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cyan · cool

#01668e

a dark, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Steel Blue

Token name suggestion: Forest Reef

RGB
1, 102, 142
HSL
197°, 99%, 28%
CMYK
99, 28, 0, 44
Luminance
0.1146

#01668e is a dark electric cyan, 197° on the wheel and 95/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (6.38:1). As text it scores 6.38:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(197 99% 28%)rgb(1 102 142)Base step 800AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #01668e is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#01668e
Hue
197°
cyan
Saturation
99%
electric
Lightness
28%
dark
Brightness
56%
HSV value
Perceived
36%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1146
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
95/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
6.38:1
Closest name
Steel Blue
ΔE2000 12.3
Chroma
30.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.481
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 13.7
Web-safe
#006699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue197° of 360°
Saturation99%
Lightness28%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #01668e.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool95% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red0%
Green83%
Blue17%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#01668e
HEX (8-digit)#01668eff
RGBrgb(1, 102, 142)
RGBArgba(1, 102, 142, 1)
HSLhsl(197, 99%, 28%)
HSV / HSBhsv(197, 99%, 56%)
HWBhwb(197 0% 44%)
CMYKcmyk(99%, 28%, 0%, 44%)
LABlab(40.4 -9.7 -28.9)
LCHlch(40.4 30.5 251.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.481 0.101 234.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(9.64, 11.46, 27.29)
Decimal91790
Display P3color(display-p3 0.004 0.400 0.557)
Web-safe#006699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #01668e;
background-color: #01668e;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #01668e;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#01668e] bg-[#01668e]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #01668e;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.004, green: 0.400, blue: 0.557)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.004, green: 0.400, blue: 0.557, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#01668E</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF01668E)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF01668E)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(142, 102, 1)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(1, 102, 142)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(1, 102, 142)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 1, 102, 142)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0039f, 0.4000f, 0.5569f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{1,102,142}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #01668e 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #01668e 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#015B7F, #D3E6EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #01668e h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F1FAFE;
  --brand-100: #E3F5FC;
  --brand-200: #C0EBFB;
  --brand-300: #90DFFE;
  --brand-400: #58CFFE;
  --brand-500: #20BFFD;
  --brand-600: #02AFF3;
  --brand-700: #0192CB;
  --brand-800: #01668e;
  --brand-900: #065575;
  --brand-950: #043549;
  --brand: #01668e;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0E0ED;
  --brand-hover: #014C6A;
  --brand-pressed: #003347;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142024;
    --brand-ink: #D3E6EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1FAFE',
        100: '#E3F5FC',
        200: '#C0EBFB',
        300: '#90DFFE',
        400: '#58CFFE',
        500: '#20BFFD',
        600: '#02AFF3',
        700: '#0192CB',
        800: '#01668e',
        900: '#065575',
        950: '#043549',
        DEFAULT: '#01668e',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1FAFE,
  '100': #E3F5FC,
  '200': #C0EBFB,
  '300': #90DFFE,
  '400': #58CFFE,
  '500': #20BFFD,
  '600': #02AFF3,
  '700': #0192CB,
  '800': #01668e,
  '900': #065575,
  '950': #043549,
);
$brand-base: #01668e;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1FAFE", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E3F5FC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C0EBFB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#90DFFE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#58CFFE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#20BFFD", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#02AFF3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0192CB", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#01668e", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#065575", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#043549", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#ffffff", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#ffffff on #01668e · 6.38:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 6.38:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.29:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #01668e as text scores 6.38:1 on white and 3.29:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #E6F8FF at 5.84:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#01668e · 6.38:1
AA on whitealready passes
#01668e
The quick fox
#015F84 · 7.07:1
AAA on white−2% L
#015F84
The quick fox
#017FB1 · 4.67:1
AA on black+7% L
#017FB1
The quick fox
#02A0DF · 7.10:1
AAA on black+16% L
#02A0DF

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #01668E is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#01668e on white: 6.38:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#01668e on black: 3.29:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #01668e as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #01668e.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White6.38:1AaAa
Slate 506.10:1AaAa
Slate 1005.82:1AaAa
Slate 2005.17:1AaAa
Slate 3004.30:1AaAa
Slate 4002.49:1AaAa
Slate 5001.34:1AaAa
Slate 6001.19:1AaAa
Slate 7001.62:1AaAa
Slate 8002.29:1AaAa
Slate 9002.80:1AaAa
Black3.29:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #526590
deuteranopia · #415A8D
tritanopia · #007174

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #01668e is pinned to step 800; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F1FAFE
#E3F5FC
#C0EBFB
#90DFFE
#58CFFE
#20BFFD
#02AFF3
#0192CB
#01668e
#065575
#043549
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #F1FAFEDarkest = 950 · #043549Text step on white = 800
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.025 234.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.040 234.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.061 234.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.079 234.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.093 234.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.101 234.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.101 234.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.095 234.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.085 234.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.071 234.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.055 234.4);
}

Colors that work with #01668e

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#ffffff
White wins here
Surface#F4F9FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0E0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B849B
Captions on the surface
Accent#8F0500
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#015B7F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6F8FF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142024
Dark-mode background
Hover#014C6A
One step down in lightness
Pressed#003347
Two steps down
Disabled#638C9C
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#0075A3
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #01668e

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Black text placed on it
  • Thin strokes and 1px borders — they disappear on light UI
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Any size
Safe as a fill behind white type
Yes
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

cleantechnicalfreshclinical

Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight72/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#8E2901
Analogous left#018E6F
Analogous right#01208E
Split-complement 1#8E0120
Split-complement 2#8E6F01
Triadic 1#8E0166
Triadic 2#668E01
Tetradic#6F018E
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°197°

#01668e sits at 197°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red0.4%
Green40.0%
Blue55.7%
R · 0–255
1
0x01
G · 0–255
102
0x66
B · 0–255
142
0x8e

CMYK percentages

Cyan99.3%
Magenta28.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)44.3%

Total ink coverage is 172%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#01668e text on a black background

contrast 3.29:1

Card sample

#01668e text on a white background

contrast 6.38:1

Card sample

#01668e on grey

5.82:1

#01668e on its own surface

6.01:1

#01668e on its dark surface

2.61:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #01668e;
Background color
Panel with #01668e background
background-color: #01668e;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #01668e;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(1, 102, 142, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(1, 102, 142, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #01668e;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #01668e, #01088E);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #01668e, #1D018E);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #01668e;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #01668e;
caret-color: #01668e;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #01668e;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6F8FF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #01668e;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#01668e 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #01668e over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(1, 102, 142, 0.5)
rgb(1 102 142 / 50%)
#01668e80
hsl(197 99% 28% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #01668e 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#01668e1a#E6F0F4
20%#01668e33#CCE0E8
40%#01668e66#99C2D2
60%#01668e99#67A3BB
80%#01668ecc#3485A5

Gradients from #01668e

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #0192CB, #01668e 45%, #015B7F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #01668e, #04016F);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #01668e, #8E2901);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #02A7E9 0%, #01668e 45%, #015B7F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F9FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #01C087 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #0118AC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #015B7F 0%, transparent 65%), #01668e;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #01668e

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#01668e in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
TechnologyTravelHealthcareMedia
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Too dim on dark surfaces at 3.29:1 — lift it to #017FB1 for body text, or reserve it for fills.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#01668e, answered

What color is #01668e?

#01668e is a dark electric cyan, closest to Steel Blue (ΔE2000 12.3). It sits at 197° on the hue wheel with 99% saturation and 28% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #01668e?

rgb(1, 102, 142) — 1 red, 102 green and 142 blue out of 255, or 0.4% / 40% / 55.7% by channel.

What is #01668e in HSL and HSV?

hsl(197, 99%, 28%) and hsv(197, 99%, 56%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #01668e a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1146 and perceived brightness is 36%, so white text on it reaches 6.38:1.

Should I use black or white text on #01668e?

White. It scores 6.38:1 against #01668e, versus 3.29:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #01668e accessible on a white background?

#01668e on white scores 6.38:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #01668e?

#8E2901 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #8E0120 and #8E6F01, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #01668e?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E0ED for borders, #4B849B for secondary text, #8F0500 as an accent and #015B7F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #018E6F and #01208E stays calm, while #8E2901 is the loudest partner.

What is #01668e in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(99%, 28%, 0%, 44%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #01668e warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 95 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #018E82; nudged cooler, #00528F.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #01668e?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 13.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #01668e as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #01668e in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#01668e] or text-[#01668e], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #01668e with 50% opacity?

rgba(1, 102, 142, 0.5), or #01668e80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #80B3C7; over black, #013347.

Is #01668e a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #006699, ΔE2000 3.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #01668e mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #01668e?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #0192CB, #01668e 45%, #015B7F). For more colour, a short hue run to #04016F keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #01668e in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #01668e at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.