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cyan · cool

#90b7ab

a balanced, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Dark Sea Green

Token name suggestion: Atlas Teal

RGB
144, 183, 171
HSL
162°, 21%, 64%
CMYK
21, 0, 7, 28
Luminance
0.4274

#90b7ab is a balanced soft cyan, 162° on the wheel and 68/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.55:1). As text it scores 2.20:1 on white — use #527F71 instead. Nearest name is Dark Sea Green, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(162 21% 64%)rgb(144 183 171)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #90b7ab is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#90b7ab
Hue
162°
cyan
Saturation
21%
soft
Lightness
64%
balanced
Brightness
72%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4274
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
68/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.55:1
Closest name
Dark Sea Green
ΔE2000 10.4
Chroma
15.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.748
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 12.6
Web-safe
#99CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue162° of 360°
Saturation21%
Lightness64%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #90b7ab.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool68% 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
Red14%
Green79%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#90b7ab
HEX (8-digit)#90b7abff
RGBrgb(144, 183, 171)
RGBArgba(144, 183, 171, 1)
HSLhsl(162, 21%, 64%)
HSV / HSBhsv(162, 21%, 72%)
HWBhwb(162 56% 28%)
CMYKcmyk(21%, 0%, 7%, 28%)
LABlab(71.4 -15.6 1.8)
LCHlch(71.4 15.7 173.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.748 0.045 174.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.78, 42.74, 44.88)
Decimal9484203
Display P3color(display-p3 0.565 0.718 0.671)
Web-safe#99CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #90b7ab;
background-color: #90b7ab;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #90b7ab;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#90b7ab] bg-[#90b7ab]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #90b7ab;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.565, green: 0.718, blue: 0.671)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.565, green: 0.718, blue: 0.671, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#90B7AB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF90B7AB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF90B7AB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(171, 183, 144)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(144, 183, 171)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(144, 183, 171)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 144, 183, 171)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5647f, 0.7176f, 0.6706f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{144,183,171}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #90b7ab 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #90b7ab 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#324D45, #DAE7E3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #90b7ab 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: #EDF2F1;
  --brand-200: #D8E4E0;
  --brand-300: #BBD3CB;
  --brand-400: #90b7ab;
  --brand-500: #77A798;
  --brand-600: #609484;
  --brand-700: #507C6E;
  --brand-800: #406358;
  --brand-900: #314942;
  --brand-950: #1F2E29;
  --brand: #90b7ab;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F9F8;
  --brand-border: #CEDFDA;
  --brand-hover: #7AA99B;
  --brand-pressed: #659B8A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #16221E;
    --brand-ink: #DAE7E3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F9F8',
        100: '#EDF2F1',
        200: '#D8E4E0',
        300: '#BBD3CB',
        400: '#90b7ab',
        500: '#77A798',
        600: '#609484',
        700: '#507C6E',
        800: '#406358',
        900: '#314942',
        950: '#1F2E29',
        DEFAULT: '#90b7ab',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F9F8,
  '100': #EDF2F1,
  '200': #D8E4E0,
  '300': #BBD3CB,
  '400': #90b7ab,
  '500': #77A798,
  '600': #609484,
  '700': #507C6E,
  '800': #406358,
  '900': #314942,
  '950': #1F2E29,
);
$brand-base: #90b7ab;
$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": "#EDF2F1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D8E4E0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BBD3CB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#90b7ab", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#77A798", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#609484", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#507C6E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#406358", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#314942", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1F2E29", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #90b7ab · 9.55:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.20:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.55:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #90b7ab as text scores 2.20:1 on white and 9.55:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #324D45 at 4.18:1.

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
#527F71 · 4.53:1
AA on white−23% L
#527F71
The quick fox
#3C5D53 · 7.28:1
AAA on white−34% L
#3C5D53
The quick fox
#90b7ab · 9.55:1
AA on blackalready passes
#90b7ab
The quick fox
#90b7ab · 9.55:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#90b7ab

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #6B9F8F 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
#90b7ab on white: 2.20:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#90b7ab on black: 9.55:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #90b7ab as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #90b7ab.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.20:1AaAa
Slate 502.10:1AaAa
Slate 1002.01:1AaAa
Slate 2001.78:1AaAa
Slate 3001.48:1AaAa
Slate 4001.17:1AaAa
Slate 5002.16:1AaAa
Slate 6003.45:1AaAa
Slate 7004.71:1AaAa
Slate 8006.65:1AaAa
Slate 9008.12:1AaAa
Black9.55:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B4B2AA
deuteranopia · #ADADAC
tritanopia · #87B8B3

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. #90b7ab 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
#EDF2F1
#D8E4E0
#BBD3CB
#90b7ab
#77A798
#609484
#507C6E
#406358
#314942
#1F2E29
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F9F8Darkest = 950 · #1F2E29Text step on white = 700
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 0.011 174.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.018 174.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.027 174.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.035 174.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.042 174.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.045 174.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.045 174.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.043 174.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.038 174.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.032 174.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.025 174.3);
}

Colors that work with #90b7ab

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#F6F9F8
Tinted page background
Border#CEDFDA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5A8B7C
Captions on the surface
Accent#804C69
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#324D45
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F5F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#16221E
Dark-mode background
Hover#7AA99B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#659B8A
Two steps down
Disabled#D4E3DE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#94C7B7
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 #90b7ab

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 #324D45
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #6B9F8F

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
  • 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#B7909C
Analogous left#90B797
Analogous right#90AFB7
Split-complement 1#B790AF
Split-complement 2#B79790
Triadic 1#AB90B7
Triadic 2#B7AB90
Tetradic#9790B7
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°162°

#90b7ab sits at 162°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red56.5%
Green71.8%
Blue67.1%
R · 0–255
144
0x90
G · 0–255
183
0xb7
B · 0–255
171
0xab

CMYK percentages

Cyan21.3%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow6.6%
Key (black)28.2%

Total ink coverage is 56%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#90b7ab text on a black background

contrast 9.55:1

Card sample

#90b7ab text on a white background

contrast 2.20:1

Card sample

#90b7ab on grey

2.01:1

#90b7ab on its own surface

2.08:1

#90b7ab on its dark surface

7.45:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #90b7ab;
Background color
Panel with #90b7ab background
background-color: #90b7ab;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #90b7ab;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(144, 183, 171, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(144, 183, 171, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #90b7ab;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #90b7ab, #90A9B7);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #90b7ab, #909FB7);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #90b7ab;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #90b7ab;
caret-color: #90b7ab;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #90b7ab;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F5F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #90b7ab;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#90b7ab 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #90b7ab 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(144, 183, 171, 0.5)
rgb(144 183 171 / 50%)
#90b7ab80
hsl(162 21% 64% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #90b7ab 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#90b7ab1a#F4F8F7
20%#90b7ab33#E9F1EE
40%#90b7ab66#D3E2DD
60%#90b7ab99#BCD4CD
80%#90b7abcc#A6C5BC

Gradients from #90b7ab

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, #B5CFC7, #90b7ab 45%, #324D45);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #90b7ab, #7D97AB);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #90b7ab, #B7909C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #C8DBD5 0%, #90b7ab 45%, #324D45 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F9F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #AFCBB2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A3BAC3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #324D45 0%, transparent 65%), #90b7ab;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #90b7ab

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.

#90b7ab 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 9.55:1.

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.

#90b7ab, answered

What color is #90b7ab?

#90b7ab is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Dark Sea Green (ΔE2000 10.4). It sits at 162° on the hue wheel with 21% saturation and 64% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #90b7ab?

rgb(144, 183, 171) — 144 red, 183 green and 171 blue out of 255, or 56.5% / 71.8% / 67.1% by channel.

What is #90b7ab in HSL and HSV?

hsl(162, 21%, 64%) and hsv(162, 21%, 72%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #90b7ab a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4274 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 9.55:1.

Should I use black or white text on #90b7ab?

Black. It scores 9.55:1 against #90b7ab, versus 2.20:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #90b7ab accessible on a white background?

#90b7ab on white scores 2.20:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #527F71 to reach 4.5:1, or #3C5D53 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #90b7ab?

#B7909C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B790AF and #B79790, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #90b7ab?

For interface work: #F6F9F8 as the surface, #CEDFDA for borders, #5A8B7C for secondary text, #804C69 as an accent and #324D45 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #90B797 and #90AFB7 stays calm, while #B7909C is the loudest partner.

What is #90b7ab in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(21%, 0%, 7%, 28%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #90b7ab warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 68 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #90B79D; nudged cooler, #8EB6B9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #90b7ab?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 12.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #90b7ab as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #90b7ab in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#90b7ab] or text-[#90b7ab], 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 #90b7ab with 50% opacity?

rgba(144, 183, 171, 0.5), or #90b7ab80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C8DBD5; over black, #485C56.

Is #90b7ab a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CC99, ΔE2000 12.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #90b7ab 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 #90b7ab?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B5CFC7, #90b7ab 45%, #324D45). For more colour, a short hue run to #7D97AB keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #90b7ab in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #90b7ab at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.