How to Use Turquoise in Web Design | Tips for a Fresh Color Scheme
Turquoise refers to a range of colors between blue and green. A bright blue-green can give a website a fresh look that evokes water and open skies, depending on the imagery and surrounding colors. There is no single universal HEX value for turquoise, so this article uses bright turquoise#24B3BE as a practical example. A HEX code is a hexadecimal notation used to specify colors on the web. Here is how to combine turquoise with backgrounds, text, and controls without sacrificing legibility.
Use turquoise for a major surface and darker colors for text and actions
Rather than filling every part of the page with turquoise, choose where it should play the leading role. For example, place it in a substantial introductory section, then switch to restrained backgrounds for the details, prices, and booking information. When the page also features ocean photography, limit the area covered by additional saturated color so the images and text do not compete.
White#FFFFFF text on bright turquoise#24B3BE has a contrast ratio of only about 2.54:1, which is insufficient for normal-size text. Deep navy#193845 on the same turquoise#24B3BE has a ratio of about 4.88:1, making it a more suitable text combination.
Hue means the kind of color, such as blue or green, while lightness describes how light or dark it appears. Let turquoise establish the visual mood and use a darker color to communicate information clearly. Size, spacing, and heading weight also help show the order in which information should be read.
Example palette for a sea-activity booking page
Consider a website introducing snorkeling experiences and taking reservations. The layout needs to show photographs, meeting times, prices, and the booking action without making the information difficult to find.
- Introductory section: Set the background to turquoise#24B3BE and use deep navy#193845 for the heading and description. The difference in lightness keeps the text separate from the bright blue-green surface.
- Main reading area: Use pale sand-white#F8F5ED over a large area, with navy#193845 body text. Their contrast ratio is approximately 11.39:1. A slightly warm background also keeps the whole page from becoming uniformly blue-green.
- Price and course cards: Use white#FFFFFF surfaces with navy#193845 text, which reaches about 12.40:1. Add spacing and visible borders to distinguish one card from another.
- Meeting-time and equipment panel: Choose pale aqua#E9F5F4 with navy#193845 text. This pair has a contrast ratio of about 11.12:1.
- “Book an experience” button: Use deep blue-green#08646D with white#FFFFFF lettering. Text against the button measures about 6.88:1, while the button surface differs from the surrounding sand-white#F8F5ED by about 6.31:1.
- Card and input borders: Use muted blue-gray#67868A. Its contrast is about 3.92:1 against white#FFFFFF and about 3.52:1 against pale aqua#E9F5F4.
The introductory turquoise and the darker booking button belong to the same general color family, but their lightness and jobs are different. On the pale reading surface, the deeper button can stand out as the next action without requiring an unrelated bright accent.
Maintain a fresh look while checking readability
Under WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.2 Level AA, normal-size text needs a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 and large text needs at least 3:1. Essential visual boundaries and state indicators for user-interface controls generally need at least 3:1 against adjacent colors. All ratios above apply to the specific color pairs stated; changing the text to white or lightening a button changes the result.
Text placed directly over a photograph requires extra attention because its background changes from one part of the image to another. You can put an opaque surface behind the words or check contrast throughout the area where the text appears. On mobile devices, inspect the spacing around the booking button, the separation between information cards, and the legibility of smaller labels. Do not communicate a selected state or “Bookings closed” through color alone; include clear wording as well.
In HueRoll, you can enter a HEX value and explore tints (lighter variations), shades (darker variations), and analogous colors (nearby hues) as possible companions. HueRoll checks a selected color against white and black only; it cannot directly compare any two custom colors or automatically determine WCAG AA or AAA compliance. Calculate other pairs separately and check the finished page in context.