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cyan · cool

#0cd3ed

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Teal

RGB
12, 211, 237
HSL
187°, 90%, 49%
CMYK
95, 11, 0, 7
Luminance
0.5278

#0cd3ed is a balanced electric cyan, 187° on the wheel and 90/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.56:1). As text it scores 1.82:1 on white — use #078191 instead. Nearest name is Dark Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(187 90% 49%)rgb(12 211 237)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #0cd3ed is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#0cd3ed
Hue
187°
cyan
Saturation
90%
electric
Lightness
49%
balanced
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5278
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
90/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
11.56:1
Closest name
Dark Turquoise
ΔE2000 7.8
Chroma
41.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.795
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 7.7
Web-safe
#00CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue187° of 360°
Saturation90%
Lightness49%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #0cd3ed.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool90% 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%
Green88%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#0cd3ed
HEX (8-digit)#0cd3edff
RGBrgb(12, 211, 237)
RGBArgba(12, 211, 237, 1)
HSLhsl(187, 90%, 49%)
HSV / HSBhsv(187, 95%, 93%)
HWBhwb(187 5% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(95%, 11%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(77.7 -33.4 -24.9)
LCHlch(77.7 41.6 216.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.795 0.137 210.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(38.73, 52.78, 88.25)
Decimal840685
Display P3color(display-p3 0.047 0.827 0.929)
Web-safe#00CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #0cd3ed;
background-color: #0cd3ed;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #0cd3ed;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#0cd3ed] bg-[#0cd3ed]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #0cd3ed;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.047, green: 0.827, blue: 0.929)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.047, green: 0.827, blue: 0.929, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#0CD3ED</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF0CD3ED)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF0CD3ED)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(237, 211, 12)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(12, 211, 237)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(12, 211, 237)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 12, 211, 237)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0471f, 0.8275f, 0.9294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{12,211,237}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #0cd3ed 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #0cd3ed 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#066C79, #D3EBEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #0cd3ed 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: #F2FCFD;
  --brand-100: #E5F8FB;
  --brand-200: #C3F2F9;
  --brand-300: #94EEFA;
  --brand-400: #5FE5F7;
  --brand-500: #29DDF4;
  --brand-600: #0cd3ed;
  --brand-700: #0AADC2;
  --brand-800: #088A9B;
  --brand-900: #0A6470;
  --brand-950: #063F46;
  --brand: #0cd3ed;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0E7ED;
  --brand-hover: #0AB5CB;
  --brand-pressed: #0997A9;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142324;
    --brand-ink: #D3EBEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2FCFD',
        100: '#E5F8FB',
        200: '#C3F2F9',
        300: '#94EEFA',
        400: '#5FE5F7',
        500: '#29DDF4',
        600: '#0cd3ed',
        700: '#0AADC2',
        800: '#088A9B',
        900: '#0A6470',
        950: '#063F46',
        DEFAULT: '#0cd3ed',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2FCFD,
  '100': #E5F8FB,
  '200': #C3F2F9,
  '300': #94EEFA,
  '400': #5FE5F7,
  '500': #29DDF4,
  '600': #0cd3ed,
  '700': #0AADC2,
  '800': #088A9B,
  '900': #0A6470,
  '950': #063F46,
);
$brand-base: #0cd3ed;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2FCFD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E5F8FB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C3F2F9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#94EEFA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#5FE5F7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#29DDF4", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#0cd3ed", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0AADC2", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#088A9B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0A6470", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#063F46", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #0cd3ed · 11.56:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.82:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.56:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #0cd3ed as text scores 1.82:1 on white and 11.56:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #066C79 at 3.37:1.

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
#078191 · 4.61:1
AA on white−19% L
#078191
The quick fox
#055E6A · 7.46:1
AAA on white−27% L
#055E6A
The quick fox
#0cd3ed · 11.56:1
AA on blackalready passes
#0cd3ed
The quick fox
#0cd3ed · 11.56:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#0cd3ed

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #09A3B8 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
#0cd3ed on white: 1.82:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#0cd3ed on black: 11.56:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #0cd3ed as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #0cd3ed.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.82:1AaAa
Slate 501.74:1AaAa
Slate 1001.66:1AaAa
Slate 2001.47:1AaAa
Slate 3001.22:1AaAa
Slate 4001.41:1AaAa
Slate 5002.62:1AaAa
Slate 6004.17:1AaAa
Slate 7005.70:1AaAa
Slate 8008.05:1AaAa
Slate 9009.82:1AaAa
Black11.56:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BECBEF
deuteranopia · #A4B8ED
tritanopia · #00DEDB

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. #0cd3ed 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.

#F2FCFD
#E5F8FB
#C3F2F9
#94EEFA
#5FE5F7
#29DDF4
#0cd3ed
#0AADC2
#088A9B
#0A6470
#063F46
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F2FCFDDarkest = 950 · #063F46Text 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 0.034 210.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.055 210.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.082 210.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.107 210.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.126 210.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.137 210.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.137 210.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.128 210.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.115 210.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.096 210.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.075 210.5);
}

Colors that work with #0cd3ed

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#C0E7ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B929B
Captions on the surface
Accent#F20727
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#066C79
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E7FBFE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142324
Dark-mode background
Hover#0AB5CB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0997A9
Two steps down
Disabled#A4C1C5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#0EE3FF
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 #0cd3ed

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
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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 #066C79
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #09A3B8

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 mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight51/100
  • 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#ED260C
Analogous left#0CED96
Analogous right#0C63ED
Split-complement 1#ED0C63
Split-complement 2#ED960C
Triadic 1#ED0CD3
Triadic 2#D3ED0C
Tetradic#960CED
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°187°

#0cd3ed sits at 187°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red4.7%
Green82.7%
Blue92.9%
R · 0–255
12
0x0c
G · 0–255
211
0xd3
B · 0–255
237
0xed

CMYK percentages

Cyan94.9%
Magenta11.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.1%

Total ink coverage is 113%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#0cd3ed text on a black background

contrast 11.56:1

Card sample

#0cd3ed text on a white background

contrast 1.82:1

Card sample

#0cd3ed on grey

1.66:1

#0cd3ed on its own surface

1.72:1

#0cd3ed on its dark surface

8.92:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #0cd3ed;
Background color
Panel with #0cd3ed background
background-color: #0cd3ed;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #0cd3ed;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(12, 211, 237, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(12, 211, 237, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #0cd3ed;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #0cd3ed, #0C3DED);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #0cd3ed, #130CED);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #0cd3ed;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #0cd3ed;
caret-color: #0cd3ed;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #0cd3ed;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E7FBFE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #0cd3ed;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#0cd3ed 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #0cd3ed 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(12, 211, 237, 0.5)
rgb(12 211 237 / 50%)
#0cd3ed80
hsl(187 90% 49% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #0cd3ed 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#0cd3ed1a#E7FBFD
20%#0cd3ed33#CEF6FB
40%#0cd3ed66#9EEDF8
60%#0cd3ed99#6DE5F4
80%#0cd3edcc#3DDCF1

Gradients from #0cd3ed

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, #41E1F5, #0cd3ed 45%, #066C79);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #0cd3ed, #0A25D0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #0cd3ed, #ED260C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #5EE5F7 0%, #0cd3ed 45%, #066C79 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%, #37F59C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #2462F4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #066C79 0%, transparent 65%), #0cd3ed;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #0cd3ed

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.

#0cd3ed 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 11.56:1.

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.

#0cd3ed, answered

What color is #0cd3ed?

#0cd3ed is a balanced electric cyan, closest to Dark Turquoise (ΔE2000 7.8). It sits at 187° on the hue wheel with 90% saturation and 49% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #0cd3ed?

rgb(12, 211, 237) — 12 red, 211 green and 237 blue out of 255, or 4.7% / 82.7% / 92.9% by channel.

What is #0cd3ed in HSL and HSV?

hsl(187, 90%, 49%) and hsv(187, 95%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #0cd3ed a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5278 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 11.56:1.

Should I use black or white text on #0cd3ed?

Black. It scores 11.56:1 against #0cd3ed, versus 1.82:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #0cd3ed accessible on a white background?

#0cd3ed on white scores 1.82:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #078191 to reach 4.5:1, or #055E6A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #0cd3ed?

#ED260C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ED0C63 and #ED960C, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #0cd3ed?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0E7ED for borders, #4B929B for secondary text, #F20727 as an accent and #066C79 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #0CED96 and #0C63ED stays calm, while #ED260C is the loudest partner.

What is #0cd3ed in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(95%, 11%, 0%, 7%). 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 #0cd3ed warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 90 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #0CEDB4; nudged cooler, #09A9EF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #0cd3ed?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 7.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #0cd3ed as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #0cd3ed in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#0cd3ed] or text-[#0cd3ed], 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 #0cd3ed with 50% opacity?

rgba(12, 211, 237, 0.5), or #0cd3ed80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #86E9F6; over black, #066A77.

Is #0cd3ed a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #00CCFF, ΔE2000 7.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #0cd3ed 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 #0cd3ed?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #41E1F5, #0cd3ed 45%, #066C79). For more colour, a short hue run to #0A25D0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #0cd3ed in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #0cd3ed at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.