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green · cool

#9cd5ba

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Moss

RGB
156, 213, 186
HSL
152°, 40%, 72%
CMYK
27, 0, 13, 17
Luminance
0.5820

#9cd5ba is a light soft green, 152° on the wheel and 76/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.64:1). As text it scores 1.66:1 on white — use #37825F instead. Nearest name is Medium Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(152 40% 72%)rgb(156 213 186)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #9cd5ba is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#9cd5ba
Hue
152°
green
Saturation
40%
soft
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
84%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5820
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
76/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
12.64:1
Closest name
Medium Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 7.2
Chroma
25.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.826
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 14.1
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue152° of 360°
Saturation40%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #9cd5ba.

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
Red12%
Green82%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#9cd5ba
HEX (8-digit)#9cd5baff
RGBrgb(156, 213, 186)
RGBArgba(156, 213, 186, 1)
HSLhsl(152, 40%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(152, 27%, 84%)
HWBhwb(152 61% 16%)
CMYKcmyk(27%, 0%, 13%, 17%)
LABlab(80.8 -23.9 7.5)
LCHlch(80.8 25.0 162.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.826 0.070 164.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(46.36, 58.20, 55.24)
Decimal10278330
Display P3color(display-p3 0.612 0.835 0.729)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #9cd5ba;
background-color: #9cd5ba;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #9cd5ba;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#9cd5ba] bg-[#9cd5ba]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #9cd5ba;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.612, green: 0.835, blue: 0.729)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.612, green: 0.835, blue: 0.729, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#9CD5BA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF9CD5BA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF9CD5BA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(186, 213, 156)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(156, 213, 186)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(156, 213, 186)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 156, 213, 186)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6118f, 0.8353f, 0.7294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{156,213,186}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #9cd5ba 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #9cd5ba 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#265A41, #D4EDE1);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #9cd5ba 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: #F5FAF7;
  --brand-100: #EBF5F0;
  --brand-200: #D2EADE;
  --brand-300: #B0DEC8;
  --brand-400: #9cd5ba;
  --brand-500: #61BC91;
  --brand-600: #49AC7D;
  --brand-700: #3D8F68;
  --brand-800: #317353;
  --brand-900: #26543E;
  --brand-950: #183427;
  --brand: #9cd5ba;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF8;
  --brand-border: #C6E7D7;
  --brand-hover: #83CAA9;
  --brand-pressed: #6AC097;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #14241C;
    --brand-ink: #D4EDE1;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF7',
        100: '#EBF5F0',
        200: '#D2EADE',
        300: '#B0DEC8',
        400: '#9cd5ba',
        500: '#61BC91',
        600: '#49AC7D',
        700: '#3D8F68',
        800: '#317353',
        900: '#26543E',
        950: '#183427',
        DEFAULT: '#9cd5ba',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF7,
  '100': #EBF5F0,
  '200': #D2EADE,
  '300': #B0DEC8,
  '400': #9cd5ba,
  '500': #61BC91,
  '600': #49AC7D,
  '700': #3D8F68,
  '800': #317353,
  '900': #26543E,
  '950': #183427,
);
$brand-base: #9cd5ba;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5FAF7", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF5F0", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D2EADE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B0DEC8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9cd5ba", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#61BC91", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#49AC7D", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3D8F68", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#317353", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#26543E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#183427", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #9cd5ba · 12.64:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.66:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.64:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #9cd5ba as text scores 1.66:1 on white and 12.64:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #265A41 at 4.82:1.

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
#37825F · 4.65:1
AA on white−36% L
#37825F
The quick fox
#2A6247 · 7.15:1
AAA on white−45% L
#2A6247
The quick fox
#9cd5ba · 12.64:1
AA on blackalready passes
#9cd5ba
The quick fox
#9cd5ba · 12.64:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#9cd5ba

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #47A679 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
#9cd5ba on white: 1.66:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#9cd5ba on black: 12.64:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #9cd5ba as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #9cd5ba.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.66:1AaAa
Slate 501.59:1AaAa
Slate 1001.52:1AaAa
Slate 2001.35:1AaAa
Slate 3001.12:1AaAa
Slate 4001.54:1AaAa
Slate 5002.86:1AaAa
Slate 6004.56:1AaAa
Slate 7006.23:1AaAa
Slate 8008.81:1AaAa
Slate 90010.75:1AaAa
Black12.64:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D3CDB9
deuteranopia · #C9C6BC
tritanopia · #90D5CD

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. #9cd5ba 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.

#F5FAF7
#EBF5F0
#D2EADE
#B0DEC8
#9cd5ba
#61BC91
#49AC7D
#3D8F68
#317353
#26543E
#183427
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF7Darkest = 950 · #183427Text 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 0.018 164.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.028 164.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.042 164.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.055 164.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.064 164.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.070 164.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.070 164.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.066 164.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.059 164.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.049 164.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.039 164.0);
}

Colors that work with #9cd5ba

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#C6E7D7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B75
Captions on the surface
Accent#94387B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#265A41
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF7F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#14241C
Dark-mode background
Hover#83CAA9
One step down in lightness
Pressed#6AC097
Two steps down
Disabled#EEF4F1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A4E1C4
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 #9cd5ba

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 #265A41
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #47A679

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
  • Weight28/100
  • 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#D59CB7
Analogous left#9CD59E
Analogous right#9CD4D5
Split-complement 1#D59CD4
Split-complement 2#D59E9C
Triadic 1#BA9CD5
Triadic 2#D5BA9C
Tetradic#9E9CD5
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°152°

#9cd5ba sits at 152°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red61.2%
Green83.5%
Blue72.9%
R · 0–255
156
0x9c
G · 0–255
213
0xd5
B · 0–255
186
0xba

CMYK percentages

Cyan26.8%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow12.7%
Key (black)16.5%

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

Color previews

#9cd5ba text on a black background

contrast 12.64:1

Card sample

#9cd5ba text on a white background

contrast 1.66:1

Card sample

#9cd5ba on grey

1.52:1

#9cd5ba on its own surface

1.57:1

#9cd5ba on its dark surface

9.73:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #9cd5ba;
Background color
Panel with #9cd5ba background
background-color: #9cd5ba;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #9cd5ba;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(156, 213, 186, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(156, 213, 186, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #9cd5ba;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #9cd5ba, #9CCAD5);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9cd5ba, #9CBCD5);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #9cd5ba;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #9cd5ba;
caret-color: #9cd5ba;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #9cd5ba;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF7F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #9cd5ba;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#9cd5ba 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #9cd5ba 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(156, 213, 186, 0.5)
rgb(156 213 186 / 50%)
#9cd5ba80
hsl(152 40% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #9cd5ba 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#9cd5ba1a#F5FBF8
20%#9cd5ba33#EBF7F1
40%#9cd5ba66#D7EEE3
60%#9cd5ba99#C4E6D6
80%#9cd5bacc#B0DDC8

Gradients from #9cd5ba

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, #C7E7D8, #9cd5ba 45%, #265A41);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #9cd5ba, #87B9CC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9cd5ba, #D59CB7);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DDF0E7 0%, #9cd5ba 45%, #265A41 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%, #C2E4C0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B2D9DE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #265A41 0%, transparent 65%), #9cd5ba;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #9cd5ba

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.

#9cd5ba 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 12.64:1.

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.

#9cd5ba, answered

What color is #9cd5ba?

#9cd5ba is a light soft green, closest to Medium Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 7.2). It sits at 152° on the hue wheel with 40% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #9cd5ba?

rgb(156, 213, 186) — 156 red, 213 green and 186 blue out of 255, or 61.2% / 83.5% / 72.9% by channel.

What is #9cd5ba in HSL and HSV?

hsl(152, 40%, 72%) and hsv(152, 27%, 84%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #9cd5ba a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5820 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 12.64:1.

Should I use black or white text on #9cd5ba?

Black. It scores 12.64:1 against #9cd5ba, versus 1.66:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #9cd5ba accessible on a white background?

#9cd5ba on white scores 1.66:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #37825F to reach 4.5:1, or #2A6247 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #9cd5ba?

#D59CB7 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D59CD4 and #D59E9C, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #9cd5ba?

For interface work: #F4FAF8 as the surface, #C6E7D7 for borders, #4B9B75 for secondary text, #94387B as an accent and #265A41 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #9CD59E and #9CD4D5 stays calm, while #D59CB7 is the loudest partner.

What is #9cd5ba in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(27%, 0%, 13%, 17%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #9cd5ba 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 #9CD5A5; nudged cooler, #9BD6D0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #9cd5ba?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 14.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #9cd5ba as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #9cd5ba in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#9cd5ba] or text-[#9cd5ba], 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 #9cd5ba with 50% opacity?

rgba(156, 213, 186, 0.5), or #9cd5ba80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CEEADD; over black, #4E6B5D.

Is #9cd5ba a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 10.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #9cd5ba 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 #9cd5ba?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C7E7D8, #9cd5ba 45%, #265A41). For more colour, a short hue run to #87B9CC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #9cd5ba in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #9cd5ba at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.