#00AABB

sRGB: 0 / 170 / 187

#00AABB belongs to the cyan family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 0 red, 170 green and 187 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 185.5° 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 (7.47:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 0, 170, 187
HSL: 185.45°, 100.00%, 36.67%
HSV / HSB: 185.45°, 100.00%, 73.33%
CMYK (approx.): 100.00%, 9.09%, 0.00%, 26.67%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 23.343, 32.336, 52.026
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 63.619, -30.067, -19.072
WCAG relative luminance: 0.32337
24-bit decimal: 43707

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 #00AABB 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: 7.47:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 2.81:1

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

#BB1100 sits half a turn (180°) from #00AABB 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.

#00AABB #BB1100

Analogous

#00BB6F and #004CBB sit 30° to either side of #00AABB. 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.

#00BB6F #00AABB #004CBB

Triadic

#00AABB, #BB00AA and #AABB00 are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#00AABB #BB00AA #AABB00

Split complementary

Start at #00AABB and look across the wheel. #BB004C and #BB6F00 sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#00AABB #BB004C #BB6F00

Square

Starting with #00AABB, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #6F00BB, #BB1100, then #4CBB00. Across the square, #00AABB pairs with #BB1100, and #6F00BB with #4CBB00.

#00AABB #6F00BB #BB1100 #4CBB00

Tetradic

#00AABB and #BB1100 are opposites, as are #1100BB and #AABB00. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#00AABB #1100BB #BB1100 #AABB00

Tints

Mixing #00AABB with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #33BBC9, keeps 80% of the original. By #CCEEF1, the mixture is 80% white.

#00AABB #33BBC9 #66CCD6 #99DDE4 #CCEEF1 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #00AABB with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #008896, keeps 80% of the original. By #002225, the mixture is 80% black.

#00AABB #008896 #006670 #00444B #002225 #000000

Tones

Mixing #00AABB with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #1AA2AF, keeps 80% of the original. By #66888C, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#00AABB #1AA2AF #3399A3 #4D9198 #66888C #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

#00AABB

RGB

rgb(0 170 187)

HSL

hsl(185.455 100.000% 36.667%)

CSS example

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

Channel breakdown

RGB

#00AABB uses 0 red, 170 green and 187 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 0.0%

Green 66.7%

Blue 73.3%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #00AABB is 100.0% cyan, 9.1% 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 9.1%

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 #00AABB 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

#00AABB #1F919C #3E777D #5E5E5E #7D443E #9C2B1F #BB1100

Color vision previews

Compare how #00AABB 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.

#9AA3BC

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.

#8593BB

Tritanopia

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

#00B2AF

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.

#7DA4BC

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.

#729CBB

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#00ABB6

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#9A9A9A

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.

#70A2AC

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 0.40198 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 0.29619 G 0.65659 B 0.72309

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.07137 G 0.38863 B 0.48157

CIE xyY

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

x 0.217 y 0.300 Y 32.336

CMY

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

C % 100.000 M % 33.333 Y % 26.667

Binary RGB

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

00000000 10101010 10111011