Exploring the Color #5A8880

#5A8880 sits at 170° on the color wheel, placing it in the cyan family of the cool half of the spectrum. With 20% saturation and 44% lightness, it reads as a softly muted, shadowed tone — a balanced mid-energy presence that sits comfortably alongside other UI tones. Its RGB mix of 90, 136, 128 produces a 5.27:1 contrast ratio against black, which clears WCAG AA for body text in that pairing.

In RGB space #5A8880 is a clear variant of CSS gray — about 39 units away from #808080. Designers reach for cyan hues at this saturation when the brief calls for restraint and atmosphere, and at this lightness when they want a present, comfortable mid-canvas voice. On screen the cool cast tends to pair best with warm neutrals in the 25°-45° range to add life.

Darkening Shades

Lightening Shades