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Cyan Tone Muted
Color detail

Cyan Tone Muted

Teal · Hue 175
Hex
#87ABA8
RGB
rgb(135, 171, 168)
HSL
hsl(175, 18%, 60%)
CMYK
cmyk(21%, 0%, 2%, 33%)
Metrics
S 18% · L 60%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
2.5:1Fail
on black
8.4:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cyan Tone Muted (#87ABA8) belongs to the teal family — hue 175°, 18% saturation, 60% 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-cyan-tone-muted: #87ABA8;
  --colorarchive-cyan-tone-muted-hsl: hsl(175, 18%, 60%);
  --colorarchive-cyan-tone-muted-rgb: rgb(135, 171, 168);
}

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 grounded mid-tone — sober, considered, well-suited to body text accents, editorial layouts, or any context where restraint reads as quality.

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 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 #87ABA8.

  • Redditsecondary
    Periwinkle · #7193FF
    →
  • Notionneutral
    Notion Gray · #787774
    →
  • Microsoftneutral
    Slate Gray · #737373
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #87ABA8.

  • IrelandConnemara Marble
    #8DA48A · Mottled green-grey native marble
    →
  • Korea (Obangsaek)Celadon-Goryeo Green
    #7CA38E · Goryeo Dynasty ceramics, 12th-13th c.
    →
  • AustraliaEucalyptus Blue-Green
    #7EA08C · Eucalyptus regnans / globulus foliage
    →

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
Cyan Silk Muted
#9FBCBA · hsl(175, 18%, 68%)
Darker companion
Cyan Radiant Muted
#759F9B · hsl(175, 18%, 54%)
Complementary counterpoint
Crimson Tone Muted
#AB8787 · hsl(0, 18%, 60%)
Analogous lead
Azure Tone Muted
#879FAB · hsl(200, 18%, 60%)
Analogous echo
Jade Tone Muted
#87AB99 · hsl(150, 18%, 60%)
Triadic +120°
Magenta Tone Muted
#A587AB · hsl(290, 18%, 60%)
Triadic +240°
Canary Tone Muted
#ABA887 · hsl(55, 18%, 60%)
Split-comp +150°
Rose Tone Muted
#AB879F · hsl(320, 18%, 60%)
Split-comp +210°
Tangerine Tone Muted
#AB9687 · hsl(25, 18%, 60%)
Export preview
Base: Cyan Tone Muted #87ABA8
Lighter companion: Cyan Silk Muted #9FBCBA
Darker companion: Cyan Radiant Muted #759F9B
Complementary counterpoint: Crimson Tone Muted #AB8787
Analogous lead: Azure Tone Muted #879FAB
Analogous echo: Jade Tone Muted #87AB99
Triadic +120°: Magenta Tone Muted #A587AB
Triadic +240°: Canary Tone Muted #ABA887
Split-comp +150°: Rose Tone Muted #AB879F
Split-comp +210°: Tangerine Tone Muted #AB9687

Compare

See how Cyan Tone Muted compares side by side with related colors.

vsCyan Silk MutedvsCyan Radiant MutedvsCrimson Tone MutedvsAzure Tone MutedvsJade Tone MutedvsMagenta Tone Muted

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cyan Tone Faint
#8FA3A2 · hsl(175, 10%, 60%)
Nearby match
Cyan Tone Dust
#7EB4AF · hsl(175, 26%, 60%)
Nearby match
Cyan Radiant Muted
#759F9B · hsl(175, 18%, 54%)
Nearby match
Lagoon Tone Muted
#87ABA5 · hsl(170, 18%, 60%)
Nearby match
Aqua Tone Muted
#87ABAB · hsl(180, 18%, 60%)
Nearby match
Cyan Silk Muted
#9FBCBA · hsl(175, 18%, 68%)

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
AAA7:1
Plum Ink Clear
#241037
AAA7.1:1
Plum Ink Vivid
#24093E
AAA7.1:1
Plum Ink Bright
#240642
AAA7.2:1
Plum Ink Pure
#240345
AAA7.1:1
Orchid Ink Clear
#1D1037
AAA7.3:1
Orchid Ink Vivid
#1B093E

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#9693A9
Protanopia
#9898A9
Tritanopia
#89A9A9
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