Tints & Shades
50
100
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800
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Scale from white (50) through Ocean Teal (500) to black (900), interpolated in Lab color space.
Color Values
- HEX
- #00818A
- RGB
- rgb(0, 129, 138)
- HSL
- hsl(184, 100%, 27%)
- OKLCH
- oklch(0.55 0.094 203)
- CMYK
- cmyk(100%, 7%, 0%, 46%)
--color-ocean-tealbg-[#00818A]Accessibility
Score: 54/100On White (#FFF)
4.66:1
On Black (#000)
4.51:1
On Light Gray (#F5F5F5)
4.27:1
Best text color on this background:
Design Applications
background-color: #00818A
color: #00818A
bg-[#00818A] text-[#FFFFFF]
border-left: 4px solid #00818A
Color Harmonies
Complementary
Barn Red
#7C0A02
Split-Complementary
Similar Colors
Color Meaning & Psychology
Teal occupies the sophisticated intersection of blue's trust and green's vitality. It feels calming yet distinctive — neither the corporate ubiquity of navy nor the aggressive freshness of lime green. Teal is associated with healing, emotional balance, and clarity of thought. It gained significant cultural cachet in the 2010s as a design-forward alternative to standard blues in healthcare and technology branding. Deeper teals feel luxurious and authoritative; lighter teals feel fresh and energetic. Teal is one of the few colors that reads well in both light and dark themes. Its primary challenge is legibility — teal text on white often fails WCAG AA without careful shade selection. Its deeper, richer tone gives it gravitas and sophistication, making it well-suited for primary brand colors, typography, and contexts where authority matters.
Industry Usage
Common contexts and industries where Ocean Teal is applied in professional design.
- Healthcare technology and health apps
- Mental health and wellness platforms
- Fintech brands seeking blue-alternative trust
- Premium interior design and home accessories
- Environmental and ocean-focused organizations
- Contemporary hotel and hospitality brands
- Corporate communications departments
- Spa and beauty wellness destinations
Accessibility Considerations
Normal Text
Passes AA
4.5:1 minimum required
Large Text
Passes AA Large
3:1 minimum required
UI Components
Meets 1.4.11
3:1 for non-text UI
Ocean Teal is a dark color. Use white (#FFFFFF) text on top of it for maximum readability (4.66:1). Avoid small black text on this background.
CSS & Code Examples
Background
background-color: #00818A;Text
color: #00818A;Border
border: 2px solid #00818A;Box Shadow
box-shadow: 0 4px 20px #00818A40;Gradient
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #00818A, #4eb1ba);Tailwind-style
--color-ocean-teal: #00818A;Tailwind CSS Utilities
Use arbitrary value syntax in Tailwind CSS to apply Ocean Teal without a custom config.
Background
bg-[#00818A]Text
text-[#00818A]Border
border-[#00818A]Ring
ring-[#00818A]Fill
fill-[#00818A]From (gradient)
from-[#00818A]Via (gradient)
via-[#00818A]To (gradient)
to-[#00818A]Design Tokens
Ready-to-use Ocean Teal design token in CSS custom properties, SCSS, Tailwind v3/v4, and JSON formats.
CSS Custom Properties
:root {
--color-ocean-teal: #00818A;
--color-ocean-teal-rgb: 0, 129, 138;
--color-ocean-teal-hsl: 184, 100%, 27%;
}SCSS Variables
$color-ocean-teal: #00818A; $color-ocean-teal-rgb: 0, 129, 138; $color-ocean-teal-hsl: 184, 100%, 27%;
Tailwind v3 Config
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'ocean-teal': '#00818A',
},
},
},
};Tailwind v4 (@theme)
/* tailwind.css */
@theme {
--color-ocean-teal: #00818A;
}JSON Design Token (W3C format)
{
"ocean-teal": {
"value": "#00818A",
"type": "color",
"description": "Ocean Teal — #00818A"
}
}More teal colors
View all →What Does Ocean Teal Mean? Color Psychology & Cultural Symbolism
Ocean Teal has become one of the signature colors of contemporary digital design precisely because it fills a gap: cool enough to feel clinical and precise, but saturated enough (100%) to feel alive and modern. The result is calm.
- Teal occupies the visual and psychological space between blue's trust and green's vitality—inheriting credibility from the former and freshness from the latter. It's become a defining color of modern healthcare tech and SaaS design for exactly this balance.
- In Persian and Islamic design traditions, teal and turquoise hold deep spiritual significance—associated with protection, sky, and water. Persian turquoise ceramics are among the most celebrated in the world. In many Central Asian cultures, the color connects heaven and earth.
- Ocean Teal's deep lightness (27%) shifts its psychological register: Deep teal and dark cyan carry genuine authority and depth—functioning like a cooler alternative to navy that still communicates seriousness and precision.
- At 100% saturation, Ocean Teal reads as vivid—Vivid teals are a signature of contemporary tech design—digitally native, modern, and distinct enough to stand out in a landscape of blue-dominated software interfaces.
Ocean Teal is the color for when you need to be trusted AND interesting—a combination most colors can only approximate.
How to Use Ocean Teal in Design: Applications, Pairings & Best Practices
Ocean Teal is one of the most versatile colors in professional design systems—it performs equally well as a dominant brand color, a UI accent, and a data visualization tone. Its vivid saturation means it works in both large and small applications without visual fatigue.
- UI components: primary brand color, action states, informational elements—Ocean Teal performs reliably in all these roles with its deep tonal character.
- Brand & identity: health tech platforms, modern SaaS UIs, financial dashboards—contexts where Ocean Teal's vivid quality creates the right register.
- Typography: Ocean Teal works as a background behind white text but requires careful sizing—test at intended heading and body sizes before finalizing.
- As a dark tone, Ocean Teal creates maximum contrast with white and light neutrals—excellent for creating premium dark-mode sections, bold headers, and high-drama brand moments
- Proportional use: Ocean Teal's vivid saturation (100%) means small applications—accents, highlights, icons—deliver maximum impact without visual fatigue. Reserve large-scale use for intentional brand moments.
Ocean Teal is the color for when you need to be trusted AND interesting—a combination most colors can only approximate.
Ocean Teal Accessibility: WCAG Contrast Ratios, Color Blindness & Inclusive Design
Ocean Teal (#00818A) reaches 4.66:1 contrast with white text—meeting WCAG 2.1 AA minimum of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. It clears standard production accessibility requirements. Relative luminance: 17.5%.
- As text on white (#FFFFFF): 4.66:1 — AA ✓
- As text on black (#000000): 4.51:1 — AA ✓
- Best text color on Ocean Teal background: White (#FFFFFF) at 4.66:1
- WCAG 2.1 luminance: 17.5% — low luminance (dark)—it provides strong contrast for white and light overlaid text, functioning well as a background in dark-mode and header contexts
- Ocean Teal qualifies for normal body text and all larger sizes (AA).
- Color blindness consideration: tritanopia (blue-yellow color blindness, ~0.003% of population) may affect how this color reads. While rare, for maximum accessibility supplement color signals with text or icon indicators in critical states.
Always verify Ocean Teal at its final intended size and weight using a real contrast checker—font weight and rendering environment affect perceived legibility beyond what raw ratios capture.
Ocean Teal in Industry: Branding, Design & Market Applications
Ocean Teal's brand positioning falls squarely in the territory of clarity, innovation, balance, and modern sophistication. Industry data supports its strongest performance in healthcare technology, SaaS & B2B software, financial technology categories, where the vivid saturation calibrates the message at a deep, considered level.
- Healthcare Technology: Teal has become the signature color of healthcare technology for a specific reason: it bridges clinical trust (blue's domain) with vitality and growth (green's domain), communicating that a product is both reliable and innovative. (examples: Notion, Slack, Salesforce) Particularly effective for telemedicine, health tracking apps, and digital wellness platforms that need clinical credibility without institutional coldness.
- SaaS & B2B Software: The modern SaaS industry has adopted teal as an alternative to blue that signals both professionalism and innovation. It works especially well for productivity tools, data platforms, and workflow software where clarity and intelligence are the core brand values. Teal differentiates from the blue-dominated enterprise market while maintaining the trust signals B2B buyers require.
- Financial Technology: Fintech brands use teal to signal that they're reimagining financial services—keeping the trustworthiness of traditional blue but adding a freshness that traditional banks lack. The color says "we take your money seriously and we're different from old banking." (examples: Apple, Microsoft, Salesforce) Works best paired with clean white and dark charcoal for maximum fintech modernity.
- Brand positioning: Ocean Teal is best suited for brands projecting innovation, clarity, balance. Categories outside this positioning—traditional—tend to see weaker results.
- Adjacent applications: Beyond primary industries, Ocean Teal works effectively in health tech platforms, modern SaaS UIs, financial dashboards—contexts where clarity serves a secondary but reinforcing role.
For marketers and brand strategists, Ocean Teal is a commitment to clarity, innovation, balance, and modern sophistication. Match it with industries that make that promise and it will pay dividends consistently.
Accessibility & Design Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the hex code for Ocean Teal? ▾
- The hex code for Ocean Teal is #00818A. Its RGB values are rgb(0, 129, 138) and its HSL values are hsl(184, 100%, 27%).
- What does Ocean Teal mean in design? ▾
- Teal occupies the sophisticated intersection of blue's trust and green's vitality. It feels calming yet distinctive — neither the corporate ubiquity of navy nor the aggressive freshness of lime green. Teal is associated with healing, emotional balance, and clarity of thought. It gained significant cultural cachet in the 2010s as a design-forward alternative to standard blues in healthcare and technology branding. Deeper teals feel luxurious and authoritative; lighter teals feel fresh and energetic. Teal is one of the few colors that reads well in both light and dark themes. Its primary challenge is legibility — teal text on white often fails WCAG AA without careful shade selection. Its deeper, richer tone gives it gravitas and sophistication, making it well-suited for primary brand colors, typography, and contexts where authority matters.
- Is Ocean Teal WCAG accessible? ▾
- Ocean Teal (#00818A) passes WCAG AA on white with a 4.66:1 contrast ratio. Its overall accessibility score is 54/100.
- What colors go well with Ocean Teal? ▾
- Ocean Teal pairs well with its complementary color Barn Red (#7C0A02). Analogous colors like Cadmium Green and Bright Teal also work harmoniously. Check the Color Harmonies section above for the full palette.
- What is Ocean Teal used for? ▾
- Ocean Teal is commonly used for: Healthcare technology and health apps; Mental health and wellness platforms; Fintech brands seeking blue-alternative trust; Premium interior design and home accessories; Environmental and ocean-focused organizations.
- What are the CSS and Tailwind values for Ocean Teal? ▾
- In CSS, use `color: #00818A` or `background-color: #00818A`. The CSS custom property is `--color-ocean-teal: #00818A`. In Tailwind CSS, use the arbitrary value class `bg-[#00818A]` for backgrounds or `text-[#00818A]` for text.