We're live on Product Hunt!Support us
ColorArchive

A curated color library with 5,000+ algorithmically generated colors. Browse, search, save favorites, and export palette tokens — no account required.

CollectionsFamiliesBrandsRegionsJournalNotesGuidesFree ResourcesConvertColorblindAboutSupportUpdates
Ready for static export
Privacy·Terms·Refunds·Cookies·Commerce Disclosure
colorarchive.org · © 2026 ColorArchive
Skip to content
ColorArchive
ProLog in
ArchiveAll ColorsCollections
Cyan Velvet Soft
Color detail

Cyan Velvet Soft

Teal · Hue 175
Hex
#479089
RGB
rgb(71, 144, 137)
HSL
hsl(175, 34%, 42%)
CMYK
cmyk(51%, 0%, 5%, 44%)
Metrics
S 34% · L 42%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
3.7:1AA Large
on black
5.6:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cyan Velvet Soft (#479089) belongs to the teal family — hue 175°, 34% saturation, 42% 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-velvet-soft: #479089;
  --colorarchive-cyan-velvet-soft-hsl: hsl(175, 34%, 42%);
  --colorarchive-cyan-velvet-soft-rgb: rgb(71, 144, 137);
}

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 #479089.

  • Googleprimary
    Google Green · #34A853
    →
  • GitHubaccent
    Success Green · #2DA44E
    →
  • PlayStationaccent
    Triangle Green · #1FAA8C
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #479089.

  • VietnamJade River
    #3F8B7E · Halong Bay limestone water
    →
  • EgyptMalachite Green
    #3D9970 · Copper carbonate, Sinai mines
    →
  • China (Traditional)Jade Green (碧玉)
    #5F9EA0 · Hetian and Burmese jadeite
    →

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 Core Soft
#51A49D · hsl(175, 34%, 48%)
Darker companion
Cyan Dusk Soft
#39746F · hsl(175, 34%, 34%)
Complementary counterpoint
Crimson Velvet Soft
#904747 · hsl(0, 34%, 42%)
Analogous lead
Azure Velvet Soft
#477790 · hsl(200, 34%, 42%)
Analogous echo
Jade Velvet Soft
#47906B · hsl(150, 34%, 42%)
Triadic +120°
Magenta Velvet Soft
#834790 · hsl(290, 34%, 42%)
Triadic +240°
Canary Velvet Soft
#908947 · hsl(55, 34%, 42%)
Split-comp +150°
Rose Velvet Soft
#904777 · hsl(320, 34%, 42%)
Split-comp +210°
Tangerine Velvet Soft
#906547 · hsl(25, 34%, 42%)
Export preview
Base: Cyan Velvet Soft #479089
Lighter companion: Cyan Core Soft #51A49D
Darker companion: Cyan Dusk Soft #39746F
Complementary counterpoint: Crimson Velvet Soft #904747
Analogous lead: Azure Velvet Soft #477790
Analogous echo: Jade Velvet Soft #47906B
Triadic +120°: Magenta Velvet Soft #834790
Triadic +240°: Canary Velvet Soft #908947
Split-comp +150°: Rose Velvet Soft #904777
Split-comp +210°: Tangerine Velvet Soft #906547

Compare

See how Cyan Velvet Soft compares side by side with related colors.

vsCyan Core SoftvsCyan Dusk SoftvsCrimson Velvet SoftvsAzure Velvet SoftvsJade Velvet SoftvsMagenta Velvet Soft

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cyan Velvet Dust
#4F8782 · hsl(175, 26%, 42%)
Nearby match
Cyan Core Soft
#51A49D · hsl(175, 34%, 48%)
Nearby match
Lagoon Velvet Soft
#479083 · hsl(170, 34%, 42%)
Nearby match
Aqua Velvet Soft
#479090 · hsl(180, 34%, 42%)
Nearby match
Cyan Dusk Soft
#39746F · hsl(175, 34%, 34%)
Nearby match
Cyan Velvet Muted
#587E7B · hsl(175, 18%, 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 Ink Clear
#371010
AA4.5:1
Crimson Ink Vivid
#3E0909
AA4.5:1
Crimson Ink Bright
#420606
AA4.5:1
Merlot Ink Clear
#371017
AA4.5:1
Merlot Ink Vivid
#3E0912
AA4.5:1
Garnet Ink Clear
#37101D

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#6A648B
Protanopia
#6E6F8B
Tritanopia
#4D8C8C
Ready to build

Turn these colors into design tokens

ColorArchive Pro includes CSS variables, Figma tokens, Tailwind config, and Procreate swatches — ready to drop into any project.

Upgrade to ProFree downloadView collections

Related colors

More from Teal

Search
Sage Gray Ink#222524 · hsl(150, 5%, 14%)Sage Gray Nocturne#303633 · hsl(150, 5%, 20%)Sage Gray Shadow#444B47 · hsl(150, 5%, 28%)Sage Gray Dusk#525B57 · hsl(150, 5%, 34%)Sage Gray Velvet#66706B · hsl(150, 5%, 42%)Sage Gray Core#74817A · hsl(150, 5%, 48%)Sage Gray Radiant#84908A · hsl(150, 5%, 54%)Sage Gray Tone#949E99 · hsl(150, 5%, 60%)