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Aqua Core Soft
Color detail

Aqua Core Soft

Teal · Hue 180
Hex
#51A4A4
RGB
rgb(81, 164, 164)
HSL
hsl(180, 34%, 48%)
CMYK
cmyk(51%, 0%, 0%, 36%)
Metrics
S 34% · L 48%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
2.9:1Fail
on black
7.2:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Aqua Core Soft (#51A4A4) belongs to the teal family — hue 180°, 34% saturation, 48% lightness. Copy the hex, RGB, or HSL value above, or paste the CSS custom property below into your stylesheet to reference this color directly.

CSS
:root {
  --colorarchive-aqua-core-soft: #51A4A4;
  --colorarchive-aqua-core-soft-hsl: hsl(180, 34%, 48%);
  --colorarchive-aqua-core-soft-rgb: rgb(81, 164, 164);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Design Context

SophisticatedCreativeBalanced
Common in

Design Agencies · Healthcare Tech · Education

Pairs well with

Warm orange for complementary energy, dark slate for depth

Design tip

A versatile primary color for brands seeking to appear both creative and reliable. Works across light and dark themes.

Cultural context ▶

Teal balances emotional stability with mental clarity. It's associated with communication and healing in color therapy.

Color Origins

Teal family

The hue of patina, lagoons, and modern surgery.

Heritage

Teal — the blue-green range — is named after the Eurasian teal duck, whose wing patches sit at exactly this hue. Egyptian blue and Egyptian green, both made from copper-calcium silicate around 2,500 BCE, sit in this region. The patina of weathered copper (the Statue of Liberty's color) is teal because copper carbonate forms there; Bacon's verdigris is the same chemistry. Phthalo turquoise and cobalt teal are 20th-century pigments.

Across cultures

In Persian and Central Asian Islamic architecture, teal-turquoise tile work is iconic — the domes of Samarkand and Isfahan are unmistakable. In ancient Egypt, faience (a kind of glazed ceramic in this color) was associated with the Nile, fertility, and rebirth. In the American Southwest, teal-turquoise is so deeply associated with Navajo and Pueblo silverwork that the color reads 'desert' there.

In the wild

Hospital scrubs are teal because it's the perceptual complement of red blood — staring at red and then looking away produces a green-teal afterimage, and matching the scrubs to that afterimage reduces eye fatigue. Tiffany's blue is a calibrated teal, trademarked as PMS 1837 (their founding year). Most Pixar films grade their shadows toward teal because warm skin against cool shadow is the most legible cinematographic combination. The Apple Watch SE, the Surface Pro, and the new Macs all use teal as a 'calming-but-modern' accent.

How it reads

Teal sits at one of the visually quietest points of the spectrum — it neither advances (like red) nor recedes (like blue). It reads as competent, calm, and slightly clinical; it's the dominant accent color in healthcare and trust-led fintech for that reason. At low saturation it becomes a duck-egg or seafoam, soft and Scandinavian. At high saturation it becomes electric or tropical. Teal pairs particularly well with warm earth tones (terracotta, clay, beige).

This particular tone

A confident mid-tone — this is the workhorse register of the hue, and the band where most successful brand colors live.

Lightness band: At mid-lightness the hue carries its full character. This is the band where most identity colors live: bright enough to be distinctive at small sizes, deep enough to sit cleanly on a white canvas.

Saturation band: The clear, mid-saturation register is the most common identity sweet spot — saturated enough to register as a 'real' color, restrained enough not to fight typography or photography placed over it.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #51A4A4.

  • Slackaccent
    Slack Green · #2EB67D
    →
  • PlayStationaccent
    Triangle Green · #1FAA8C
    →
  • Googleprimary
    Google Green · #34A853
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #51A4A4.

  • Turkey (Istanbul)Bosphorus Turquoise
    #4DA8AC · Marmara strait water
    →
  • China (Traditional)Jade Green (碧玉)
    #5F9EA0 · Hetian and Burmese jadeite
    →
  • MoroccoMint Tea Green
    #62A87C · Atlas mountain spearmint
    →

Tonal strip

All lightness levels at this hue and saturation. Click any to navigate.

Palette moves

Instead of stopping at one swatch, use nearby, opposite, and tonal neighbors to branch into a broader palette.

Lighter companion
Aqua Radiant Soft
#62B2B2 · hsl(180, 34%, 54%)
Darker companion
Aqua Velvet Soft
#479090 · hsl(180, 34%, 42%)
Complementary counterpoint
Crimson Core Soft
#A45151 · hsl(0, 34%, 48%)
Analogous lead
Steel Core Soft
#5181A4 · hsl(205, 34%, 48%)
Analogous echo
Teal Core Soft
#51A488 · hsl(160, 34%, 48%)
Triadic +120°
Fuchsia Core Soft
#A451A4 · hsl(300, 34%, 48%)
Triadic +240°
Citrine Core Soft
#A4A451 · hsl(60, 34%, 48%)
Split-comp +150°
Blush Core Soft
#A4517A · hsl(330, 34%, 48%)
Split-comp +210°
Coral Core Soft
#A47A51 · hsl(30, 34%, 48%)
Export preview
Base: Aqua Core Soft #51A4A4
Lighter companion: Aqua Radiant Soft #62B2B2
Darker companion: Aqua Velvet Soft #479090
Complementary counterpoint: Crimson Core Soft #A45151
Analogous lead: Steel Core Soft #5181A4
Analogous echo: Teal Core Soft #51A488
Triadic +120°: Fuchsia Core Soft #A451A4
Triadic +240°: Citrine Core Soft #A4A451
Split-comp +150°: Blush Core Soft #A4517A
Split-comp +210°: Coral Core Soft #A47A51

Compare

See how Aqua Core Soft compares side by side with related colors.

vsAqua Radiant SoftvsAqua Velvet SoftvsCrimson Core SoftvsSteel Core SoftvsTeal Core SoftvsFuchsia Core Soft

Nearest neighbors

The closest archive matches by hue, saturation, and lightness.

Search by hex
Nearby match
Aqua Core Dust
#5B9A9A · hsl(180, 26%, 48%)
Nearby match
Aqua Velvet Soft
#479090 · hsl(180, 34%, 42%)
Nearby match
Aqua Radiant Soft
#62B2B2 · hsl(180, 34%, 54%)
Nearby match
Cyan Core Soft
#51A49D · hsl(175, 34%, 48%)
Nearby match
Aqua Core Muted
#649090 · hsl(180, 18%, 48%)
Nearby match
Aqua Velvet Dust
#4F8787 · hsl(180, 26%, 42%)

Accessible pairings

Archive colors that meet WCAG contrast standards when paired with this color. Use as text-on-background or background-on-text.

Contrast checker
AA4.5:1
Crimson Nocturne Faint
#382E2E
AA4.6:1
Crimson Nocturne Muted
#3C2A2A
AA4.7:1
Crimson Nocturne Dust
#402626
AA4.8:1
Crimson Nocturne Soft
#442222
AA4.9:1
Crimson Nocturne Clear
#4F1717
AA4.8:1
Crimson Nocturne Vivid
#590D0D

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#7972A4
Protanopia
#7E7EA4
Tritanopia
#58A4A4
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