Tints & Shades
50
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Scale from white (50) through Emerald (500) to black (900), interpolated in Lab color space.
Color Values
- HEX
- #50C878
- RGB
- rgb(80, 200, 120)
- HSL
- hsl(140, 52%, 55%)
- OKLCH
- oklch(0.745 0.158 152)
- CMYK
- cmyk(60%, 0%, 40%, 22%)
--color-emeraldbg-[#50C878]Accessibility
Score: 48/100On White (#FFF)
2.13:1
On Black (#000)
9.87:1
On Light Gray (#F5F5F5)
1.95:1
Best text color on this background:
Design Applications
background-color: #50C878
color: #50C878
bg-[#50C878] text-[#000000]
border-left: 4px solid #50C878
Color Harmonies
Complementary
Rose Pink
#FF66CC
Split-Complementary
Similar Colors
Color Meaning & Psychology
Emerald is green at its most jewel-like — the color of the precious stone of the same name, of the Emerald Isle, and of Oz. Its saturated depth signals luxury in gemstone contexts and environmental richness in landscape photography. In UI, emerald green as a success state feels more premium than any other shade.
Industry Usage
Common contexts and industries where Emerald is applied in professional design.
- High-end jewelry and precious stone brands
- St. Patrick's Day and Irish heritage
- Luxury hotel and hospitality design
- Premium eco-luxury brands
- Casino and gaming environments (felt)
- Success and premium achievement states in UI
Accessibility Considerations
Normal Text
Fails AA
4.5:1 minimum required
Large Text
Fails AA Large
3:1 minimum required
UI Components
Check contrast
3:1 for non-text UI
Emerald is a light color. Use black (#000000) text on top of it for maximum readability (9.87:1). Avoid white text on this background.
CSS & Code Examples
Background
background-color: #50C878;Text
color: #50C878;Border
border: 2px solid #50C878;Box Shadow
box-shadow: 0 4px 20px #50C87840;Gradient
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #50C878, #85fca8);Tailwind-style
--color-emerald: #50C878;Tailwind CSS Utilities
Use arbitrary value syntax in Tailwind CSS to apply Emerald without a custom config.
Background
bg-[#50C878]Text
text-[#50C878]Border
border-[#50C878]Ring
ring-[#50C878]Fill
fill-[#50C878]From (gradient)
from-[#50C878]Via (gradient)
via-[#50C878]To (gradient)
to-[#50C878]Design Tokens
Ready-to-use Emerald design token in CSS custom properties, SCSS, Tailwind v3/v4, and JSON formats.
CSS Custom Properties
:root {
--color-emerald: #50C878;
--color-emerald-rgb: 80, 200, 120;
--color-emerald-hsl: 140, 52%, 55%;
}SCSS Variables
$color-emerald: #50C878; $color-emerald-rgb: 80, 200, 120; $color-emerald-hsl: 140, 52%, 55%;
Tailwind v3 Config
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'emerald': '#50C878',
},
},
},
};Tailwind v4 (@theme)
/* tailwind.css */
@theme {
--color-emerald: #50C878;
}JSON Design Token (W3C format)
{
"emerald": {
"value": "#50C878",
"type": "color",
"description": "Emerald — #50C878"
}
}Related Palettes & Combinations
Color Combinations
More green colors
View all →What Does Emerald Mean? Color Psychology & Cultural Symbolism
Color researchers consistently find that green environments lower cortisol levels and increase feelings of calm and restorative focus. Emerald carries this quality into designed spaces—projecting growth through its mid-tone character at 55% lightness.
- Across color psychology research, green consistently tests high for "health" associations, making Emerald a reliable vehicle for growth in cross-demographic audiences.
- Brand designers draw on green-family tones to project trustworthiness and reliability—values that Emerald communicates in a mid-tone key.
- At 52% saturation, Emerald reads as subdued—neither overwhelming nor passive, landing in the growth, nature, health, and balance zone with measured confidence.
- Emerald's mid-tone lightness (55%) shifts its psychological register: a balanced mid-tone that embodies growth, nature, health, and balance at its most direct.
In a well-designed system, Emerald is the color that answers yes. Use it where affirmation matters.
How to Use Emerald in Design: Applications, Pairings & Best Practices
In design, Emerald does double duty: as a semantic color (success, go, positive) and an aesthetic one (natural, health-forward, balanced). Understanding which role it's playing in any given context determines how to use it effectively.
- Avoid: warning or danger contexts (except for safety signs), over-saturated versions in premium luxury branding, and contexts requiring urgency.
- Color harmonies: Emerald's complementary color creates a high-energy split ideal for promotional design; its analogous palette (±30° hue) builds cohesive, monochromatic sophistication.
- Proportional use: Emerald's subdued quality means it scales well across proportions—from full-bleed backgrounds to single-pixel borders—making it an unusually versatile palette component.
- Emerald creates strong legibility with black text overlays (9.9:1 contrast ratio), making it a reliable background or surface color in design systems
- Typography: Emerald as text requires a dark background; its 55% lightness means it provides 2.1:1 contrast on white, not meeting WCAG AA.
In a well-designed system, Emerald is the color that answers yes. Use it where affirmation matters.
Emerald Accessibility: WCAG Contrast Ratios, Color Blindness & Inclusive Design
Emerald (#50C878) achieves a 9.87:1 contrast ratio with black text, surpassing the WCAG 2.1 AAA threshold of 7:1. This exceptional contrast qualifies it for body text, UI components at any size, and all accessibility-sensitive interface contexts. Relative luminance: 44.4%.
- As text on white (#FFFFFF): 2.13:1 — Fail
- As text on black (#000000): 9.87:1 — AAA ✓
- Best text color on Emerald background: Black (#000000) at 9.87:1
- WCAG 2.1 luminance: 44.4% — above-median luminance—it reads as a light to mid-tone background, compatible with dark text while retaining color personality
- Emerald qualifies for all text sizes including small body copy (AAA).
For production use, test Emerald against your specific background colors rather than assuming #FFFFFF or #000000 performance translates. Surrounding colors alter perceived contrast.
Emerald in Industry: Branding, Design & Market Applications
Emerald (#50C878) is most at home in industries where growth, nature, health, and balance are key brand values. Its mid-tone quality makes it particularly effective in Healthcare & Wellness contexts, where the subdued saturation signals nature at exactly the right register.
- Healthcare & Wellness: Green's association with health, nature, and healing makes it the second-most-common color in healthcare branding (after blue). It signals vitality, recovery, and natural wellness without the clinical coldness of pure white or blue. (examples: Headspace, One Medical, Kaiser Permanente) Works best in teal-green and sage variations for digital health products; more saturated greens suit fitness and sports medicine.
- Finance & Banking: In Western markets, the green-money association is deeply embedded. Financial institutions use dark, sophisticated greens to communicate growth, prosperity, and fiduciary reliability. It's equally effective for positive portfolio indicators and "go" confirmation states in trading UIs. (examples: Capital One, PayPal, Visa) Dark greens with gold accents signal premium financial services; bright greens in fintech apps signal growth metrics.
- Sustainability & Organic: Green is the categorical color of environmental consciousness. Sustainability brands, organic food labels, and clean-energy companies use it as an immediate, unambiguous signal of ecological values and natural origin. (examples: Pela Case, Grove Collaborative, Allbirds) The challenge is differentiation—nearly every sustainability brand uses green, so typography, illustration style, and specific tone matter more.
- Brand positioning: Emerald is best suited for brands projecting health, sustainability, growth. Categories outside this positioning—warning or danger contexts (except for safety signs)—tend to see weaker results.
- Adjacent applications: Beyond primary industries, Emerald works effectively in success states, approval indicators, sustainability branding—contexts where nature serves a secondary but reinforcing role.
The industries where Emerald performs best are those where the audience expects nature. Build brand strategy around this alignment, not against it.
Accessibility & Design Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the hex code for Emerald? ▾
- The hex code for Emerald is #50C878. Its RGB values are rgb(80, 200, 120) and its HSL values are hsl(140, 52%, 55%).
- What does Emerald mean in design? ▾
- Emerald is green at its most jewel-like — the color of the precious stone of the same name, of the Emerald Isle, and of Oz. Its saturated depth signals luxury in gemstone contexts and environmental richness in landscape photography. In UI, emerald green as a success state feels more premium than any other shade.
- Is Emerald WCAG accessible? ▾
- Emerald (#50C878) does not pass WCAG AA on white (2.13:1 ratio). Use it on dark backgrounds where it achieves 9.87:1. Its overall accessibility score is 48/100.
- What colors go well with Emerald? ▾
- Emerald pairs well with its complementary color Rose Pink (#FF66CC). Analogous colors like Mantis and Celadon also work harmoniously. Check the Color Harmonies section above for the full palette.
- What is Emerald used for? ▾
- Emerald is commonly used for: High-end jewelry and precious stone brands; St. Patrick's Day and Irish heritage; Luxury hotel and hospitality design; Premium eco-luxury brands; Casino and gaming environments (felt).
- What are the CSS and Tailwind values for Emerald? ▾
- In CSS, use `color: #50C878` or `background-color: #50C878`. The CSS custom property is `--color-emerald: #50C878`. In Tailwind CSS, use the arbitrary value class `bg-[#50C878]` for backgrounds or `text-[#50C878]` for text.