Cascade#8BA9A5, a cool pale teal

At a glanceCascade is #8BA9A5, oklch(71.1% 0.034 186.6), a cool pale teal. Partner it with a warm medium red #AE6061 as an accent, a cool light blue #6D97B9 for harmony, and a cool brilliant aqua #64DDD1 the same color turned up. Reach for it as a tinted neutral, and it takes black text at AA contrast and reproduces faithfully on coated presses.
Color codes

Cascade in RGB, HSL, OKLCH & more

Ready to ship: every line pastes straight into your codebase, and the whole file copies at once.

8ba9a5.css
:root { /* how your code speaks it */ /* how your eyes measure it */ /* how the lab measures it, D65 2° */}/* tailwind v4 */

ART is Rhapsody's perceptual model. How ART works

Color family

What kind of teal is Cascade?

Every color has a place in the standard vocabulary. This is Cascade's, measured rather than asserted.

Cascade's Munsell numbers: hue 5.6BG, value 6.6 (how light), chroma 2.1 (how vivid). That places it in ISCC-NBS block pale green, one of 267 named ranges the standard sorts every color into. Chroma 2.1 is low. This is a greyed, muted teal, nearer neutral than vivid, which is why it reads as a surface rather than an accent.

There's still some room before it hits the edge of what your screen can show for this hue. It could go a little more saturated and stay in gamut.

Munsell coordinates and block from the ISCC-NBS system, computed by Rhapsody's own renotation inversion.

Tints & shades

Shades of Cascade, lighter and darker

For hover states, washed backgrounds, and dark surfaces that still read as #8BA9A5. 13 steps, spaced evenly by eye, with the color itself sitting at its natural depth, cascade-400.

Tints (light surfaces; dark text passes on every one)

Midtones (the color at full strength, for brand & accent work)

Shades (dark surfaces; light text passes on every one)

Rhapsody Palette

Most tools mix. Rhapsody measures.

Paste any color. The whole system comes back, contrast-checked before you see it.

Build your palette free

The window on the right was generated from #8BA9A5, like this whole page.

Accessibility

Is Cascade accessible? Contrast with white & black

Strong contrast makes your work readable by everyone, and meets the WCAG standard accessibility law points at. AA is the floor; AAA is the tier worth aiming for in body text. Black text on #8BA9A5 clears WCAG AAA. Every strip below is one surface, and the marks are the steps that reach AAA on it.

Rows are text, columns are background · 60 of 210 pairings reach WCAG 2.2 AAA, shown here.

Rhapsody Palette

Ship the audit, not screenshots.

Run #8BA9A5 against the colors you actually ship, every pairing and any target, and export it: exact ratios, the AA tier, APCA, in one file.

Get the full audit

The audit on the right was calibrated from #8BA9A5, like this whole page.

Print

Cascade in CMYK: one value for files, one per press

Every held press standard prints this color exactly as it is.

In CMYK, #8BA9A5 is . That is the value design tools and file formats use when no press is involved.

On press (what each standard prints)

CGATS21 CRPC1 (coldset news) prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

GRACoL 2013 Uncoated (CRPC3) prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

GRACoL 2013 (CRPC6) prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

PSO Coated v3 (FOGRA51) prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

Coated FOGRA39 prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

Japan Color 2011 Coated prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

APTEC Flexo Coated prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

CGATS21 CRPC7 (extended gamut) prints exactly
on screenon press

in gamut · no shift

Press values computed through the ICC characterization data each standard proofs against. Each CMYK held to prints the color exactly.

Rhapsody Converter · coming soon

No surprises at the printer.

Run any color through the major press standards: FOGRA51, GRACoL, Japan Color, FOGRA39. It's coming soon. Create a free account and you'll get a note the moment it's live.

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The strip shows this page's tints and shades on screen, then through a standard GRACoL 2013 conversion.

The Cascades

Colors similar to Cascade

Here are other colors similar to Cascade along with accessible text pairings and whether or not they're print-safe. Explore The Teals

PewterPewter#96A8A1black text · AAA✓ prints exactly
Granny SmithGranny Smith#84A0A0black text · AAA✓ prints exactly
EnvyEnvy#8BA690black text · AAA✓ prints exactly
MantleMantle#8B9C90black text · AAA✓ prints exactly
Spanish GreenSpanish Green#819885black text · AA✓ prints exactly
Pairings

Colors that go with Cascade

The complementary color, straight across the wheel, is a warm rich pink #C476A6. Rhapsody's pick is the split complement, just to one side of it, a livelier pair.

The accent is for the moments that need attention, the harmony for the ones that need calm; the vivid is the same color with the volume up, for when it has to shout.

Downloads

Take Cascade with you

The work on this page doesn't stay here. Save a card and the color arrives in your file, your deck or your board already decided.

Cascade color codes: hex #8BA9A5, RGB, HSL, CMYK, and OKLCH, from Rhapsody
Paste it anywhere without coming back for it.
The full tonal scale of Cascade, 13 steps from light to dark with every hex, from Rhapsody
Reach for the right depth instead of the one you have.
Cascade paired with a warm medium red #AE6061, a cool light blue #6D97B9, a cool brilliant aqua #64DDD1: hex values and roles, from Rhapsody
Open a palette that already works together.
One free account

Your system is already built.

Rhapsody built it before you even asked: the scale, the neutrals, the utilities, every pairing calibrated.

This page's whole theme is built from one color. Palette does the same for yours: every step calibrated, every pairing checked, press included.

Every color on this page was calibrated, not mixed.

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