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green · cool

#9decbc

a light, vivid green · cool · closest name: Aqua Marine

Token name suggestion: Morning Fern

RGB
157, 236, 188
HSL
144°, 68%, 77%
CMYK
34, 0, 20, 8
Luminance
0.7079

#9decbc is a light vivid green, 144° on the wheel and 72/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.16:1). As text it scores 1.39:1 on white — use #1A8544 instead. Nearest name is Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is emerald.

hsl(144 68% 77%)rgb(157 236 188)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#9decbc
Hue
144°
green
Saturation
68%
vivid
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
82%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7079
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
72/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
15.16:1
Closest name
Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 6.7
Chroma
37.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.879
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
emerald
500 · ΔE 15.9
Web-safe
#99FFCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue144° of 360°
Saturation68%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool72% 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%
Green85%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#9decbc
HEX (8-digit)#9decbcff
RGBrgb(157, 236, 188)
RGBArgba(157, 236, 188, 1)
HSLhsl(144, 68%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(144, 33%, 93%)
HWBhwb(144 62% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(34%, 0%, 20%, 8%)
LABlab(87.4 -34.1 15.7)
LCHlch(87.4 37.6 155.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.879 0.103 156.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(52.97, 70.79, 58.44)
Decimal10349756
Display P3color(display-p3 0.616 0.925 0.737)
Web-safe#99FFCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #9decbc;
background-color: #9decbc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #9decbc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#9decbc] bg-[#9decbc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #9decbc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.616, green: 0.925, blue: 0.737)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.616, green: 0.925, blue: 0.737, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#9DECBC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF9DECBC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF9DECBC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(188, 236, 157)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(157, 236, 188)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(157, 236, 188)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 157, 236, 188)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6157f, 0.9255f, 0.7373f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{157,236,188}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #9decbc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #9decbc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#156B36, #D3EEDD);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #9decbc 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: #F3FBF6;
  --brand-100: #E8F8EE;
  --brand-200: #CAF2DA;
  --brand-300: #9decbc;
  --brand-400: #72E49F;
  --brand-500: #43DB7E;
  --brand-600: #28CD68;
  --brand-700: #21AB57;
  --brand-800: #1B8946;
  --brand-900: #176335;
  --brand-950: #0E3E21;
  --brand: #9decbc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF7;
  --brand-border: #C0EDD1;
  --brand-hover: #7FE6A8;
  --brand-pressed: #61E093;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #14241A;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEDD;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FBF6',
        100: '#E8F8EE',
        200: '#CAF2DA',
        300: '#9decbc',
        400: '#72E49F',
        500: '#43DB7E',
        600: '#28CD68',
        700: '#21AB57',
        800: '#1B8946',
        900: '#176335',
        950: '#0E3E21',
        DEFAULT: '#9decbc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FBF6,
  '100': #E8F8EE,
  '200': #CAF2DA,
  '300': #9decbc,
  '400': #72E49F,
  '500': #43DB7E,
  '600': #28CD68,
  '700': #21AB57,
  '800': #1B8946,
  '900': #176335,
  '950': #0E3E21,
);
$brand-base: #9decbc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FBF6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E8F8EE", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CAF2DA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9decbc", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#72E49F", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#43DB7E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#28CD68", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#21AB57", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1B8946", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#176335", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0E3E21", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #9decbc · 15.16:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.39:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.16:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #9decbc as text scores 1.39:1 on white and 15.16:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #156B36 at 4.75:1.

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
#1A8544 · 4.68:1
AA on white−46% L
#1A8544
The quick fox
#136332 · 7.35:1
AAA on white−54% L
#136332
The quick fox
#9decbc · 15.16:1
AA on blackalready passes
#9decbc
The quick fox
#9decbc · 15.16:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#9decbc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #20A755 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
#9decbc on white: 1.39:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#9decbc on black: 15.16:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.39:1AaAa
Slate 501.32:1AaAa
Slate 1001.26:1AaAa
Slate 2001.12:1AaAa
Slate 3001.07:1AaAa
Slate 4001.85:1AaAa
Slate 5003.43:1AaAa
Slate 6005.47:1AaAa
Slate 7007.47:1AaAa
Slate 80010.56:1AaAa
Slate 90012.89:1AaAa
Black15.16:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #EBE0B9
deuteranopia · #DED7BF
tritanopia · #8EEBDF

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. #9decbc is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F3FBF6
#E8F8EE
#CAF2DA
#9decbc
#72E49F
#43DB7E
#28CD68
#21AB57
#1B8946
#176335
#0E3E21
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F3FBF6Darkest = 950 · #0E3E21Text step on white = 900
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 0.026 156.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.041 156.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.062 156.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.080 156.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.094 156.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.103 156.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.103 156.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.097 156.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.086 156.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.072 156.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.056 156.9);
}

Colors that work with #9decbc

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#F4FAF7
Tinted page background
Border#C0EDD1
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B6A
Captions on the surface
Accent#AE1E9B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#156B36
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAFBF0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#14241A
Dark-mode background
Hover#7FE6A8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#61E093
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A9F4C7
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 #9decbc

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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 #156B36
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #20A755

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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-high
  • Weight23/100
  • 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#EC9DCD
Analogous left#A6EC9D
Analogous right#9DECE3
Split-complement 1#E39DEC
Split-complement 2#EC9DA6
Triadic 1#BC9DEC
Triadic 2#ECBC9D
Tetradic#9DA6EC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°144°

#9decbc sits at 144°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red61.6%
Green92.5%
Blue73.7%
R · 0–255
157
0x9d
G · 0–255
236
0xec
B · 0–255
188
0xbc

CMYK percentages

Cyan33.5%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow20.3%
Key (black)7.5%

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

Color previews

#9decbc text on a black background

contrast 15.16:1

Card sample

#9decbc text on a white background

contrast 1.39:1

Card sample

#9decbc on grey

1.26:1

#9decbc on its own surface

1.31:1

#9decbc on its dark surface

11.69:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(157, 236, 188, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(157, 236, 188, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #9decbc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #9decbc, #9DE7EC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9decbc, #9DD4EC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #9decbc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #9decbc;
caret-color: #9decbc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #9decbc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAFBF0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #9decbc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#9decbc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #9decbc 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(157, 236, 188, 0.5)
rgb(157 236 188 / 50%)
#9decbc80
hsl(144 68% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #9decbc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#9decbc1a#F5FDF8
20%#9decbc33#EBFBF2
40%#9decbc66#D8F7E4
60%#9decbc99#C4F4D7
80%#9decbccc#B1F0C9

Gradients from #9decbc

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, #D0F6DF, #9decbc 45%, #156B36);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #9decbc, #84D9E7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #9decbc, #EC9DCD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EAFBF1 0%, #9decbc 45%, #156B36 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF7, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D0F4C8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B7F1F0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #156B36 0%, transparent 65%), #9decbc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #9decbc

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.

#9decbc 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 15.16:1.

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.

#9decbc, answered

What color is #9decbc?

#9decbc is a light vivid green, closest to Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 6.7). It sits at 144° on the hue wheel with 68% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #9decbc?

rgb(157, 236, 188) — 157 red, 236 green and 188 blue out of 255, or 61.6% / 92.5% / 73.7% by channel.

What is #9decbc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(144, 68%, 77%) and hsv(144, 33%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #9decbc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7079 and perceived brightness is 82%, so black text on it reaches 15.16:1.

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

Black. It scores 15.16:1 against #9decbc, versus 1.39:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #9decbc accessible on a white background?

#9decbc on white scores 1.39:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #1A8544 to reach 4.5:1, or #136332 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #9decbc?

#EC9DCD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E39DEC and #EC9DA6, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #9decbc?

For interface work: #F4FAF7 as the surface, #C0EDD1 for borders, #4B9B6A for secondary text, #AE1E9B as an accent and #156B36 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A6EC9D and #9DECE3 stays calm, while #EC9DCD is the loudest partner.

What is #9decbc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(34%, 0%, 20%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #9decbc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 72 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #9DEC9F; nudged cooler, #9CEDDA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #9decbc?

The emerald family — its 500 step is #10b981, ΔE2000 15.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #9decbc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #9decbc in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(157, 236, 188, 0.5), or #9decbc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #CEF6DE; over black, #4F765E.

Is #9decbc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99FFCC, ΔE2000 4.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #9decbc 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 chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #9decbc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D0F6DF, #9decbc 45%, #156B36). For more colour, a short hue run to #84D9E7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #9decbc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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