2E8B57 (seagreen) — RGB, HSL, CMYK and Contrast

Q: What text colour should sit on 2E8B57?

Black gives 4.95:1 and white gives 4.25:1, so black wins at 4.95:1. 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 green at 36% lightness and 50% saturation, which puts it at 4.25:1 against white and 4.95:1 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.

2E8B57

Notation conversions

Notation	Value
HEX	`2E8B57`
RGB	rgb(46, 139, 87)
HSL	hsl(146, 50%, 36%)
CMYK	cmyk(67%, 0%, 37%, 45%)
Relative luminance	0.1973
Perceived brightness	41.3 / 100

R=46 G=139 B=87 · hue 146.5° · saturation 50.3% · lightness 36.3%

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`	4.25:1	fail	pass	fail
#000000	`black`	4.95:1	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	`#08180f`	hsl(146, 50%, 6%)	18.29:1
shade -20	`#153e27`	hsl(146, 50%, 16%)	12.00:1
shade -10	`#21653f`	hsl(146, 50%, 26%)	7.00:1
tint +10	`#3bb16f`	hsl(146, 50%, 46%)	2.73:1
tint +20	`#57c889`	hsl(146, 50%, 56%)	2.09:1
tint +30	`#7ed4a4`	hsl(146, 50%, 66%)	1.77:1

Harmonies

Scheme	Hex
Complementary	`#8b2e62`
Analogous −30	`#338b2e`
Analogous +30	`#2e8b86`
Triadic −120	`#8b572e`
Triadic +120	`#572e8b`

Read back from the notation table, 2E8B57 is rgb(46, 139, 87), which normalises to hue 146.5° at 50.3% saturation and 36.3% lightness. Its relative luminance of 0.1973 is what produces the two ratios above: 4.25:1 against white and 4.95:1 against black, a gap of 0.70. Position 24 of 69 in the colour library, it darkens to #08180f thirty points lower on the lightness axis and lifts to #7ed4a4 thirty higher, while the complementary rotation lands on #8b2e62.

Nearby colours

FFFFF0 ivory 006400 darkgreen 008000 green 4CAF50 Green 500 00FF00 lime 8BC34A Light Green 500

Frequently asked questions

What text colour should sit on 2E8B57?
Black gives 4.95:1 and white gives 4.25:1, so black wins at 4.95:1. 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.