009688 (Teal 500) — RGB, HSL, CMYK and Contrast

Q: What text colour should sit on 009688?

Black gives 5.72:1 and white gives 3.67:1, so black wins at 5.72:1. That clears the 4.5:1 AA threshold for normal text, but not the 7:1 AAA threshold.

Every value recomputed from the hex code · WCAG 2.1 contrast ratios

A teal at 29% lightness and 100% saturation, which puts it at 3.67:1 against white and 5.72:1 against black. The tables below give the notation conversions, the tints and shades that keep the hue intact, and the harmonies that pair with it.

009688

Notation conversions

Notation	Value
HEX	`009688`
RGB	rgb(0, 150, 136)
HSL	hsl(174, 100%, 29%)
CMYK	cmyk(100%, 0%, 9%, 41%)
Relative luminance	0.2359
Perceived brightness	40.6 / 100

R=0 G=150 B=136 · hue 174.4° · saturation 100.0% · lightness 29.4%

Contrast against pure white and pure black

Pair this colour with the two extremes to see which is the safer text partner. AA needs 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text; AAA raises that to 7:1 and 4.5:1.

Against	Hex	Ratio	AA text	AA large	AAA text
#FFFFFF	`white`	3.67:1	fail	pass	fail
#000000	`black`	5.72:1	pass	pass	fail

Tints and shades

Lightness moves in ten-point steps while hue and saturation stay fixed, which keeps the colour recognisable in a scale. The last column is the ratio against white text, useful for deciding where a scale stops working as a background.

Step	Hex	HSL	vs white text
shade -30	`#000000`	hsl(174, 100%, 0%)	21.00:1
shade -20	`#00302c`	hsl(174, 100%, 9%)	14.39:1
shade -10	`#00635a`	hsl(174, 100%, 19%)	7.16:1
tint +10	`#00c9b6`	hsl(174, 100%, 39%)	2.09:1
tint +20	`#00fce4`	hsl(174, 100%, 49%)	1.31:1
tint +30	`#30ffec`	hsl(174, 100%, 59%)	1.26:1

Harmonies

Scheme	Hex
Complementary	`#96000e`
Analogous −30	`#00963d`
Analogous +30	`#005996`
Triadic −120	`#968800`
Triadic +120	`#880096`

Measured rather than eyeballed: hue 174.4°, saturation 100.0%, lightness 29.4%, relative luminance 0.2359 — four decimals is the precision the WCAG formula actually needs — and perceived brightness 40.6 out of 100. Entry 29 of 69 in this library, it scores 3.67:1 on white and 5.72:1 on black, a 2.05 spread. The complementary #96000e sits 180° away on the wheel, and the scale brackets it with #000000 below and #30ffec above.

Nearby colours

00FF00 lime 8BC34A Light Green 500 008080 teal 00BCD4 Cyan 500 607D8B Blue Grey 500 03A9F4 Light Blue 500

Frequently asked questions

What text colour should sit on 009688?
Black gives 5.72:1 and white gives 3.67:1, so black wins at 5.72:1. That clears the 4.5:1 AA threshold for normal text, but not the 7:1 AAA threshold.

Do the CMYK numbers match a print workflow?
They are the naive conversion from RGB, which assumes no ink limit, no colour profile and no black generation strategy. Real print work needs a profile-aware conversion; the values here are the ones the converter reports and are best used as a starting point for a designer rather than a press-ready separations file.

Convert any other colour, or test a pair against each other, in the ColrShift colour converter and contrast checker. The colour library groups every entry on this site by hue family.