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Aqua Shadow Muted
Color detail

Aqua Shadow Muted

Teal · Hue 180
Hex
#3B5454
RGB
rgb(59, 84, 84)
HSL
hsl(180, 18%, 28%)
CMYK
cmyk(30%, 0%, 0%, 67%)
Metrics
S 18% · L 28%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
8.1:1AA
on black
2.6:1Fail
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Aqua Shadow Muted (#3B5454) belongs to the teal family — hue 180°, 18% saturation, 28% 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-shadow-muted: #3B5454;
  --colorarchive-aqua-shadow-muted-hsl: hsl(180, 18%, 28%);
  --colorarchive-aqua-shadow-muted-rgb: rgb(59, 84, 84);
}

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 #3B5454.

  • Airbnbneutral
    Hof Gray · #484848
    →
  • Xiaohongshu 小红书neutral
    Slate Text · #333333
    →
  • JD.com 京东neutral
    Slate · #333333
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #3B5454.

  • ScandinaviaForest Green
    #3D5B49 · Spruce / fir forest in winter light
    →
  • Italy (Tuscany)Cypress Green
    #3F5E47 · Tuscan hilltop cypresses
    →
  • Greece (Aegean)Cypress Green
    #3E6B47 · Cupressus sempervirens
    →

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 Dusk Muted
#476666 · hsl(180, 18%, 34%)
Darker companion
Aqua Nocturne Muted
#2A3C3C · hsl(180, 18%, 20%)
Complementary counterpoint
Crimson Shadow Muted
#543B3B · hsl(0, 18%, 28%)
Analogous lead
Steel Shadow Muted
#3B4A54 · hsl(205, 18%, 28%)
Analogous echo
Teal Shadow Muted
#3B544C · hsl(160, 18%, 28%)
Triadic +120°
Fuchsia Shadow Muted
#543B54 · hsl(300, 18%, 28%)
Triadic +240°
Citrine Shadow Muted
#54543B · hsl(60, 18%, 28%)
Split-comp +150°
Blush Shadow Muted
#543B47 · hsl(330, 18%, 28%)
Split-comp +210°
Coral Shadow Muted
#54473B · hsl(30, 18%, 28%)
Export preview
Base: Aqua Shadow Muted #3B5454
Lighter companion: Aqua Dusk Muted #476666
Darker companion: Aqua Nocturne Muted #2A3C3C
Complementary counterpoint: Crimson Shadow Muted #543B3B
Analogous lead: Steel Shadow Muted #3B4A54
Analogous echo: Teal Shadow Muted #3B544C
Triadic +120°: Fuchsia Shadow Muted #543B54
Triadic +240°: Citrine Shadow Muted #54543B
Split-comp +150°: Blush Shadow Muted #543B47
Split-comp +210°: Coral Shadow Muted #54473B

Compare

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

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

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Aqua Shadow Faint
#404F4F · hsl(180, 10%, 28%)
Nearby match
Aqua Shadow Dust
#355A5A · hsl(180, 26%, 28%)
Nearby match
Aqua Dusk Muted
#476666 · hsl(180, 18%, 34%)
Nearby match
Cyan Shadow Muted
#3B5452 · hsl(175, 18%, 28%)
Nearby match
Aqua Nocturne Muted
#2A3C3C · hsl(180, 18%, 20%)
Nearby match
Aqua Shadow Soft
#2F6060 · hsl(180, 34%, 28%)

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
AAA7.7:1
Crimson Veil Faint
#FAF9F9
AAA7.8:1
Crimson Veil Muted
#FBF9F9
AAA7.8:1
Crimson Veil Dust
#FBF9F9
AAA7.7:1
Crimson Veil Soft
#FCF8F8
AAA7.7:1
Crimson Veil Clear
#FDF7F7
AAA7.6:1
Crimson Veil Vivid
#FEF6F6

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#464454
Protanopia
#474754
Tritanopia
#3D5454
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