ColrShift4CAF50 (Green 500) — RGB, HSL, CMYK and Contrast
A green at 49% lightness and 39% saturation, which puts it at 2.78:1 against white and 7.56:1 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.
Notation conversions
| Notation | Value |
|---|---|
| HEX | 4CAF50 |
| RGB | rgb(76, 175, 80) |
| HSL | hsl(122, 39%, 49%) |
| CMYK | cmyk(57%, 0%, 54%, 31%) |
| Relative luminance | 0.3278 |
| Perceived brightness | 52.8 / 100 |
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 | 2.78:1 | fail | fail | fail |
| #000000 | black | 7.56:1 | pass | pass | pass |
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 | #1e441f | hsl(122, 39%, 19%) | 11.04:1 |
| shade -20 | #2d682f | hsl(122, 39%, 29%) | 6.70:1 |
| shade -10 | #3d8b40 | hsl(122, 39%, 39%) | 4.23:1 |
| tint +10 | #6ec071 | hsl(122, 39%, 59%) | 2.22:1 |
| tint +20 | #92cf94 | hsl(122, 39%, 69%) | 1.81:1 |
| tint +30 | #b5dfb7 | hsl(122, 39%, 79%) | 1.48:1 |
Harmonies
| Scheme | Hex |
|---|---|
| Complementary | #af4cab |
| Analogous −30 | #7aaf4c |
| Analogous +30 | #4caf81 |
| Triadic −120 | #af504c |
| Triadic +120 | #504caf |
Take the channels apart and the numbers hold together: 76, 175 and 80 average 110, the strongest channel is 175 and the weakest 76, and that span is what pushes saturation to 39.4% at hue 122.4° and lightness 49.2%. Luminance 0.3278 with perceived brightness 52.8 out of 100 is why the white ratio (2.78:1) and the black ratio (7.56:1) diverge by 4.78. Entry 25 of 69, it steps to #1e441f at minus thirty and #b5dfb7 at plus thirty.
Nearby colours
Frequently asked questions
What text colour should sit on 4CAF50?
Black gives 7.56:1 and white gives 2.78:1, so black wins at 7.56:1. That clears the 4.5:1 AA threshold for normal text and the 7:1 AAA threshold as well.
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.