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cyan · cool

#05dcbc

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

Token name suggestion: Dusk Lagoon

RGB
5, 220, 188
HSL
171°, 96%, 44%
CMYK
98, 0, 15, 14
Luminance
0.5485

#05dcbc is a dark electric cyan, 171° on the wheel and 84/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.97:1). As text it scores 1.75:1 on white — use #03826F instead. Nearest name is Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(171 96% 44%)rgb(5 220 188)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #05dcbc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#05dcbc
Hue
171°
cyan
Saturation
96%
electric
Lightness
44%
dark
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5485
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
84/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.97:1
Closest name
Turquoise
ΔE2000 5.2
Chroma
51.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.800
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 9.6
Web-safe
#00CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue171° of 360°
Saturation96%
Lightness44%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #05dcbc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool84% 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%
Green93%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#05dcbc
HEX (8-digit)#05dcbcff
RGBrgb(5, 220, 188)
RGBArgba(5, 220, 188, 1)
HSLhsl(171, 96%, 44%)
HSV / HSBhsv(171, 98%, 86%)
HWBhwb(171 2% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(98%, 0%, 15%, 14%)
LABlab(79.0 -51.8 3.2)
LCHlch(79.0 51.9 176.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.800 0.148 177.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(34.73, 54.84, 56.32)
Decimal384188
Display P3color(display-p3 0.020 0.863 0.737)
Web-safe#00CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #05dcbc;
background-color: #05dcbc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #05dcbc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#05dcbc] bg-[#05dcbc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #05dcbc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.020, green: 0.863, blue: 0.737)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.020, green: 0.863, blue: 0.737, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#05DCBC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF05DCBC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF05DCBC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(188, 220, 5)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(5, 220, 188)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(5, 220, 188)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 5, 220, 188)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0196f, 0.8627f, 0.7373f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{5,220,188}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #05dcbc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #05dcbc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#037D6B, #D3EEEA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #05dcbc 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: #F1FDFC;
  --brand-100: #E4FCF8;
  --brand-200: #C1FAF2;
  --brand-300: #91FDED;
  --brand-400: #5AFBE3;
  --brand-500: #24FADA;
  --brand-600: #05dcbc;
  --brand-700: #04C8AB;
  --brand-800: #04A088;
  --brand-900: #077363;
  --brand-950: #05483E;
  --brand: #05dcbc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE6;
  --brand-hover: #04B99E;
  --brand-pressed: #039680;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142422;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1FDFC',
        100: '#E4FCF8',
        200: '#C1FAF2',
        300: '#91FDED',
        400: '#5AFBE3',
        500: '#24FADA',
        600: '#05dcbc',
        700: '#04C8AB',
        800: '#04A088',
        900: '#077363',
        950: '#05483E',
        DEFAULT: '#05dcbc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1FDFC,
  '100': #E4FCF8,
  '200': #C1FAF2,
  '300': #91FDED,
  '400': #5AFBE3,
  '500': #24FADA,
  '600': #05dcbc,
  '700': #04C8AB,
  '800': #04A088,
  '900': #077363,
  '950': #05483E,
);
$brand-base: #05dcbc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1FDFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4FCF8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C1FAF2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#91FDED", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#5AFBE3", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#24FADA", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#05dcbc", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#04C8AB", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#04A088", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#077363", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#05483E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #05dcbc · 11.97:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.75:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.97:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #05dcbc as text scores 1.75:1 on white and 11.97:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #037D6B at 2.88:1.

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
#03826F · 4.74:1
AA on white−18% L
#03826F
The quick fox
#026456 · 7.10:1
AAA on white−24% L
#026456
The quick fox
#05dcbc · 11.97:1
AA on blackalready passes
#05dcbc
The quick fox
#05dcbc · 11.97:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#05dcbc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #04A58D 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
#05dcbc on white: 1.75:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#05dcbc on black: 11.97:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #05dcbc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #05dcbc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.75:1AaAa
Slate 501.68:1AaAa
Slate 1001.60:1AaAa
Slate 2001.42:1AaAa
Slate 3001.18:1AaAa
Slate 4001.46:1AaAa
Slate 5002.71:1AaAa
Slate 6004.32:1AaAa
Slate 7005.90:1AaAa
Slate 8008.34:1AaAa
Slate 90010.18:1AaAa
Black11.97:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D3CDBB
deuteranopia · #BCBCBE
tritanopia · #00DFD2

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. #05dcbc is pinned to step 600; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F1FDFC
#E4FCF8
#C1FAF2
#91FDED
#5AFBE3
#24FADA
#05dcbc
#04C8AB
#04A088
#077363
#05483E
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F1FDFCDarkest = 950 · #05483EText 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 0.037 177.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.059 177.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.089 177.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.115 177.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.136 177.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.148 177.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.148 177.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.139 177.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.124 177.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.103 177.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.081 177.1);
}

Colors that work with #05dcbc

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#C0EDE6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B8F
Captions on the surface
Accent#E0005A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#037D6B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6FEFB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142422
Dark-mode background
Hover#04B99E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#039680
Two steps down
Disabled#96BCB6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#00F5D1
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 #05dcbc

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 #037D6B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #04A58D

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#DC0525
Analogous left#05DC51
Analogous right#0590DC
Split-complement 1#DC0590
Split-complement 2#DC5105
Triadic 1#BC05DC
Triadic 2#DCBC05
Tetradic#5105DC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°171°

#05dcbc sits at 171°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red2.0%
Green86.3%
Blue73.7%
R · 0–255
5
0x05
G · 0–255
220
0xdc
B · 0–255
188
0xbc

CMYK percentages

Cyan97.7%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow14.5%
Key (black)13.7%

Total ink coverage is 126%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#05dcbc text on a black background

contrast 11.97:1

Card sample

#05dcbc text on a white background

contrast 1.75:1

Card sample

#05dcbc on grey

1.60:1

#05dcbc on its own surface

1.66:1

#05dcbc on its dark surface

9.17:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #05dcbc;
Background color
Panel with #05dcbc background
background-color: #05dcbc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #05dcbc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(5, 220, 188, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(5, 220, 188, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #05dcbc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #05dcbc, #056DDC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #05dcbc, #0537DC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #05dcbc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #05dcbc;
caret-color: #05dcbc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #05dcbc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6FEFB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #05dcbc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#05dcbc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #05dcbc 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(5, 220, 188, 0.5)
rgb(5 220 188 / 50%)
#05dcbc80
hsl(171 96% 44% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #05dcbc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#05dcbc1a#E6FCF8
20%#05dcbc33#CDF8F2
40%#05dcbc66#9BF1E4
60%#05dcbc99#69EAD7
80%#05dcbccc#37E3C9

Gradients from #05dcbc

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, #24FADA, #05dcbc 45%, #037D6B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #05dcbc, #044EBE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #05dcbc, #DC0525);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #42FBDF 0%, #05dcbc 45%, #037D6B 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%, #1AFA56 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #0690F9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #037D6B 0%, transparent 65%), #05dcbc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #05dcbc

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.

#05dcbc 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 11.97:1.

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.

#05dcbc, answered

What color is #05dcbc?

#05dcbc is a dark electric cyan, closest to Turquoise (ΔE2000 5.2). It sits at 171° on the hue wheel with 96% saturation and 44% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #05dcbc?

rgb(5, 220, 188) — 5 red, 220 green and 188 blue out of 255, or 2% / 86.3% / 73.7% by channel.

What is #05dcbc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(171, 96%, 44%) and hsv(171, 98%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #05dcbc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5485 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 11.97:1.

Should I use black or white text on #05dcbc?

Black. It scores 11.97:1 against #05dcbc, versus 1.75:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #05dcbc accessible on a white background?

#05dcbc on white scores 1.75:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #03826F to reach 4.5:1, or #026456 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #05dcbc?

#DC0525 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DC0590 and #DC5105, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #05dcbc?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EDE6 for borders, #4B9B8F for secondary text, #E0005A as an accent and #037D6B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #05DC51 and #0590DC stays calm, while #DC0525 is the loudest partner.

What is #05dcbc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(98%, 0%, 15%, 14%). 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 #05dcbc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 84 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #05DC6D; nudged cooler, #03B5DE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #05dcbc?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 9.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #05dcbc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #05dcbc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#05dcbc] or text-[#05dcbc], 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 #05dcbc with 50% opacity?

rgba(5, 220, 188, 0.5), or #05dcbc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #82EEDE; over black, #036E5E.

Is #05dcbc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #00CCCC, ΔE2000 10.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #05dcbc 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 #05dcbc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #24FADA, #05dcbc 45%, #037D6B). For more colour, a short hue run to #044EBE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #05dcbc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #05dcbc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.