Tints & Shades
50
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Scale from white (50) through Sea Green (500) to black (900), interpolated in Lab color space.
Color Values
- HEX
- #2E8B57
- RGB
- rgb(46, 139, 87)
- HSL
- hsl(146, 50%, 36%)
- OKLCH
- oklch(0.569 0.119 155)
- CMYK
- cmyk(67%, 0%, 37%, 45%)
--color-sea-greenbg-[#2E8B57]Accessibility
Score: 39/100On White (#FFF)
4.25:1
On Black (#000)
4.95:1
On Light Gray (#F5F5F5)
3.89:1
Best text color on this background:
Design Applications
background-color: #2E8B57
color: #2E8B57
bg-[#2E8B57] text-[#000000]
border-left: 4px solid #2E8B57
Color Harmonies
Complementary
Classic Rose
#FBCCE7
Split-Complementary
Similar Colors
Color Meaning & Psychology
Green occupies the center of the visible spectrum where the eye is most sensitive, making it the easiest color to process — literally restful for the eye. Green's associations with nature, growth, and fresh produce are deeply biological, rooted in the evolutionary advantage of finding food. In finance, "going green" means profit. In design, green signals health, sustainability, and natural ingredients. Darker greens evoke prestige and reliability; lighter greens feel fresh and energetic; blue-greens feel sophisticated and trustworthy. Green is uniquely cross-cultural in positive associations, though it represents environmental risk in some financial contexts. 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 Sea Green is applied in professional design.
- Financial services and investment platforms
- Health, wellness, and organic food brands
- Environmental and sustainability organizations
- Pharmaceutical and medical products
- Agriculture and farming brands
- Eco-friendly consumer goods
- Real estate and property development
- Success and achievement badges in UI
Accessibility Considerations
Normal Text
Fails 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
Sea Green is a light color. Use black (#000000) text on top of it for maximum readability (4.95:1). Avoid white text on this background.
CSS & Code Examples
Background
background-color: #2E8B57;Text
color: #2E8B57;Border
border: 2px solid #2E8B57;Box Shadow
box-shadow: 0 4px 20px #2E8B5740;Gradient
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #2E8B57, #61bc84);Tailwind-style
--color-sea-green: #2E8B57;Tailwind CSS Utilities
Use arbitrary value syntax in Tailwind CSS to apply Sea Green without a custom config.
Background
bg-[#2E8B57]Text
text-[#2E8B57]Border
border-[#2E8B57]Ring
ring-[#2E8B57]Fill
fill-[#2E8B57]From (gradient)
from-[#2E8B57]Via (gradient)
via-[#2E8B57]To (gradient)
to-[#2E8B57]Design Tokens
Ready-to-use Sea Green design token in CSS custom properties, SCSS, Tailwind v3/v4, and JSON formats.
CSS Custom Properties
:root {
--color-sea-green: #2E8B57;
--color-sea-green-rgb: 46, 139, 87;
--color-sea-green-hsl: 146, 50%, 36%;
}SCSS Variables
$color-sea-green: #2E8B57; $color-sea-green-rgb: 46, 139, 87; $color-sea-green-hsl: 146, 50%, 36%;
Tailwind v3 Config
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'sea-green': '#2E8B57',
},
},
},
};Tailwind v4 (@theme)
/* tailwind.css */
@theme {
--color-sea-green: #2E8B57;
}JSON Design Token (W3C format)
{
"sea-green": {
"value": "#2E8B57",
"type": "color",
"description": "Sea Green — #2E8B57"
}
}More green colors
View all →What Does Sea Green Mean? Color Psychology & Cultural Symbolism
Among the visible spectrum's hues, green holds a special place in human perception—it occupies the exact center wavelength range where the eye's cone cells are most sensitive, creating a uniquely comfortable, balanced viewing experience. Sea Green (#2E8B57) channels this as harmony: a quality that feels as natural as it is intentional.
- Across color psychology research, green consistently tests high for "health" associations, making Sea Green a reliable vehicle for harmony in cross-demographic audiences.
- Brand designers draw on green-family tones to project trustworthiness and reliability—values that Sea Green communicates in a deep key.
- At 50% saturation, Sea Green reads as subdued—neither overwhelming nor passive, landing in the growth, nature, health, and balance zone with measured confidence.
- Sea Green's deep lightness (36%) shifts its psychological register: a balanced mid-tone that embodies growth, nature, health, and balance at its most direct.
In a well-designed system, Sea Green is the color that answers yes. Use it where affirmation matters.
How to Use Sea Green in Design: Applications, Pairings & Best Practices
In design, Sea Green 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: Sea Green's complementary color creates a high-energy split ideal for promotional design; its analogous palette (±30° hue) builds cohesive, monochromatic sophistication.
- Proportional use: Sea Green's subdued quality means it scales well across proportions—from full-bleed backgrounds to single-pixel borders—making it an unusually versatile palette component.
- Sea Green creates strong legibility with black text overlays (5.0:1 contrast ratio), making it a reliable background or surface color in design systems
- Typography: Sea Green as text requires a dark background; its 36% lightness means it provides 4.3:1 contrast on white, not meeting WCAG AA.
In a well-designed system, Sea Green is the color that answers yes. Use it where affirmation matters.
Sea Green Accessibility: WCAG Contrast Ratios, Color Blindness & Inclusive Design
Sea Green (#2E8B57) reaches 4.95:1 contrast with black 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: 19.7%.
- As text on white (#FFFFFF): 4.25:1 — AA (large text only)
- As text on black (#000000): 4.95:1 — AA ✓
- Best text color on Sea Green background: Black (#000000) at 4.95:1
- WCAG 2.1 luminance: 19.7% — mid-range luminance—it sits in the transition zone where both dark and light text approaches require testing against the 4.5:1 WCAG threshold
- Sea Green qualifies for normal body text and all larger sizes (AA).
For production use, test Sea Green against your specific background colors rather than assuming #FFFFFF or #000000 performance translates. Surrounding colors alter perceived contrast.
Sea Green in Industry: Branding, Design & Market Applications
Sea Green's brand positioning falls squarely in the territory of growth, nature, health, and balance. Industry data supports its strongest performance in healthcare, finance, food & organic categories, where the subdued saturation calibrates the message at a deep, considered level.
- 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: CVS Health, Mayo Clinic, 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: JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, 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: Sea Green 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, Sea Green works effectively in success states, approval indicators, sustainability branding—contexts where health serves a secondary but reinforcing role.
For marketers and brand strategists, Sea Green is a commitment to growth, nature, health, and balance. 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 Sea Green? ▾
- The hex code for Sea Green is #2E8B57. Its RGB values are rgb(46, 139, 87) and its HSL values are hsl(146, 50%, 36%).
- What does Sea Green mean in design? ▾
- Green occupies the center of the visible spectrum where the eye is most sensitive, making it the easiest color to process — literally restful for the eye. Green's associations with nature, growth, and fresh produce are deeply biological, rooted in the evolutionary advantage of finding food. In finance, "going green" means profit. In design, green signals health, sustainability, and natural ingredients. Darker greens evoke prestige and reliability; lighter greens feel fresh and energetic; blue-greens feel sophisticated and trustworthy. Green is uniquely cross-cultural in positive associations, though it represents environmental risk in some financial contexts. Its deeper, richer tone gives it gravitas and sophistication, making it well-suited for primary brand colors, typography, and contexts where authority matters.
- Is Sea Green WCAG accessible? ▾
- Sea Green (#2E8B57) passes WCAG AA-large on white with a 4.25:1 contrast ratio. Its overall accessibility score is 39/100.
- What colors go well with Sea Green? ▾
- Sea Green pairs well with its complementary color Classic Rose (#FBCCE7). Analogous colors like India Green and Smoke also work harmoniously. Check the Color Harmonies section above for the full palette.
- What is Sea Green used for? ▾
- Sea Green is commonly used for: Financial services and investment platforms; Health, wellness, and organic food brands; Environmental and sustainability organizations; Pharmaceutical and medical products; Agriculture and farming brands.
- What are the CSS and Tailwind values for Sea Green? ▾
- In CSS, use `color: #2E8B57` or `background-color: #2E8B57`. The CSS custom property is `--color-sea-green: #2E8B57`. In Tailwind CSS, use the arbitrary value class `bg-[#2E8B57]` for backgrounds or `text-[#2E8B57]` for text.