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cyan · cool

#12bdfb

a balanced, electric cyan · cool · “Deep Sky Blue”

Token name suggestion: Atlas Glacier

RGB
18, 189, 251
HSL
196°, 97%, 53%
CMYK
93, 25, 0, 2
Luminance
0.4349

#12bdfb is a balanced electric cyan, 196° on the wheel and 94/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.70:1). As text it scores 2.17:1 on white — use #037DA9 instead. Nearest name is Deep Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is sky.

hsl(196 97% 53%)rgb(18 189 251)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #12bdfb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#12bdfb
Hue
196°
cyan
Saturation
97%
electric
Lightness
53%
balanced
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
66%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4349
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
94/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
9.70:1
Closest name
Deep Sky Blue
ΔE2000 0.6
Chroma
45.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.750
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
sky
500 · ΔE 7.2
Web-safe
#00CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue196° of 360°
Saturation97%
Lightness53%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #12bdfb.

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%
Green84%
Blue16%

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

Every format

HEX#12bdfb
HEX (8-digit)#12bdfbff
RGBrgb(18, 189, 251)
RGBArgba(18, 189, 251, 1)
HSLhsl(196, 97%, 53%)
HSV / HSBhsv(196, 93%, 98%)
HWBhwb(196 7% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(93%, 25%, 0%, 2%)
LABlab(71.9 -17.5 -41.4)
LCHlch(71.9 45.0 247.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.750 0.150 231.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(35.85, 43.48, 97.75)
Decimal1228283
Display P3color(display-p3 0.071 0.741 0.984)
Web-safe#00CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #12bdfb;
background-color: #12bdfb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #12bdfb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#12bdfb] bg-[#12bdfb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #12bdfb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.071, green: 0.741, blue: 0.984)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.071, green: 0.741, blue: 0.984, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#12BDFB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF12BDFB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF12BDFB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(251, 189, 18)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(18, 189, 251)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(18, 189, 251)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 18, 189, 251)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0706f, 0.7412f, 0.9843f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{18,189,251}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #12bdfb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #12bdfb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#025D7D, #D3E7EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #12bdfb 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: #F1FAFD;
  --brand-100: #E4F5FC;
  --brand-200: #C1EBFB;
  --brand-300: #91E0FD;
  --brand-400: #59D1FC;
  --brand-500: #12bdfb;
  --brand-600: #04B2F1;
  --brand-700: #0394C9;
  --brand-800: #0376A1;
  --brand-900: #075774;
  --brand-950: #043648;
  --brand: #12bdfb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0E1ED;
  --brand-hover: #04A9E5;
  --brand-pressed: #038FC2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142024;
    --brand-ink: #D3E7EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1FAFD',
        100: '#E4F5FC',
        200: '#C1EBFB',
        300: '#91E0FD',
        400: '#59D1FC',
        500: '#12bdfb',
        600: '#04B2F1',
        700: '#0394C9',
        800: '#0376A1',
        900: '#075774',
        950: '#043648',
        DEFAULT: '#12bdfb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1FAFD,
  '100': #E4F5FC,
  '200': #C1EBFB,
  '300': #91E0FD,
  '400': #59D1FC,
  '500': #12bdfb,
  '600': #04B2F1,
  '700': #0394C9,
  '800': #0376A1,
  '900': #075774,
  '950': #043648,
);
$brand-base: #12bdfb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1FAFD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4F5FC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C1EBFB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#91E0FD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#59D1FC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#12bdfb", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#04B2F1", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0394C9", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0376A1", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#075774", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#043648", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #12bdfb · 9.70:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.17:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.70:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #12bdfb as text scores 2.17:1 on white and 9.70:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #025D7D at 3.39:1.

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
#037DA9 · 4.66:1
AA on white−19% L
#037DA9
The quick fox
#025F81 · 7.10:1
AAA on white−27% L
#025F81
The quick fox
#12bdfb · 9.70:1
AA on blackalready passes
#12bdfb
The quick fox
#12bdfb · 9.70:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#12bdfb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #049ED6 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
#12bdfb on white: 2.17:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#12bdfb on black: 9.70:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #12bdfb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #12bdfb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.17:1AaAa
Slate 502.07:1AaAa
Slate 1001.98:1AaAa
Slate 2001.76:1AaAa
Slate 3001.46:1AaAa
Slate 4001.18:1AaAa
Slate 5002.20:1AaAa
Slate 6003.50:1AaAa
Slate 7004.78:1AaAa
Slate 8006.76:1AaAa
Slate 9008.24:1AaAa
Black9.70:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9DBBFE
deuteranopia · #81A8FA
tritanopia · #00CED2

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. #12bdfb is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F1FAFD
#E4F5FC
#C1EBFB
#91E0FD
#59D1FC
#12bdfb
#04B2F1
#0394C9
#0376A1
#075774
#043648
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F1FAFDDarkest = 950 · #043648Text 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 0.037 231.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.060 231.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.090 231.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.117 231.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.138 231.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.150 231.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.150 231.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.141 231.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.126 231.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.105 231.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.082 231.5);
}

Colors that work with #12bdfb

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#4B859B
Captions on the surface
Accent#FF120E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#025D7D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6F8FF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142024
Dark-mode background
Hover#04A9E5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#038FC2
Two steps down
Disabled#B0C5CD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#22C4FF
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 #12bdfb

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 #025D7D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #049ED6

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
  • Weight47/100
  • 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#FB5012
Analogous left#12FBC5
Analogous right#1248FB
Split-complement 1#FB1248
Split-complement 2#FBC512
Triadic 1#FB12BD
Triadic 2#BDFB12
Tetradic#C512FB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°196°

#12bdfb sits at 196°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red7.1%
Green74.1%
Blue98.4%
R · 0–255
18
0x12
G · 0–255
189
0xbd
B · 0–255
251
0xfb

CMYK percentages

Cyan92.8%
Magenta24.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)1.6%

Total ink coverage is 119%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#12bdfb text on a black background

contrast 9.70:1

Card sample

#12bdfb text on a white background

contrast 2.17:1

Card sample

#12bdfb on grey

1.98:1

#12bdfb on its own surface

2.04:1

#12bdfb on its dark surface

7.69:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #12bdfb;
Background color
Panel with #12bdfb background
background-color: #12bdfb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #12bdfb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(18, 189, 251, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(18, 189, 251, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #12bdfb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #12bdfb, #1221FB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #12bdfb, #3D12FB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #12bdfb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #12bdfb;
caret-color: #12bdfb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #12bdfb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6F8FF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #12bdfb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#12bdfb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #12bdfb 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(18, 189, 251, 0.5)
rgb(18 189 251 / 50%)
#12bdfb80
hsl(196 97% 53% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #12bdfb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#12bdfb1a#E7F8FF
20%#12bdfb33#D0F2FE
40%#12bdfb66#A0E5FD
60%#12bdfb99#71D7FD
80%#12bdfbcc#41CAFC

Gradients from #12bdfb

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, #4ECEFC, #12bdfb 45%, #025D7D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #12bdfb, #0804EA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #12bdfb, #FB5012);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #6CD6FD 0%, #12bdfb 45%, #025D7D 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%, #44FCC2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #304EFC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #025D7D 0%, transparent 65%), #12bdfb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #12bdfb

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.

#12bdfb 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 9.70:1.

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.

#12bdfb, answered

What color is #12bdfb?

#12bdfb is a balanced electric cyan — the CSS keyword Deep Sky Blue. It sits at 196° on the hue wheel with 97% saturation and 53% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #12bdfb?

rgb(18, 189, 251) — 18 red, 189 green and 251 blue out of 255, or 7.1% / 74.1% / 98.4% by channel.

What is #12bdfb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(196, 97%, 53%) and hsv(196, 93%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #12bdfb a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4349 and perceived brightness is 66%, so black text on it reaches 9.70:1.

Should I use black or white text on #12bdfb?

Black. It scores 9.70:1 against #12bdfb, versus 2.17:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #12bdfb accessible on a white background?

#12bdfb on white scores 2.17:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #037DA9 to reach 4.5:1, or #025F81 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #12bdfb?

#FB5012 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FB1248 and #FBC512, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #12bdfb?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E1ED for borders, #4B859B for secondary text, #FF120E as an accent and #025D7D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #12FBC5 and #1248FB stays calm, while #FB5012 is the loudest partner.

What is #12bdfb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(93%, 25%, 0%, 2%). 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 #12bdfb 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 #12FBE4; nudged cooler, #0FA2FD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #12bdfb?

The sky family — its 500 step is #0ea5e9, ΔE2000 7.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #12bdfb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #12bdfb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#12bdfb] or text-[#12bdfb], 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 #12bdfb with 50% opacity?

rgba(18, 189, 251, 0.5), or #12bdfb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #89DEFD; over black, #095F7E.

Is #12bdfb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #00CCFF, ΔE2000 5.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #12bdfb 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 #12bdfb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #4ECEFC, #12bdfb 45%, #025D7D). For more colour, a short hue run to #0804EA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #12bdfb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #12bdfb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.