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cyan · cool

#03c2cd

a dark, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Dark Turquoise

Token name suggestion: Shadow Reef

RGB
3, 194, 205
HSL
183°, 97%, 41%
CMYK
99, 5, 0, 20
Luminance
0.4301

#03c2cd is a dark electric cyan, 183° on the wheel and 89/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.60:1). As text it scores 2.19:1 on white — use #027F87 instead. Nearest name is Dark Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(183 97% 41%)rgb(3 194 205)Base step 700AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #03c2cd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#03c2cd
Hue
183°
cyan
Saturation
97%
electric
Lightness
41%
dark
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
64%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4301
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
89/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
9.60:1
Closest name
Dark Turquoise
ΔE2000 4.1
Chroma
39.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.741
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 7.3
Web-safe
#00CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue183° of 360°
Saturation97%
Lightness41%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #03c2cd.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool89% 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%
Green90%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#03c2cd
HEX (8-digit)#03c2cdff
RGBrgb(3, 194, 205)
RGBArgba(3, 194, 205, 1)
HSLhsl(183, 97%, 41%)
HSV / HSBhsv(183, 99%, 80%)
HWBhwb(183 1% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(99%, 5%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(71.6 -35.7 -17.0)
LCHlch(71.6 39.5 205.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.741 0.126 202.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(30.34, 43.01, 64.45)
Decimal246477
Display P3color(display-p3 0.012 0.761 0.804)
Web-safe#00CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #03c2cd;
background-color: #03c2cd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #03c2cd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#03c2cd] bg-[#03c2cd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #03c2cd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.012, green: 0.761, blue: 0.804)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.012, green: 0.761, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#03C2CD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF03C2CD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF03C2CD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 194, 3)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(3, 194, 205)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(3, 194, 205)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 3, 194, 205)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0118f, 0.7608f, 0.8039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{3,194,205}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #03c2cd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #03c2cd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#02777E, #D3EDEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #03c2cd 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: #F1FDFD;
  --brand-100: #E4FAFC;
  --brand-200: #C1F8FB;
  --brand-300: #90F7FD;
  --brand-400: #59F4FD;
  --brand-500: #22F0FC;
  --brand-600: #04E4F1;
  --brand-700: #03c2cd;
  --brand-800: #0298A1;
  --brand-900: #076E74;
  --brand-950: #044548;
  --brand: #03c2cd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EAED;
  --brand-hover: #02A1AA;
  --brand-pressed: #027F87;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EDEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1FDFD',
        100: '#E4FAFC',
        200: '#C1F8FB',
        300: '#90F7FD',
        400: '#59F4FD',
        500: '#22F0FC',
        600: '#04E4F1',
        700: '#03c2cd',
        800: '#0298A1',
        900: '#076E74',
        950: '#044548',
        DEFAULT: '#03c2cd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1FDFD,
  '100': #E4FAFC,
  '200': #C1F8FB,
  '300': #90F7FD,
  '400': #59F4FD,
  '500': #22F0FC,
  '600': #04E4F1,
  '700': #03c2cd,
  '800': #0298A1,
  '900': #076E74,
  '950': #044548,
);
$brand-base: #03c2cd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1FDFD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4FAFC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C1F8FB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#90F7FD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#59F4FD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#22F0FC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#04E4F1", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#03c2cd", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0298A1", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#076E74", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#044548", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #03c2cd · 9.60:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.19:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.60:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #03c2cd as text scores 2.19:1 on white and 9.60:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #02777E at 2.44:1.

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
#027F87 · 4.79:1
AA on white−14% L
#027F87
The quick fox
#026369 · 7.02:1
AAA on white−20% L
#026369
The quick fox
#03c2cd · 9.60:1
AA on blackalready passes
#03c2cd
The quick fox
#03c2cd · 9.60:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#03c2cd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #03A5AF 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
#03c2cd on white: 2.19:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#03c2cd on black: 9.60:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #03c2cd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #03c2cd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.19:1AaAa
Slate 502.09:1AaAa
Slate 1002.00:1AaAa
Slate 2001.77:1AaAa
Slate 3001.47:1AaAa
Slate 4001.17:1AaAa
Slate 5002.18:1AaAa
Slate 6003.46:1AaAa
Slate 7004.73:1AaAa
Slate 8006.69:1AaAa
Slate 9008.16:1AaAa
Black9.60:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B2B9CE
deuteranopia · #9BA8CE
tritanopia · #00CAC5

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. #03c2cd 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.

#F1FDFD
#E4FAFC
#C1F8FB
#90F7FD
#59F4FD
#22F0FC
#04E4F1
#03c2cd
#0298A1
#076E74
#044548
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F1FDFDDarkest = 950 · #044548Text step on white = 900
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 0.031 202.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.050 202.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.075 202.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.098 202.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.116 202.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.126 202.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.126 202.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.118 202.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.106 202.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.088 202.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.069 202.1);
}

Colors that work with #03c2cd

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#F4FAFA
Tinted page background
Border#C0EAED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B969B
Captions on the surface
Accent#D00029
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#02777E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6FDFF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#02A1AA
One step down in lightness
Pressed#027F87
Two steps down
Disabled#8BB3B5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#00D8E4
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 #03c2cd

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 #02777E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #03A5AF

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
  • Weight59/100
  • 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#CD0E03
Analogous left#03CD73
Analogous right#035DCD
Split-complement 1#CD035D
Split-complement 2#CD7303
Triadic 1#CD03C2
Triadic 2#C2CD03
Tetradic#7303CD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°183°

#03c2cd sits at 183°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red1.2%
Green76.1%
Blue80.4%
R · 0–255
3
0x03
G · 0–255
194
0xc2
B · 0–255
205
0xcd

CMYK percentages

Cyan98.5%
Magenta5.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 124%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#03c2cd text on a black background

contrast 9.60:1

Card sample

#03c2cd text on a white background

contrast 2.19:1

Card sample

#03c2cd on grey

2.00:1

#03c2cd on its own surface

2.07:1

#03c2cd on its dark surface

7.34:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #03c2cd;
Background color
Panel with #03c2cd background
background-color: #03c2cd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #03c2cd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(3, 194, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(3, 194, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #03c2cd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #03c2cd, #033BCD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #03c2cd, #0309CD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #03c2cd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #03c2cd;
caret-color: #03c2cd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #03c2cd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6FDFF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #03c2cd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#03c2cd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #03c2cd 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(3, 194, 205, 0.5)
rgb(3 194 205 / 50%)
#03c2cd80
hsl(183 97% 41% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #03c2cd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#03c2cd1a#E6F9FA
20%#03c2cd33#CDF3F5
40%#03c2cd66#9AE7EB
60%#03c2cd99#68DAE1
80%#03c2cdcc#35CED7

Gradients from #03c2cd

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, #12EFFC, #03c2cd 45%, #02777E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #03c2cd, #0324AF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #03c2cd, #CD0E03);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #30F1FC 0%, #03c2cd 45%, #02777E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAFA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #08FB7B 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #0357EB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #02777E 0%, transparent 65%), #03c2cd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #03c2cd

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.

#03c2cd 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 9.60:1.

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.

#03c2cd, answered

What color is #03c2cd?

#03c2cd is a dark electric cyan, closest to Dark Turquoise (ΔE2000 4.1). It sits at 183° on the hue wheel with 97% saturation and 41% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #03c2cd?

rgb(3, 194, 205) — 3 red, 194 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 1.2% / 76.1% / 80.4% by channel.

What is #03c2cd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(183, 97%, 41%) and hsv(183, 99%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #03c2cd a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4301 and perceived brightness is 64%, so black text on it reaches 9.60:1.

Should I use black or white text on #03c2cd?

Black. It scores 9.60:1 against #03c2cd, versus 2.19:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #03c2cd accessible on a white background?

#03c2cd on white scores 2.19:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #027F87 to reach 4.5:1, or #026369 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #03c2cd?

#CD0E03 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CD035D and #CD7303, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #03c2cd?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EAED for borders, #4B969B for secondary text, #D00029 as an accent and #02777E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #03CD73 and #035DCD stays calm, while #CD0E03 is the loudest partner.

What is #03c2cd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(99%, 5%, 0%, 20%). 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 #03c2cd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 89 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #03CD8E; nudged cooler, #0194CF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #03c2cd?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 7.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #03c2cd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #03c2cd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#03c2cd] or text-[#03c2cd], 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 #03c2cd with 50% opacity?

rgba(3, 194, 205, 0.5), or #03c2cd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #81E1E6; over black, #026167.

Is #03c2cd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #00CCCC, ΔE2000 4.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #03c2cd 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 #03c2cd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #12EFFC, #03c2cd 45%, #02777E). For more colour, a short hue run to #0324AF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #03c2cd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #03c2cd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.