Skip to content
green · cool

#a3bcaf

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Fern

RGB
163, 188, 175
HSL
149°, 16%, 69%
CMYK
13, 0, 7, 26
Luminance
0.4685

#a3bcaf is a light soft green, 149° on the wheel and 61/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.37:1). As text it scores 2.03:1 on white — use #5C7E6C instead. Nearest name is Dark Sea Green, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(149 16% 69%)rgb(163 188 175)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a3bcaf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a3bcaf
Hue
149°
green
Saturation
16%
soft
Lightness
69%
light
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4685
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
61/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.37:1
Closest name
Dark Sea Green
ΔE2000 10.7
Chroma
11.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.773
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 16.3
Web-safe
#99CC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue149° of 360°
Saturation16%
Lightness69%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a3bcaf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool61% 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
Red17%
Green77%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#a3bcaf
HEX (8-digit)#a3bcafff
RGBrgb(163, 188, 175)
RGBArgba(163, 188, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(149, 16%, 69%)
HSV / HSBhsv(149, 13%, 74%)
HWBhwb(149 64% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(13%, 0%, 7%, 26%)
LABlab(74.1 -11.1 3.7)
LCHlch(74.1 11.7 161.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.773 0.033 163.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(40.82, 46.85, 47.44)
Decimal10730671
Display P3color(display-p3 0.639 0.737 0.686)
Web-safe#99CC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a3bcaf;
background-color: #a3bcaf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a3bcaf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a3bcaf] bg-[#a3bcaf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a3bcaf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.639, green: 0.737, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.639, green: 0.737, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A3BCAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA3BCAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA3BCAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 188, 163)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(163, 188, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(163, 188, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 163, 188, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6392f, 0.7373f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{163,188,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a3bcaf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a3bcaf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#364A3F, #DCE5E0);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a3bcaf 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: #F6F8F7;
  --brand-100: #EEF2F0;
  --brand-200: #D9E2DE;
  --brand-300: #BED0C7;
  --brand-400: #a3bcaf;
  --brand-500: #7DA08E;
  --brand-600: #678E7A;
  --brand-700: #567665;
  --brand-800: #455E51;
  --brand-900: #34463D;
  --brand-950: #212C26;
  --brand: #a3bcaf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F9F7;
  --brand-border: #D0DDD6;
  --brand-hover: #8EAD9D;
  --brand-pressed: #7A9E8B;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #18201C;
    --brand-ink: #DCE5E0;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F8F7',
        100: '#EEF2F0',
        200: '#D9E2DE',
        300: '#BED0C7',
        400: '#a3bcaf',
        500: '#7DA08E',
        600: '#678E7A',
        700: '#567665',
        800: '#455E51',
        900: '#34463D',
        950: '#212C26',
        DEFAULT: '#a3bcaf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F8F7,
  '100': #EEF2F0,
  '200': #D9E2DE,
  '300': #BED0C7,
  '400': #a3bcaf,
  '500': #7DA08E,
  '600': #678E7A,
  '700': #567665,
  '800': #455E51,
  '900': #34463D,
  '950': #212C26,
);
$brand-base: #a3bcaf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F8F7", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEF2F0", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D9E2DE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BED0C7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#a3bcaf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7DA08E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#678E7A", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#567665", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#455E51", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#34463D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#212C26", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #a3bcaf · 10.37:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.03:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.37:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #a3bcaf as text scores 2.03:1 on white and 10.37:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #364A3F at 4.70:1.

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
#5C7E6C · 4.51:1
AA on white−26% L
#5C7E6C
The quick fox
#445E51 · 7.08:1
AAA on white−37% L
#445E51
The quick fox
#a3bcaf · 10.37:1
AA on blackalready passes
#a3bcaf
The quick fox
#a3bcaf · 10.37:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#a3bcaf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #779C88 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
#a3bcaf on white: 2.03:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a3bcaf on black: 10.37:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a3bcaf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a3bcaf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.03:1AaAa
Slate 501.94:1AaAa
Slate 1001.85:1AaAa
Slate 2001.64:1AaAa
Slate 3001.36:1AaAa
Slate 4001.27:1AaAa
Slate 5002.35:1AaAa
Slate 6003.74:1AaAa
Slate 7005.11:1AaAa
Slate 8007.22:1AaAa
Slate 9008.82:1AaAa
Black10.37:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BBB8AE
deuteranopia · #B6B5B0
tritanopia · #9FBCB8

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. #a3bcaf 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.

#F6F8F7
#EEF2F0
#D9E2DE
#BED0C7
#a3bcaf
#7DA08E
#678E7A
#567665
#455E51
#34463D
#212C26
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F6F8F7Darkest = 950 · #212C26Text 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 0.008 163.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.013 163.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.020 163.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.026 163.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.030 163.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.033 163.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.033 163.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.031 163.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.028 163.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.023 163.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.018 163.0);
}

Colors that work with #a3bcaf

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#F6F9F7
Tinted page background
Border#D0DDD6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#618572
Captions on the surface
Accent#7A5271
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#364A3F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0F4F2
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#18201C
Dark-mode background
Hover#8EAD9D
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7A9E8B
Two steps down
Disabled#E4EBE7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A8CBB9
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 #a3bcaf

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 #364A3F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #779C88

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
  • Weight31/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • 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#BCA3B0
Analogous left#A3BCA3
Analogous right#A3BCBB
Split-complement 1#BBA3BC
Split-complement 2#BCA3A3
Triadic 1#AFA3BC
Triadic 2#BCAFA3
Tetradic#A3A3BC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°149°

#a3bcaf sits at 149°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red63.9%
Green73.7%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
163
0xa3
G · 0–255
188
0xbc
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan13.3%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow6.9%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 47%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a3bcaf text on a black background

contrast 10.37:1

Card sample

#a3bcaf text on a white background

contrast 2.03:1

Card sample

#a3bcaf on grey

1.85:1

#a3bcaf on its own surface

1.91:1

#a3bcaf on its dark surface

8.22:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a3bcaf;
Background color
Panel with #a3bcaf background
background-color: #a3bcaf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a3bcaf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(163, 188, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(163, 188, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a3bcaf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a3bcaf, #A3B8BC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a3bcaf, #A3B2BC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a3bcaf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a3bcaf;
caret-color: #a3bcaf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a3bcaf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0F4F2;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a3bcaf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a3bcaf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a3bcaf 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(163, 188, 175, 0.5)
rgb(163 188 175 / 50%)
#a3bcaf80
hsl(149 16% 69% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a3bcaf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a3bcaf1a#F6F8F7
20%#a3bcaf33#EDF2EF
40%#a3bcaf66#DAE4DF
60%#a3bcaf99#C8D7CF
80%#a3bcafcc#B5C9BF

Gradients from #a3bcaf

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, #C6D6CE, #a3bcaf 45%, #364A3F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a3bcaf, #91A8AF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a3bcaf, #BCA3B0);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #D8E3DD 0%, #a3bcaf 45%, #364A3F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F9F7, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C2D1C0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #B5C8C9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #364A3F 0%, transparent 65%), #a3bcaf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a3bcaf

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.

#a3bcaf 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 10.37:1.

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.

#a3bcaf, answered

What color is #a3bcaf?

#a3bcaf is a light soft green, closest to Dark Sea Green (ΔE2000 10.7). It sits at 149° on the hue wheel with 16% saturation and 69% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #a3bcaf?

rgb(163, 188, 175) — 163 red, 188 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 63.9% / 73.7% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #a3bcaf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(149, 16%, 69%) and hsv(149, 13%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a3bcaf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4685 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 10.37:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a3bcaf?

Black. It scores 10.37:1 against #a3bcaf, versus 2.03:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #a3bcaf accessible on a white background?

#a3bcaf on white scores 2.03:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5C7E6C to reach 4.5:1, or #445E51 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #a3bcaf?

#BCA3B0 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BBA3BC and #BCA3A3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a3bcaf?

For interface work: #F6F9F7 as the surface, #D0DDD6 for borders, #618572 for secondary text, #7A5271 as an accent and #364A3F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A3BCA3 and #A3BCBB stays calm, while #BCA3B0 is the loudest partner.

What is #a3bcaf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(13%, 0%, 7%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #a3bcaf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 61 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #A3BCA6; nudged cooler, #A1BEB9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a3bcaf?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 16.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a3bcaf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a3bcaf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a3bcaf] or text-[#a3bcaf], 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 #a3bcaf with 50% opacity?

rgba(163, 188, 175, 0.5), or #a3bcaf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D1DED7; over black, #525E58.

Is #a3bcaf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CC99, ΔE2000 12.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a3bcaf 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 #a3bcaf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #C6D6CE, #a3bcaf 45%, #364A3F). For more colour, a short hue run to #91A8AF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a3bcaf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a3bcaf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.