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green · cool

#97bcac

a light, soft green · cool · closest name: Dark Sea Green

Token name suggestion: Morning Fern

RGB
151, 188, 172
HSL
154°, 22%, 67%
CMYK
20, 0, 9, 26
Luminance
0.4552

#97bcac is a light soft green, 154° on the wheel and 66/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.10:1). As text it scores 2.08:1 on white — use #517E6A instead. Nearest name is Dark Sea Green, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(154 22% 67%)rgb(151 188 172)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #97bcac is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#97bcac
Hue
154°
green
Saturation
22%
soft
Lightness
67%
light
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
69%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4552
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
66/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.10:1
Closest name
Dark Sea Green
ΔE2000 8.9
Chroma
16.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.763
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 13.4
Web-safe
#99CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue154° of 360°
Saturation22%
Lightness67%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #97bcac.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool66% 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#97bcac
HEX (8-digit)#97bcacff
RGBrgb(151, 188, 172)
RGBArgba(151, 188, 172, 1)
HSLhsl(154, 22%, 67%)
HSV / HSBhsv(154, 20%, 74%)
HWBhwb(154 59% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(20%, 0%, 9%, 26%)
LABlab(73.2 -15.7 4.0)
LCHlch(73.2 16.2 165.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.763 0.046 167.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(38.19, 45.52, 45.80)
Decimal9944236
Display P3color(display-p3 0.592 0.737 0.675)
Web-safe#99CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #97bcac;
background-color: #97bcac;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #97bcac;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#97bcac] bg-[#97bcac]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #97bcac;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.592, green: 0.737, blue: 0.675)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.592, green: 0.737, blue: 0.675, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#97BCAC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF97BCAC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF97BCAC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(172, 188, 151)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(151, 188, 172)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(151, 188, 172)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 151, 188, 172)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5922f, 0.7373f, 0.6745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{151,188,172}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #97bcac 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #97bcac 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#324E42, #DAE7E1);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #97bcac 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: #EDF2F0;
  --brand-200: #D8E4DF;
  --brand-300: #BBD3C9;
  --brand-400: #97bcac;
  --brand-500: #77A792;
  --brand-600: #60957E;
  --brand-700: #507C69;
  --brand-800: #406354;
  --brand-900: #31493F;
  --brand-950: #1F2E27;
  --brand: #97bcac;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F9F8;
  --brand-border: #CDDFD7;
  --brand-hover: #81AE9B;
  --brand-pressed: #6CA089;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #16221D;
    --brand-ink: #DAE7E1;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F9F8',
        100: '#EDF2F0',
        200: '#D8E4DF',
        300: '#BBD3C9',
        400: '#97bcac',
        500: '#77A792',
        600: '#60957E',
        700: '#507C69',
        800: '#406354',
        900: '#31493F',
        950: '#1F2E27',
        DEFAULT: '#97bcac',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F9F8,
  '100': #EDF2F0,
  '200': #D8E4DF,
  '300': #BBD3C9,
  '400': #97bcac,
  '500': #77A792,
  '600': #60957E,
  '700': #507C69,
  '800': #406354,
  '900': #31493F,
  '950': #1F2E27,
);
$brand-base: #97bcac;
$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": "#EDF2F0", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D8E4DF", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BBD3C9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#97bcac", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#77A792", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#60957E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#507C69", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#406354", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#31493F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1F2E27", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #97bcac · 10.10:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.08:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.10:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #97bcac as text scores 2.08:1 on white and 10.10:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #324E42 at 4.39:1.

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
#517E6A · 4.62:1
AA on white−26% L
#517E6A
The quick fox
#3D5F50 · 7.12:1
AAA on white−36% L
#3D5F50
The quick fox
#97bcac · 10.10:1
AA on blackalready passes
#97bcac
The quick fox
#97bcac · 10.10:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#97bcac

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #699E87 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
#97bcac on white: 2.08:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#97bcac on black: 10.10:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #97bcac as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #97bcac.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.08:1AaAa
Slate 501.99:1AaAa
Slate 1001.90:1AaAa
Slate 2001.69:1AaAa
Slate 3001.40:1AaAa
Slate 4001.23:1AaAa
Slate 5002.29:1AaAa
Slate 6003.65:1AaAa
Slate 7004.98:1AaAa
Slate 8007.04:1AaAa
Slate 9008.59:1AaAa
Black10.10:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BAB7AB
deuteranopia · #B3B2AD
tritanopia · #8FBCB7

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. #97bcac 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
#EDF2F0
#D8E4DF
#BBD3C9
#97bcac
#77A792
#60957E
#507C69
#406354
#31493F
#1F2E27
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F9F8Darkest = 950 · #1F2E27Text 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 0.011 167.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.018 167.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.028 167.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.036 167.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.042 167.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.046 167.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.046 167.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.043 167.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.039 167.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.032 167.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.025 167.0);
}

Colors that work with #97bcac

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#CDDFD7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5A8C76
Captions on the surface
Accent#804C70
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#324E42
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFF5F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#16221D
Dark-mode background
Hover#81AE9B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6CA089
Two steps down
Disabled#DBE8E3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#9CCCB7
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 #97bcac

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 #324E42
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #699E87

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#BC97A7
Analogous left#97BC9A
Analogous right#97BABC
Split-complement 1#BC97BA
Split-complement 2#BC9A97
Triadic 1#AC97BC
Triadic 2#BCAC97
Tetradic#9A97BC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°154°

#97bcac sits at 154°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red59.2%
Green73.7%
Blue67.5%
R · 0–255
151
0x97
G · 0–255
188
0xbc
B · 0–255
172
0xac

CMYK percentages

Cyan19.7%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow8.5%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 55%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#97bcac text on a black background

contrast 10.10:1

Card sample

#97bcac text on a white background

contrast 2.08:1

Card sample

#97bcac on grey

1.90:1

#97bcac on its own surface

1.96:1

#97bcac on its dark surface

7.89:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #97bcac;
Background color
Panel with #97bcac background
background-color: #97bcac;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #97bcac;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(151, 188, 172, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(151, 188, 172, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #97bcac;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #97bcac, #97B3BC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #97bcac, #97AABC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #97bcac;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #97bcac;
caret-color: #97bcac;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #97bcac;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFF5F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #97bcac;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#97bcac 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #97bcac 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(151, 188, 172, 0.5)
rgb(151 188 172 / 50%)
#97bcac80
hsl(154 22% 67% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #97bcac 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#97bcac1a#F5F8F7
20%#97bcac33#EAF2EE
40%#97bcac66#D5E4DE
60%#97bcac99#C1D7CD
80%#97bcaccc#ACC9BD

Gradients from #97bcac

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, #BCD4CA, #97bcac 45%, #324E42);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #97bcac, #85A2B0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #97bcac, #BC97A7);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CFE0D9 0%, #97bcac 45%, #324E42 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%, #B7D0B6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #AAC3C8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #324E42 0%, transparent 65%), #97bcac;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #97bcac

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.

#97bcac 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 10.10:1.

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.

#97bcac, answered

What color is #97bcac?

#97bcac is a light soft green, closest to Dark Sea Green (ΔE2000 8.9). It sits at 154° on the hue wheel with 22% saturation and 67% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #97bcac?

rgb(151, 188, 172) — 151 red, 188 green and 172 blue out of 255, or 59.2% / 73.7% / 67.5% by channel.

What is #97bcac in HSL and HSV?

hsl(154, 22%, 67%) and hsv(154, 20%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #97bcac a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4552 and perceived brightness is 69%, so black text on it reaches 10.10:1.

Should I use black or white text on #97bcac?

Black. It scores 10.10:1 against #97bcac, versus 2.08:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #97bcac accessible on a white background?

#97bcac on white scores 2.08:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #517E6A to reach 4.5:1, or #3D5F50 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #97bcac?

#BC97A7 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BC97BA and #BC9A97, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #97bcac?

For interface work: #F6F9F8 as the surface, #CDDFD7 for borders, #5A8C76 for secondary text, #804C70 as an accent and #324E42 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #97BC9A and #97BABC stays calm, while #BC97A7 is the loudest partner.

What is #97bcac in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(20%, 0%, 9%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #97bcac warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 66 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #97BC9F; nudged cooler, #95BEBB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #97bcac?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 13.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #97bcac as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #97bcac in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#97bcac] or text-[#97bcac], 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 #97bcac with 50% opacity?

rgba(151, 188, 172, 0.5), or #97bcac80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CBDED6; over black, #4C5E56.

Is #97bcac a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CC99, ΔE2000 10.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #97bcac 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 #97bcac?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #BCD4CA, #97bcac 45%, #324E42). For more colour, a short hue run to #85A2B0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #97bcac in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #97bcac at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.