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cyan · cool

#01a4df

a dark, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Deep Sky Blue

Token name suggestion: Slate Lagoon

RGB
1, 164, 223
HSL
196°, 99%, 44%
CMYK
100, 27, 0, 13
Luminance
0.3189

#01a4df is a dark electric cyan, 196° on the wheel and 94/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.38:1). As text it scores 2.85:1 on white — use #017FAC instead. Nearest name is Deep Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(196 99% 44%)rgb(1 164 223)Base step 700AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #01a4df is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#01a4df
Hue
196°
cyan
Saturation
99%
electric
Lightness
44%
dark
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
57%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3189
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
94/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
7.38:1
Closest name
Deep Sky Blue
ΔE2000 7.6
Chroma
42.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.676
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 2.3
Web-safe
#0099CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue196° of 360°
Saturation99%
Lightness44%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #01a4df.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool94% 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#01a4df
HEX (8-digit)#01a4dfff
RGBrgb(1, 164, 223)
RGBArgba(1, 164, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(196, 99%, 44%)
HSV / HSBhsv(196, 100%, 87%)
HWBhwb(196 0% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(100%, 27%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(63.2 -14.5 -39.6)
LCHlch(63.2 42.2 249.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.676 0.140 233.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(26.60, 31.88, 74.55)
Decimal107743
Display P3color(display-p3 0.004 0.643 0.875)
Web-safe#0099CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #01a4df;
background-color: #01a4df;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #01a4df;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#01a4df] bg-[#01a4df]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #01a4df;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.004, green: 0.643, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.004, green: 0.643, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#01A4DF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF01A4DF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF01A4DF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 164, 1)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(1, 164, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(1, 164, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 1, 164, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0039f, 0.6431f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{1,164,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #01a4df 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #01a4df 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#015D7F, #D3E7EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #01a4df 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: #E3F6FC;
  --brand-200: #C0ECFB;
  --brand-300: #8FE1FE;
  --brand-400: #57D2FE;
  --brand-500: #20C3FE;
  --brand-600: #01B3F4;
  --brand-700: #01a4df;
  --brand-800: #0178A2;
  --brand-900: #055775;
  --brand-950: #033749;
  --brand: #01a4df;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0E1ED;
  --brand-hover: #018ABB;
  --brand-pressed: #017098;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142024;
    --brand-ink: #D3E7EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1FAFE',
        100: '#E3F6FC',
        200: '#C0ECFB',
        300: '#8FE1FE',
        400: '#57D2FE',
        500: '#20C3FE',
        600: '#01B3F4',
        700: '#01a4df',
        800: '#0178A2',
        900: '#055775',
        950: '#033749',
        DEFAULT: '#01a4df',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1FAFE,
  '100': #E3F6FC,
  '200': #C0ECFB,
  '300': #8FE1FE,
  '400': #57D2FE,
  '500': #20C3FE,
  '600': #01B3F4,
  '700': #01a4df,
  '800': #0178A2,
  '900': #055775,
  '950': #033749,
);
$brand-base: #01a4df;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1FAFE", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E3F6FC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C0ECFB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#8FE1FE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#57D2FE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#20C3FE", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#01B3F4", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#01a4df", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0178A2", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#055775", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#033749", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$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#000000 on #01a4df · 7.38:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.85:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.38:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #01a4df as text scores 2.85:1 on white and 7.38:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #015D7F at 2.57:1.

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
#017FAC · 4.53:1
AA on white−10% L
#017FAC
The quick fox
#015D7E · 7.32:1
AAA on white−19% L
#015D7E
The quick fox
#01a4df · 7.38:1
AA on blackalready passes
#01a4df
The quick fox
#01a4df · 7.38:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#01a4df

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #019DD5 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
#01a4df on white: 2.85:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#01a4df on black: 7.38:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #01a4df as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #01a4df.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.85:1AaAa
Slate 502.72:1AaAa
Slate 1002.60:1AaAa
Slate 2002.31:1AaAa
Slate 3001.92:1AaAa
Slate 4001.11:1AaAa
Slate 5001.67:1AaAa
Slate 6002.66:1AaAa
Slate 7003.64:1AaAa
Slate 8005.14:1AaAa
Slate 9006.27:1AaAa
Black7.38:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #86A3E2
deuteranopia · #6C91DE
tritanopia · #00B4B8

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. #01a4df is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F1FAFE
#E3F6FC
#C0ECFB
#8FE1FE
#57D2FE
#20C3FE
#01B3F4
#01a4df
#0178A2
#055775
#033749
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F1FAFEDarkest = 950 · #033749Text 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 0.035 233.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.056 233.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.084 233.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.109 233.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.129 233.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.140 233.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.140 233.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.132 233.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.118 233.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.098 233.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.077 233.3);
}

Colors that work with #01a4df

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

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F4F9FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0E1ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B869B
Captions on the surface
Accent#E00300
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#015D7F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6F8FF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142024
Dark-mode background
Hover#018ABB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#017098
Two steps down
Disabled#95B1BB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#00B4F4
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 #01a4df

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • 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
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #015D7F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #019DD5

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
  • Weight56/100
  • 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#DF3C01
Analogous left#01DFAB
Analogous right#0135DF
Split-complement 1#DF0135
Split-complement 2#DFAB01
Triadic 1#DF01A4
Triadic 2#A4DF01
Tetradic#AB01DF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°196°

#01a4df sits at 196°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red0.4%
Green64.3%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
1
0x01
G · 0–255
164
0xa4
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan99.6%
Magenta26.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 139%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#01a4df text on a black background

contrast 7.38:1

Card sample

#01a4df text on a white background

contrast 2.85:1

Card sample

#01a4df on grey

2.60:1

#01a4df on its own surface

2.68:1

#01a4df on its dark surface

5.85:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #01a4df;
Background color
Panel with #01a4df background
background-color: #01a4df;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #01a4df;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(1, 164, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(1, 164, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #01a4df;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #01a4df, #0110DF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #01a4df, #2901DF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #01a4df;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #01a4df;
caret-color: #01a4df;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #01a4df;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6F8FF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #01a4df;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#01a4df 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #01a4df 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, 164, 223, 0.5)
rgb(1 164 223 / 50%)
#01a4df80
hsl(196 99% 44% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #01a4df 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#01a4df1a#E6F6FC
20%#01a4df33#CCEDF9
40%#01a4df66#99DBF2
60%#01a4df99#67C8EC
80%#01a4dfcc#34B6E5

Gradients from #01a4df

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, #1FC3FE, #01a4df 45%, #015D7F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #01a4df, #0401C0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #01a4df, #DF3C01);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #3ECBFE 0%, #01a4df 45%, #015D7F 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%, #15FEB4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #0127FD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #015D7F 0%, transparent 65%), #01a4df;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #01a4df

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.

#01a4df 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

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 7.38:1.

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.

#01a4df, answered

What color is #01a4df?

#01a4df is a dark electric cyan, closest to Deep Sky Blue (ΔE2000 7.6). It sits at 196° on the hue wheel with 99% saturation and 44% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #01a4df?

rgb(1, 164, 223) — 1 red, 164 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 0.4% / 64.3% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #01a4df in HSL and HSV?

hsl(196, 99%, 44%) and hsv(196, 100%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #01a4df a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3189 and perceived brightness is 57%, so black text on it reaches 7.38:1.

Should I use black or white text on #01a4df?

Black. It scores 7.38:1 against #01a4df, versus 2.85:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #01a4df accessible on a white background?

#01a4df on white scores 2.85:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #017FAC to reach 4.5:1, or #015D7E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #01a4df?

#DF3C01 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DF0135 and #DFAB01, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #01a4df?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E1ED for borders, #4B869B for secondary text, #E00300 as an accent and #015D7F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #01DFAB and #0135DF stays calm, while #DF3C01 is the loudest partner.

What is #01a4df in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(100%, 27%, 0%, 13%). 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 #01a4df warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 94 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #01DFC8; nudged cooler, #0089E0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #01a4df?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 2.3 away. That is close enough to swap in without anyone noticing.

How do I use #01a4df in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#01a4df] or text-[#01a4df], 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 #01a4df with 50% opacity?

rgba(1, 164, 223, 0.5), or #01a4df80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #80D2EF; over black, #015270.

Is #01a4df a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #0099CC, ΔE2000 3.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #01a4df 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 #01a4df?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #1FC3FE, #01a4df 45%, #015D7F). For more colour, a short hue run to #0401C0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #01a4df in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #01a4df at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.