#048985

sRGB · 4 / 137 / 133

#048985 belongs to the cyan family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 4 red, 137 green and 133 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 178.2° lands in the cyan region. Its 94.3% saturation makes it strong in color at this lightness. HSL lightness is 27.6% 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 (4.92:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 4, 137, 133
HSL: 178.20°, 94.33%, 27.65%
HSV / HSB: 178.20°, 97.08%, 53.73%
CMYK (approx.): 97.08%, 0.00%, 2.92%, 46.27%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 13.229, 19.610, 25.279
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 51.393, -31.369, -6.719
WCAG relative luminance: 0.19611
24-bit decimal: 297349

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 #048985 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 · 4.92:1

Normal text: AA
Large text: AAA

White text · 4.27:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: AA

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. 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

#890408 sits half a turn (180°) from #048985 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.

#048985 #890408

Analogous

#048942 and #044B89 sit 30° to either side of #048985. 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.

#048942 #048985 #044B89

Triadic

#048985, #850489 and #898504 are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#048985 #850489 #898504

Split complementary

Start at #048985 and look across the wheel. #89044B and #894204 sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#048985 #89044B #894204

Square

Starting with #048985, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #420489, #890408, then #4A8904. Across the square, #048985 pairs with #890408, and #420489 with #4A8904.

#048985 #420489 #890408 #4A8904

Tetradic

#048985 and #890408 are opposites, as are #040889 and #898504. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#048985 #040889 #890408 #898504

Tints

Mixing #048985 with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #36A19D, keeps 80% of the original. By #CDE7E7, the mixture is 80% white.

#048985 #36A19D #68B8B6 #9BD0CE #CDE7E7 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #048985 with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #036E6A, keeps 80% of the original. By #011B1B, the mixture is 80% black.

#048985 #036E6A #025250 #023735 #011B1B #000000

Tones

Mixing #048985 with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #1D8784, keeps 80% of the original. By #678281, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#048985 #1D8784 #368583 #4E8482 #678281 #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

#048985

RGB

rgb(4 137 133)

HSL

hsl(178.195 94.326% 27.647%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #048985;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#048985 uses 4 red, 137 green and 133 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 1.6%

Green 53.7%

Blue 52.2%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #048985 is 97.1% cyan, 0.0% magenta, 2.9% yellow and 46.3% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 97.1%

Magenta 0.0%

Yellow 2.9%

Black 46.3%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #008888. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #088 in CSS. For a modern design, keep #048985 when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #009999, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand · #008888 Nearest web-safe · #009999

Gradient to complement

#048985 #1A7370 #305D5B #474747 #5D3032 #731A1D #890408

Color vision previews

Compare how #048985 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.

#808185

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.

#707686

Tritanopia

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

#008D88

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.

#688385

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.

#607D86

Tritanomaly (50%)

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

#008986

Grayscale (luminance)

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

#7A7A7A

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.

#588280

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 0.00121 G 0.25016 B 0.23455

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 0.23590 G 0.52902 B 0.51863

Linear Display P3

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

R 0.04541 G 0.24189 B 0.23169

CIE xyY

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

x 0.228 y 0.337 Y 19.610

CMY

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

C % 98.431 M % 46.275 Y % 47.843

Binary RGB

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

00000100 10001001 10000101