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cyan · cool

#117aa0

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

Token name suggestion: Dusk Reef

RGB
17, 122, 160
HSL
196°, 81%, 35%
CMYK
89, 24, 0, 37
Luminance
0.1658

#117aa0 is a dark electric cyan, 196° on the wheel and 94/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (4.87:1). As text it scores 4.87:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(196 81% 35%)rgb(17 122 160)Base step 800AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #117aa0 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#117aa0
Hue
196°
cyan
Saturation
81%
electric
Lightness
35%
dark
Brightness
63%
HSV value
Perceived
42%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1658
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
94/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
White
4.87:1
Closest name
Steel Blue
ΔE2000 8
Chroma
31.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.543
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 13.2
Web-safe
#006699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue196° of 360°
Saturation81%
Lightness35%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #117aa0.

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
Red1%
Green84%
Blue15%

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

Every format

HEX#117aa0
HEX (8-digit)#117aa0ff
RGBrgb(17, 122, 160)
RGBArgba(17, 122, 160, 1)
HSLhsl(196, 81%, 35%)
HSV / HSBhsv(196, 89%, 63%)
HWBhwb(196 7% 37%)
CMYKcmyk(89%, 24%, 0%, 37%)
LABlab(47.7 -13.6 -28.1)
LCHlch(47.7 31.2 244.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.543 0.104 229.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(13.53, 16.57, 35.74)
Decimal1145504
Display P3color(display-p3 0.067 0.478 0.627)
Web-safe#006699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #117aa0;
background-color: #117aa0;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #117aa0;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#117aa0] bg-[#117aa0]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #117aa0;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.067, green: 0.478, blue: 0.627)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.067, green: 0.478, blue: 0.627, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#117AA0</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF117AA0)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF117AA0)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(160, 122, 17)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(17, 122, 160)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(17, 122, 160)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 17, 122, 160)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0667f, 0.4784f, 0.6275f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{17,122,160}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #117aa0 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #117aa0 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0C5873, #D3E7EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #117aa0 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: #F3FAFC;
  --brand-100: #E6F4F9;
  --brand-200: #C6E9F5;
  --brand-300: #9ADCF4;
  --brand-400: #67CBEF;
  --brand-500: #34B9E9;
  --brand-600: #18A9DD;
  --brand-700: #148DB8;
  --brand-800: #117aa0;
  --brand-900: #10536B;
  --brand-950: #0A3443;
  --brand: #117aa0;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0E1ED;
  --brand-hover: #0E6180;
  --brand-pressed: #0A495F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142024;
    --brand-ink: #D3E7EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FAFC',
        100: '#E6F4F9',
        200: '#C6E9F5',
        300: '#9ADCF4',
        400: '#67CBEF',
        500: '#34B9E9',
        600: '#18A9DD',
        700: '#148DB8',
        800: '#117aa0',
        900: '#10536B',
        950: '#0A3443',
        DEFAULT: '#117aa0',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FAFC,
  '100': #E6F4F9,
  '200': #C6E9F5,
  '300': #9ADCF4,
  '400': #67CBEF,
  '500': #34B9E9,
  '600': #18A9DD,
  '700': #148DB8,
  '800': #117aa0,
  '900': #10536B,
  '950': #0A3443,
);
$brand-base: #117aa0;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FAFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E6F4F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C6E9F5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9ADCF4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#67CBEF", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#34B9E9", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#18A9DD", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#148DB8", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#117aa0", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#10536B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0A3443", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #117aa0 · 4.87:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 4.87:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.32:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #117aa0 as text scores 4.87:1 on white and 4.32:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #E8F7FD at 4.44:1.

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
#117aa0 · 4.87:1
AA on whitealready passes
#117aa0
The quick fox
#0D5E7B · 7.23:1
AAA on white−8% L
#0D5E7B
The quick fox
#117EA5 · 4.55:1
AA on black+1% L
#117EA5
The quick fox
#16A1D3 · 7.07:1
AAA on black+11% L
#16A1D3

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #117AA0 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
#117aa0 on white: 4.87:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#117aa0 on black: 4.32:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #117aa0 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #117aa0.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White4.87:1AaAa
Slate 504.65:1AaAa
Slate 1004.44:1AaAa
Slate 2003.95:1AaAa
Slate 3003.28:1AaAa
Slate 4001.90:1AaAa
Slate 5001.02:1AaAa
Slate 6001.56:1AaAa
Slate 7002.13:1AaAa
Slate 8003.01:1AaAa
Slate 9003.67:1AaAa
Black4.32:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #6678A2
deuteranopia · #546C9F
tritanopia · #008487

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. #117aa0 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.

#F3FAFC
#E6F4F9
#C6E9F5
#9ADCF4
#67CBEF
#34B9E9
#18A9DD
#148DB8
#117aa0
#10536B
#0A3443
Base = 800Lightest = 50 · #F3FAFCDarkest = 950 · #0A3443Text 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 0.026 229.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.042 229.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.062 229.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.081 229.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.095 229.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.104 229.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.104 229.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.098 229.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.087 229.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.073 229.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.057 229.8);
}

Colors that work with #117aa0

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#C0E1ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B869B
Captions on the surface
Accent#A4100D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0C5873
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E8F7FD
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142024
Dark-mode background
Hover#0E6180
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0A495F
Two steps down
Disabled#789CA9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#098DBC
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 #117aa0

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
  • Weight65/100
  • 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#A03711
Analogous left#11A07E
Analogous right#1133A0
Split-complement 1#A01133
Split-complement 2#A07E11
Triadic 1#A0117A
Triadic 2#7AA011
Tetradic#7E11A0
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°196°

#117aa0 sits at 196°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red6.7%
Green47.8%
Blue62.7%
R · 0–255
17
0x11
G · 0–255
122
0x7a
B · 0–255
160
0xa0

CMYK percentages

Cyan89.4%
Magenta23.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)37.3%

Total ink coverage is 150%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#117aa0 text on a black background

contrast 4.32:1

Card sample

#117aa0 text on a white background

contrast 4.87:1

Card sample

#117aa0 on grey

4.44:1

#117aa0 on its own surface

4.58:1

#117aa0 on its dark surface

3.42:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #117aa0;
Background color
Panel with #117aa0 background
background-color: #117aa0;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #117aa0;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(17, 122, 160, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(17, 122, 160, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #117aa0;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #117aa0, #111BA0);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #117aa0, #2B11A0);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #117aa0;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #117aa0;
caret-color: #117aa0;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #117aa0;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E8F7FD;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #117aa0;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#117aa0 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #117aa0 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(17, 122, 160, 0.5)
rgb(17 122 160 / 50%)
#117aa080
hsl(196 81% 35% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #117aa0 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#117aa01a#E7F2F6
20%#117aa033#CFE4EC
40%#117aa066#A0CAD9
60%#117aa099#70AFC6
80%#117aa0cc#4195B3

Gradients from #117aa0

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, #17A4D7, #117aa0 45%, #0C5873);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #117aa0, #100E84);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #117aa0, #A03711);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #25B4E8 0%, #117aa0 45%, #0C5873 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%, #16CE93 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #142DBC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0C5873 0%, transparent 65%), #117aa0;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #117aa0

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.

#117aa0 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 4.32:1 — lift it to #117EA5 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.

#117aa0, answered

What color is #117aa0?

#117aa0 is a dark electric cyan, closest to Steel Blue (ΔE2000 8). It sits at 196° on the hue wheel with 81% saturation and 35% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #117aa0?

rgb(17, 122, 160) — 17 red, 122 green and 160 blue out of 255, or 6.7% / 47.8% / 62.7% by channel.

What is #117aa0 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(196, 81%, 35%) and hsv(196, 89%, 63%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #117aa0 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1658 and perceived brightness is 42%, so white text on it reaches 4.87:1.

Should I use black or white text on #117aa0?

White. It scores 4.87:1 against #117aa0, versus 4.32:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #117aa0 accessible on a white background?

#117aa0 on white scores 4.87:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #117aa0?

#A03711 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #A01133 and #A07E11, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #117aa0?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E1ED for borders, #4B869B for secondary text, #A4100D as an accent and #0C5873 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #11A07E and #1133A0 stays calm, while #A03711 is the loudest partner.

What is #117aa0 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(89%, 24%, 0%, 37%). 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 #117aa0 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 #11A091; nudged cooler, #0F65A2.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #117aa0?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 13.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #117aa0 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #117aa0 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#117aa0] or text-[#117aa0], 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 #117aa0 with 50% opacity?

rgba(17, 122, 160, 0.5), or #117aa080 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #88BDD0; over black, #093D50.

Is #117aa0 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #006699, ΔE2000 8.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #117aa0 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 #117aa0?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #17A4D7, #117aa0 45%, #0C5873). For more colour, a short hue run to #100E84 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #117aa0 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #117aa0 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.