Skip to content
green · neutral

#bdf081

a light, electric green · neutral · closest name: Pale Green

Token name suggestion: Linen Fern

RGB
189, 240, 129
HSL
88°, 79%, 72%
CMYK
21, 0, 46, 6
Luminance
0.7472

#bdf081 is a light electric green, 88° on the wheel and 48/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.94:1). As text it scores 1.32:1 on white — use #4D810F instead. Nearest name is Pale Green, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(88 79% 72%)rgb(189 240 129)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bdf081 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bdf081
Hue
88°
green
Saturation
79%
electric
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
94%
HSV value
Perceived
84%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7472
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
48/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
15.94:1
Closest name
Pale Green
ΔE2000 7.8
Chroma
59.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.896
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 11.6
Web-safe
#CCFF99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue88° of 360°
Saturation79%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bdf081.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool48% cool

Reads neutral. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red14%
Green83%
Blue2%

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

Every format

HEX#bdf081
HEX (8-digit)#bdf081ff
RGBrgb(189, 240, 129)
RGBArgba(189, 240, 129, 1)
HSLhsl(88, 79%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(88, 46%, 94%)
HWBhwb(88 51% 6%)
CMYKcmyk(21%, 0%, 46%, 6%)
LABlab(89.3 -34.3 48.2)
LCHlch(89.3 59.1 125.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.896 0.150 129.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(56.11, 74.72, 32.23)
Decimal12447873
Display P3color(display-p3 0.741 0.941 0.506)
Web-safe#CCFF99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bdf081;
background-color: #bdf081;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bdf081;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bdf081] bg-[#bdf081]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bdf081;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.741, green: 0.941, blue: 0.506)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.741, green: 0.941, blue: 0.506, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BDF081</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBDF081)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBDF081)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(129, 240, 189)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(189, 240, 129)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(189, 240, 129)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 189, 240, 129)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7412f, 0.9412f, 0.5059f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{189,240,129}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bdf081 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bdf081 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#44720E, #E2EED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bdf081 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: #F8FCF3;
  --brand-100: #F0F9E6;
  --brand-200: #E0F5C7;
  --brand-300: #CAF39B;
  --brand-400: #bdf081;
  --brand-500: #96E736;
  --brand-600: #82DB1A;
  --brand-700: #6CB616;
  --brand-800: #579211;
  --brand-900: #416A11;
  --brand-950: #28420B;
  --brand: #bdf081;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8FAF4;
  --brand-border: #D8EDC0;
  --brand-hover: #ACEC61;
  --brand-pressed: #9CE841;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1D2414;
    --brand-ink: #E2EED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8FCF3',
        100: '#F0F9E6',
        200: '#E0F5C7',
        300: '#CAF39B',
        400: '#bdf081',
        500: '#96E736',
        600: '#82DB1A',
        700: '#6CB616',
        800: '#579211',
        900: '#416A11',
        950: '#28420B',
        DEFAULT: '#bdf081',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8FCF3,
  '100': #F0F9E6,
  '200': #E0F5C7,
  '300': #CAF39B,
  '400': #bdf081,
  '500': #96E736,
  '600': #82DB1A,
  '700': #6CB616,
  '800': #579211,
  '900': #416A11,
  '950': #28420B,
);
$brand-base: #bdf081;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8FCF3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0F9E6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E0F5C7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CAF39B", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#bdf081", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#96E736", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#82DB1A", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6CB616", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#579211", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#416A11", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#28420B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bdf081 · 15.94:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.32:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.94:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bdf081 as text scores 1.32:1 on white and 15.94:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #44720E at 4.36:1.

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
#4D810F · 4.71:1
AA on white−44% L
#4D810F
The quick fox
#3A620C · 7.16:1
AAA on white−51% L
#3A620C
The quick fox
#bdf081 · 15.94:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bdf081
The quick fox
#bdf081 · 15.94:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bdf081

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #63A614 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
#bdf081 on white: 1.32:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bdf081 on black: 15.94:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bdf081 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bdf081.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.32:1AaAa
Slate 501.26:1AaAa
Slate 1001.20:1AaAa
Slate 2001.07:1AaAa
Slate 3001.13:1AaAa
Slate 4001.95:1AaAa
Slate 5003.61:1AaAa
Slate 6005.75:1AaAa
Slate 7007.86:1AaAa
Slate 80011.11:1AaAa
Slate 90013.56:1AaAa
Black15.94:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #F9E378
deuteranopia · #F2DF87
tritanopia · #C1E8D6

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. #bdf081 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.

#F8FCF3
#F0F9E6
#E0F5C7
#CAF39B
#bdf081
#96E736
#82DB1A
#6CB616
#579211
#416A11
#28420B
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8FCF3Darkest = 950 · #28420BText 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 0.038 129.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.060 129.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.090 129.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.117 129.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.138 129.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.150 129.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.150 129.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.141 129.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.126 129.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.105 129.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.083 129.3);
}

Colors that work with #bdf081

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#F8FAF4
Tinted page background
Border#D8EDC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#769B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#977EF3
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#44720E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3FCE8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1D2414
Dark-mode background
Hover#ACEC61
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9CE841
Two steps down
Disabled#F1F4EE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C7F88D
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 #bdf081

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 #44720E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #63A614

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight28/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#B481F0
Analogous left#F0EC81
Analogous right#86F081
Split-complement 1#8186F0
Split-complement 2#EC81F0
Triadic 1#81BDF0
Triadic 2#F081BD
Tetradic#81F0EC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°88°

#bdf081 sits at 88°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red74.1%
Green94.1%
Blue50.6%
R · 0–255
189
0xbd
G · 0–255
240
0xf0
B · 0–255
129
0x81

CMYK percentages

Cyan21.2%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow46.3%
Key (black)5.9%

Total ink coverage is 73%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bdf081 text on a black background

contrast 15.94:1

Card sample

#bdf081 text on a white background

contrast 1.32:1

Card sample

#bdf081 on grey

1.20:1

#bdf081 on its own surface

1.25:1

#bdf081 on its dark surface

12.13:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bdf081;
Background color
Panel with #bdf081 background
background-color: #bdf081;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bdf081;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(189, 240, 129, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(189, 240, 129, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bdf081;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bdf081, #81F08F);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bdf081, #81F0AB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bdf081;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bdf081;
caret-color: #bdf081;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bdf081;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3FCE8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bdf081;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bdf081 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bdf081 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(189, 240, 129, 0.5)
rgb(189 240 129 / 50%)
#bdf08180
hsl(88 79% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bdf081 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bdf0811a#F8FEF2
20%#bdf08133#F2FCE6
40%#bdf08166#E5F9CD
60%#bdf08199#D7F6B3
80%#bdf081cc#CAF39A

Gradients from #bdf081

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, #DAF7B8, #bdf081 45%, #44720E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bdf081, #66ED82);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bdf081, #B481F0);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E8FAD3 0%, #bdf081 45%, #44720E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8FAF4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #F5EDAF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9DF3A0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #44720E 0%, transparent 65%), #bdf081;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bdf081

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.

#bdf081 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 15.94:1.

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.

#bdf081, answered

What color is #bdf081?

#bdf081 is a light electric green, closest to Pale Green (ΔE2000 7.8). It sits at 88° on the hue wheel with 79% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #bdf081?

rgb(189, 240, 129) — 189 red, 240 green and 129 blue out of 255, or 74.1% / 94.1% / 50.6% by channel.

What is #bdf081 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(88, 79%, 72%) and hsv(88, 46%, 94%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bdf081 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7472 and perceived brightness is 84%, so black text on it reaches 15.94:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bdf081?

Black. It scores 15.94:1 against #bdf081, versus 1.32:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bdf081 accessible on a white background?

#bdf081 on white scores 1.32:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #4D810F to reach 4.5:1, or #3A620C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bdf081?

#B481F0 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #8186F0 and #EC81F0, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bdf081?

For interface work: #F8FAF4 as the surface, #D8EDC0 for borders, #769B4B for secondary text, #977EF3 as an accent and #44720E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #F0EC81 and #86F081 stays calm, while #B481F0 is the loudest partner.

What is #bdf081 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(21%, 0%, 46%, 6%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #bdf081 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 48 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E6F081; nudged cooler, #94F180.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bdf081?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 11.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bdf081 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bdf081 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bdf081] or text-[#bdf081], 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 #bdf081 with 50% opacity?

rgba(189, 240, 129, 0.5), or #bdf08180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DEF8C0; over black, #5F7841.

Is #bdf081 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFF99, ΔE2000 3.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bdf081 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 #bdf081?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DAF7B8, #bdf081 45%, #44720E). For more colour, a short hue run to #66ED82 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bdf081 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bdf081 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.