 178.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.057 178.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.054 178.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.048 178.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.040 178.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.032 178.8);
}

Colors that work with #87bbaf

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#F5F9F8
Tinted page background
Border#CBE2DC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#539384
Captions on the surface
Accent#874565
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2E5149
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF6F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142420
Dark-mode background
Hover#70AEA0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#5BA090
Two steps down
Disabled#D1E1DE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#8BCBBC
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 #87bbaf

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 #2E5149
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #5BA090

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
  • Weight37/100
  • 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#BB8793
Analogous left#87BB95
Analogous right#87ADBB
Split-complement 1#BB87AD
Split-complement 2#BB9587
Triadic 1#AF87BB
Triadic 2#BBAF87
Tetradic#9587BB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°166°

#87bbaf sits at 166°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red52.9%
Green73.3%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
135
0x87
G · 0–255
187
0xbb
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan27.8%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow6.4%
Key (black)26.7%

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

Color previews

#87bbaf text on a black background

contrast 9.76:1

Card sample

#87bbaf text on a white background

contrast 2.15:1

Card sample

#87bbaf on grey

1.96:1

#87bbaf on its own surface

2.03:1

#87bbaf on its dark surface

7.49:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(135, 187, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(135, 187, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #87bbaf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #87bbaf, #87A4BB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #87bbaf, #8797BB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #87bbaf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #87bbaf;
caret-color: #87bbaf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #87bbaf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF6F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #87bbaf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#87bbaf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #87bbaf 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, 187, 175, 0.5)
rgb(135 187 175 / 50%)
#87bbaf80
hsl(166 28% 63% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #87bbaf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#87bbaf1a#F3F8F7
20%#87bbaf33#E7F1EF
40%#87bbaf66#CFE4DF
60%#87bbaf99#B7D6CF
80%#87bbafcc#9FC9BF

Gradients from #87bbaf

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, #AED1C9, #87bbaf 45%, #2E5149);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #87bbaf, #7390B0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #87bbaf, #BB8793);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C1DCD6 0%, #87bbaf 45%, #2E5149 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F9F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #A7CDAE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9AB7C6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2E5149 0%, transparent 65%), #87bbaf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #87bbaf

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.

#87bbaf 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 9.76:1.

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.

#87bbaf, answered

What color is #87bbaf?

#87bbaf is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Medium Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 9.7). It sits at 166° on the hue wheel with 28% saturation and 63% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #87bbaf?

rgb(135, 187, 175) — 135 red, 187 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 52.9% / 73.3% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #87bbaf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(166, 28%, 63%) and hsv(166, 28%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #87bbaf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4379 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 9.76:1.

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

Black. It scores 9.76:1 against #87bbaf, versus 2.15:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #87bbaf accessible on a white background?

#87bbaf on white scores 2.15:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #487F73 to reach 4.5:1, or #365F55 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #87bbaf?

#BB8793 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BB87AD and #BB9587, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #87bbaf?

For interface work: #F5F9F8 as the surface, #CBE2DC for borders, #539384 for secondary text, #874565 as an accent and #2E5149 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #87BB95 and #87ADBB stays calm, while #BB8793 is the loudest partner.

What is #87bbaf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(28%, 0%, 6%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #87bbaf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 75 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #87BB9C; nudged cooler, #85B5BD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #87bbaf?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 10.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #87bbaf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #87bbaf in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(135, 187, 175, 0.5), or #87bbaf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C3DDD7; over black, #445E58.

Is #87bbaf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CC99, ΔE2000 12.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #87bbaf 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 #87bbaf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #AED1C9, #87bbaf 45%, #2E5149). For more colour, a short hue run to #7390B0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #87bbaf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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