#00A4BB

sRGB: 0 / 164 / 187

#00A4BB belongs to the cyan family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 0 red, 164 green and 187 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 187.4° lands in the cyan region. Its 100.0% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 36.7% on a scale from black (0%) to white (100%). Of black and white lettering, black has the clearer light-to-dark separation on this background (7.03:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 0, 164, 187
HSL: 187.38°, 100.00%, 36.67%
HSV / HSB: 187.38°, 100.00%, 73.33%
CMYK (approx.): 100.00%, 12.30%, 0.00%, 26.67%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 22.244, 30.137, 51.660
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 61.772, -27.101, -21.888
WCAG relative luminance: 0.30139
24-bit decimal: 42171

CMYK uses a profile-free approximation. Printed output depends on the press, ink and paper. Lab uses a D65 white point.

Text contrast

Contrast tells you how clearly lettering separates from #00A4BB in light and dark. The ratio compares relative luminance, a measure of light weighted for human vision. Identical colors give 1:1 and black against white gives 21:1. A ratio of 2.99:1 falls just below the 3:1 AA minimum for large text. Body text needs at least 4.5:1 because its finer strokes are harder to distinguish.

Black text: 7.03:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.99:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: Fail

AA and AAA are WCAG accessibility levels. AAA sets a higher bar: 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Large text begins at 18 pt regular or 14 pt bold. Ratings use the unrounded ratio.

Reference: WCAG text contrast guidance

Palettes & scales

Harmonies rotate the hue. Scales mix the starting color with white, black or middle gray in 20% steps in encoded sRGB.

Complementary

#BB1700 sits half a turn (180°) from #00A4BB on the HSL wheel. Keeping saturation and lightness steady while crossing to the opposite hue gives you a contrasting accent. Check text contrast separately before using the pair for lettering.

#00A4BB #BB1700

Analogous

#00BB75 and #0046BB sit 30° to either side of #00A4BB. The three hues are neighbors on the wheel, so you can change the color of a border or highlight while keeping it close to the original.

#00BB75 #00A4BB #0046BB

Triadic

#00A4BB, #BB00A4 and #A4BB00 are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#00A4BB #BB00A4 #A4BB00

Split complementary

Start at #00A4BB and look across the wheel. #BB0046 and #BB7400 sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#00A4BB #BB0046 #BB7400

Square

Starting with #00A4BB, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #7500BB, #BB1700, then #47BB00. Across the square, #00A4BB pairs with #BB1700, and #7500BB with #47BB00.

#00A4BB #7500BB #BB1700 #47BB00

Tetradic

#00A4BB and #BB1700 are opposites, as are #1700BB and #A4BB00. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#00A4BB #1700BB #BB1700 #A4BB00

Tints

Mixing #00A4BB with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #33B6C9, keeps 80% of the original. By #CCEDF1, the mixture is 80% white.

#00A4BB #33B6C9 #66C8D6 #99DBE4 #CCEDF1 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #00A4BB with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #008396, keeps 80% of the original. By #002125, the mixture is 80% black.

#00A4BB #008396 #006270 #00424B #002125 #000000

Tones

Mixing #00A4BB with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #1A9DAF, keeps 80% of the original. By #66878C, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#00A4BB #1A9DAF #3396A3 #4D8E98 #66878C #808080

Copy color codes

Hex, RGB and HSL are three ways to write this screen color. Paste any of them into a CSS color property.

Hex

#00A4BB

RGB

rgb(0 164 187)

HSL

hsl(187.380 100.000% 36.667%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #00A4BB;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#00A4BB uses 0 red, 164 green and 187 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 0.0%

Green 64.3%

Blue 73.3%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #00A4BB is 100.0% cyan, 12.3% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 26.7% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 100.0%

Magenta 12.3%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 26.7%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #00AABB. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #0AB in CSS. For a modern design, keep #00A4BB when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #0099CC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #00AABB Nearest web-safe: #0099CC

Gradient to complement

#00A4BB #1F8D9C #3E757D #5E5E5E #7D463E #9C2F1F #BB1700

Color vision previews

Compare how #00A4BB appears in each simulation. When two chart lines or status indicators become hard to tell apart, a label, shape or line pattern gives readers another way to distinguish them. Individual perception varies.

Protanopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from long-wavelength cones, some reds and greens can look alike, and reds can appear darker.

#929EBC

Deuteranopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from medium-wavelength cones, some greens can be difficult to distinguish from reds or browns.

#7D8FBB

Tritanopia

A blue–yellow color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from short-wavelength cones, blue can resemble green, and yellow can resemble pink.

#00ADAB

Protanomaly (50%)

An altered long-wavelength cone response can make reds appear dimmer and harder to distinguish from greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#779FBC

Deuteranomaly (50%)

An altered medium-wavelength cone response can reduce the visible difference between reds and greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#6B97BB

Tritanomaly (50%)

An altered short-wavelength cone response can make blue harder to distinguish from green. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#00A6B5

Grayscale (luminance)

This design check removes hue and preserves relative luminance so you can compare light and dark areas.

#959595

Partial grayscale (50% blend)

This design check mixes the original color halfway toward its grayscale equivalent in linear light. Use it to see how a design holds up as color fades.

#6C9DA9

Reference: National Eye Institute: Types of Color Vision Deficiency

Technical reference

CAM16 and CIECAM02 below assume D65 white, an average surround, background Y of 20 against white at 100, and adapting luminance of 4.07 cd/m².

Linear sRGB

These channels scale with emitted light. Use them for lighting calculations and physically meaningful blends.

R 0.00000 G 0.37124 B 0.49693

Display P3

P3 displays can reproduce a wider range of reds and greens. These coordinates reproduce this same sRGB swatch on a color-managed P3 display.

R 0.28474 G 0.63339 B 0.72158

Linear Display P3

These P3 channels are proportional to light, before display encoding.

R 0.06591 G 0.35891 B 0.47934

CIE xyY

The x and y coordinates locate chromaticity on a diagram. Y gives relative luminance on a scale where white is 100.

x 0.214 y 0.290 Y 30.137

CMY

Ideal cyan, magenta and yellow are the complements of the encoded red, green and blue channels.

C % 100.000 M % 35.686 Y % 26.667

Binary RGB

Each eight-bit group represents one channel. Together they store the 24-bit hex color.

00000000 10100100 10111011