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cyan · cool

#15ebdf

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Teal

RGB
21, 235, 223
HSL
177°, 84%, 50%
CMYK
91, 0, 5, 8
Luminance
0.6490

#15ebdf is a balanced electric cyan, 177° on the wheel and 86/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.98:1). As text it scores 1.50:1 on white — use #0B857E instead. Nearest name is Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(177 84% 50%)rgb(21 235 223)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #15ebdf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#15ebdf
Hue
177°
cyan
Saturation
84%
electric
Lightness
50%
balanced
Brightness
92%
HSV value
Perceived
77%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6490
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
86/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
13.98:1
Closest name
Turquoise
ΔE2000 3.1
Chroma
48.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.848
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 12.9
Web-safe
#00FFCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue177° of 360°
Saturation84%
Lightness50%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #15ebdf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool86% 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%
Green92%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#15ebdf
HEX (8-digit)#15ebdfff
RGBrgb(21, 235, 223)
RGBArgba(21, 235, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(177, 84%, 50%)
HSV / HSBhsv(177, 91%, 92%)
HWBhwb(177 8% 8%)
CMYKcmyk(91%, 0%, 5%, 8%)
LABlab(84.4 -48.1 -7.3)
LCHlch(84.4 48.6 188.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.848 0.145 188.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(43.33, 64.90, 80.04)
Decimal1436639
Display P3color(display-p3 0.082 0.922 0.875)
Web-safe#00FFCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #15ebdf;
background-color: #15ebdf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #15ebdf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#15ebdf] bg-[#15ebdf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #15ebdf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.082, green: 0.922, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.082, green: 0.922, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#15EBDF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF15EBDF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF15EBDF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 235, 21)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(21, 235, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(21, 235, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 21, 235, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.0824f, 0.9216f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{21,235,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #15ebdf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #15ebdf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#0A756F, #D3EEED);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #15ebdf 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: #F2FCFC;
  --brand-100: #E6FAF9;
  --brand-200: #C5F6F4;
  --brand-300: #98F6F1;
  --brand-400: #64F2EA;
  --brand-500: #30EDE3;
  --brand-600: #15ebdf;
  --brand-700: #10BCB2;
  --brand-800: #0D968F;
  --brand-900: #0E6D67;
  --brand-950: #094441;
  --brand: #15ebdf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EDEA;
  --brand-hover: #11CBC1;
  --brand-pressed: #0EAAA1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEED;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2FCFC',
        100: '#E6FAF9',
        200: '#C5F6F4',
        300: '#98F6F1',
        400: '#64F2EA',
        500: '#30EDE3',
        600: '#15ebdf',
        700: '#10BCB2',
        800: '#0D968F',
        900: '#0E6D67',
        950: '#094441',
        DEFAULT: '#15ebdf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2FCFC,
  '100': #E6FAF9,
  '200': #C5F6F4,
  '300': #98F6F1,
  '400': #64F2EA,
  '500': #30EDE3,
  '600': #15ebdf,
  '700': #10BCB2,
  '800': #0D968F,
  '900': #0E6D67,
  '950': #094441,
);
$brand-base: #15ebdf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2FCFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E6FAF9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C5F6F4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#98F6F1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#64F2EA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#30EDE3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#15ebdf", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#10BCB2", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0D968F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0E6D67", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#094441", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #15ebdf · 13.98:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.50:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.98:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #15ebdf as text scores 1.50:1 on white and 13.98:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #0A756F at 3.69:1.

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
#0B857E · 4.50:1
AA on white−22% L
#0B857E
The quick fox
#08645E · 7.01:1
AAA on white−29% L
#08645E
The quick fox
#15ebdf · 13.98:1
AA on blackalready passes
#15ebdf
The quick fox
#15ebdf · 13.98:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#15ebdf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #0EA59D 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
#15ebdf on white: 1.50:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#15ebdf on black: 13.98:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #15ebdf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #15ebdf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.50:1AaAa
Slate 501.44:1AaAa
Slate 1001.37:1AaAa
Slate 2001.22:1AaAa
Slate 3001.01:1AaAa
Slate 4001.71:1AaAa
Slate 5003.17:1AaAa
Slate 6005.04:1AaAa
Slate 7006.89:1AaAa
Slate 8009.74:1AaAa
Slate 90011.89:1AaAa
Black13.98:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #DDDEDF
deuteranopia · #C4CBE1
tritanopia · #00F1E7

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. #15ebdf 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.

#F2FCFC
#E6FAF9
#C5F6F4
#98F6F1
#64F2EA
#30EDE3
#15ebdf
#10BCB2
#0D968F
#0E6D67
#094441
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F2FCFCDarkest = 950 · #094441Text 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 0.036 188.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.058 188.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.087 188.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.113 188.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.134 188.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.145 188.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.145 188.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.137 188.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.122 188.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.102 188.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.080 188.2);
}

Colors that work with #15ebdf

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#C0EDEA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B96
Captions on the surface
Accent#F01055
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#0A756F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E8FDFC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#11CBC1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0EAAA1
Two steps down
Disabled#A9C8C6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#1CF8EC
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 #15ebdf

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 #0A756F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #0EA59D

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
  • Weight50/100
  • 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#EB1521
Analogous left#15EB74
Analogous right#158CEB
Split-complement 1#EB158C
Split-complement 2#EB7415
Triadic 1#DF15EB
Triadic 2#EBDF15
Tetradic#7415EB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°177°

#15ebdf sits at 177°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red8.2%
Green92.2%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
21
0x15
G · 0–255
235
0xeb
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan91.1%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow5.1%
Key (black)7.8%

Total ink coverage is 104%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#15ebdf text on a black background

contrast 13.98:1

Card sample

#15ebdf text on a white background

contrast 1.50:1

Card sample

#15ebdf on grey

1.37:1

#15ebdf on its own surface

1.42:1

#15ebdf on its dark surface

10.69:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #15ebdf;
Background color
Panel with #15ebdf background
background-color: #15ebdf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #15ebdf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(21, 235, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(21, 235, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #15ebdf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #15ebdf, #1568EB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #15ebdf, #1533EB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #15ebdf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #15ebdf;
caret-color: #15ebdf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #15ebdf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E8FDFC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #15ebdf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#15ebdf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #15ebdf 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(21, 235, 223, 0.5)
rgb(21 235 223 / 50%)
#15ebdf80
hsl(177 84% 50% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #15ebdf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#15ebdf1a#E8FDFC
20%#15ebdf33#D0FBF9
40%#15ebdf66#A1F7F2
60%#15ebdf99#73F3EC
80%#15ebdfcc#44EFE5

Gradients from #15ebdf

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, #4DF0E7, #15ebdf 45%, #0A756F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #15ebdf, #124CD0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #15ebdf, #EB1521);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #6AF2EB 0%, #15ebdf 45%, #0A756F 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%, #44EF82 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #318AED 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #0A756F 0%, transparent 65%), #15ebdf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #15ebdf

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.

#15ebdf 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 13.98:1.

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.

#15ebdf, answered

What color is #15ebdf?

#15ebdf is a balanced electric cyan, closest to Turquoise (ΔE2000 3.1). It sits at 177° on the hue wheel with 84% saturation and 50% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #15ebdf?

rgb(21, 235, 223) — 21 red, 235 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 8.2% / 92.2% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #15ebdf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(177, 84%, 50%) and hsv(177, 91%, 92%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #15ebdf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6490 and perceived brightness is 77%, so black text on it reaches 13.98:1.

Should I use black or white text on #15ebdf?

Black. It scores 13.98:1 against #15ebdf, versus 1.50:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #15ebdf accessible on a white background?

#15ebdf on white scores 1.50:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #0B857E to reach 4.5:1, or #08645E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #15ebdf?

#EB1521 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EB158C and #EB7415, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #15ebdf?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EDEA for borders, #4B9B96 for secondary text, #F01055 as an accent and #0A756F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #15EB74 and #158CEB stays calm, while #EB1521 is the loudest partner.

What is #15ebdf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(91%, 0%, 5%, 8%). 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 #15ebdf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 86 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #15EB90; nudged cooler, #12BCEE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #15ebdf?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 12.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #15ebdf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #15ebdf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#15ebdf] or text-[#15ebdf], 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 #15ebdf with 50% opacity?

rgba(21, 235, 223, 0.5), or #15ebdf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #8AF5EF; over black, #0B7670.

Is #15ebdf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #00FFCC, ΔE2000 11 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #15ebdf 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 #15ebdf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #4DF0E7, #15ebdf 45%, #0A756F). For more colour, a short hue run to #124CD0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #15ebdf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #15ebdf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.