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Aqua Nocturne Muted
Color detail

Aqua Nocturne Muted

Teal · Hue 180
Hex
#2A3C3C
RGB
rgb(42, 60, 60)
HSL
hsl(180, 18%, 20%)
CMYK
cmyk(30%, 0%, 0%, 76%)
Metrics
S 18% · L 20%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
11.6:1AA
on black
1.8:1Fail
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Aqua Nocturne Muted (#2A3C3C) belongs to the teal family — hue 180°, 18% saturation, 20% 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-nocturne-muted: #2A3C3C;
  --colorarchive-aqua-nocturne-muted-hsl: hsl(180, 18%, 20%);
  --colorarchive-aqua-nocturne-muted-rgb: rgb(42, 60, 60);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

DeepProfessionalStable
Common in

Corporate Software · Consulting · Marine

Pairs well with

White for sharp contrast, light coral for warmth, silver for tech

Design tip

Use as a dark theme primary or sidebar background. Deep teal is less harsh than pure black while maintaining professionalism.

Cultural context ▶

Deep teal evokes deep ocean waters — stability, depth, and hidden knowledge. Common in corporate and maritime contexts.

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 dim, atmospheric reading — closer to a colored shadow than a stated hue. Excellent as a near-black on dark UI or as a moody background.

Lightness band: At this depth the hue starts behaving like a neutral — it can substitute for black in many contexts while still carrying a faint chromatic temperature. It pairs especially well with off-whites and warm metallics.

Saturation band: The low saturation pulls this color toward earthen, vintage, or editorial palettes. It reads as confident and grown-up rather than playful, and it tolerates being used in large blocks without becoming visually noisy.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #2A3C3C.

  • Xiaohongshu 小红书neutral
    Slate Text · #333333
    →
  • JD.com 京东neutral
    Slate · #333333
    →
  • Taobao 淘宝neutral
    Slate · #333333
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #2A3C3C.

  • England (London)Pub Tile Green
    #1F4D2E · Victorian pub interior dado tiling
    →
  • JapanIndigo (ai-iro 藍色)
    #22366E · Persicaria tinctoria fermentation dye
    →
  • China (Traditional)Indigo Blue (青)
    #1A4378 · Persicaria tinctoria — Han textile dye
    →

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 Shadow Muted
#3B5454 · hsl(180, 18%, 28%)
Darker companion
Aqua Ink Muted
#1D2A2A · hsl(180, 18%, 14%)
Complementary counterpoint
Crimson Nocturne Muted
#3C2A2A · hsl(0, 18%, 20%)
Analogous lead
Steel Nocturne Muted
#2A353C · hsl(205, 18%, 20%)
Analogous echo
Teal Nocturne Muted
#2A3C36 · hsl(160, 18%, 20%)
Triadic +120°
Fuchsia Nocturne Muted
#3C2A3C · hsl(300, 18%, 20%)
Triadic +240°
Citrine Nocturne Muted
#3C3C2A · hsl(60, 18%, 20%)
Split-comp +150°
Blush Nocturne Muted
#3C2A33 · hsl(330, 18%, 20%)
Split-comp +210°
Coral Nocturne Muted
#3C332A · hsl(30, 18%, 20%)
Export preview
Base: Aqua Nocturne Muted #2A3C3C
Lighter companion: Aqua Shadow Muted #3B5454
Darker companion: Aqua Ink Muted #1D2A2A
Complementary counterpoint: Crimson Nocturne Muted #3C2A2A
Analogous lead: Steel Nocturne Muted #2A353C
Analogous echo: Teal Nocturne Muted #2A3C36
Triadic +120°: Fuchsia Nocturne Muted #3C2A3C
Triadic +240°: Citrine Nocturne Muted #3C3C2A
Split-comp +150°: Blush Nocturne Muted #3C2A33
Split-comp +210°: Coral Nocturne Muted #3C332A

Compare

See how Aqua Nocturne Muted compares side by side with related colors.

vsAqua Shadow MutedvsAqua Ink MutedvsCrimson Nocturne MutedvsSteel Nocturne MutedvsTeal Nocturne MutedvsFuchsia Nocturne Muted

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Aqua Nocturne Faint
#2E3838 · hsl(180, 10%, 20%)
Nearby match
Aqua Nocturne Dust
#264040 · hsl(180, 26%, 20%)
Nearby match
Aqua Ink Muted
#1D2A2A · hsl(180, 18%, 14%)
Nearby match
Cyan Nocturne Muted
#2A3C3B · hsl(175, 18%, 20%)
Nearby match
Aqua Shadow Muted
#3B5454 · hsl(180, 18%, 28%)
Nearby match
Aqua Nocturne Soft
#224444 · hsl(180, 34%, 20%)

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
AAA11:1
Crimson Veil Faint
#FAF9F9
AAA11.1:1
Crimson Veil Muted
#FBF9F9
AAA11.1:1
Crimson Veil Dust
#FBF9F9
AAA11:1
Crimson Veil Soft
#FCF8F8
AAA11:1
Crimson Veil Clear
#FDF7F7
AAA10.9:1
Crimson Veil Vivid
#FEF6F6

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#32303C
Protanopia
#33333C
Tritanopia
#2B3C3C
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