Skip to content
cyan · cool

#239bbc

a dark, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Cadet Blue

Token name suggestion: Dusk Teal

RGB
35, 155, 188
HSL
193°, 69%, 44%
CMYK
81, 18, 0, 26
Luminance
0.2743

#239bbc is a dark vivid cyan, 193° on the wheel and 93/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (6.49:1). As text it scores 3.24:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Cadet Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(193 69% 44%)rgb(35 155 188)Base step 700AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #239bbc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#239bbc
Hue
193°
cyan
Saturation
69%
vivid
Lightness
44%
dark
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
53%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2743
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
93/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
6.49:1
Closest name
Cadet Blue
ΔE2000 10.8
Chroma
33.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.641
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 8.2
Web-safe
#3399CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue193° of 360°
Saturation69%
Lightness44%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #239bbc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool93% 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%
Green85%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#239bbc
HEX (8-digit)#239bbcff
RGBrgb(35, 155, 188)
RGBArgba(35, 155, 188, 1)
HSLhsl(193, 69%, 44%)
HSV / HSBhsv(193, 81%, 74%)
HWBhwb(193 14% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(81%, 18%, 0%, 26%)
LABlab(59.4 -20.3 -26.1)
LCHlch(59.4 33.0 232.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.641 0.110 221.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(21.49, 27.43, 51.73)
Decimal2333628
Display P3color(display-p3 0.137 0.608 0.737)
Web-safe#3399CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #239bbc;
background-color: #239bbc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #239bbc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#239bbc] bg-[#239bbc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #239bbc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.137, green: 0.608, blue: 0.737)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.137, green: 0.608, blue: 0.737, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#239BBC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF239BBC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF239BBC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(188, 155, 35)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(35, 155, 188)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(35, 155, 188)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 35, 155, 188)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1373f, 0.6078f, 0.7373f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{35,155,188}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #239bbc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #239bbc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#14596B, #D3E8EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #239bbc 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: #F3FAFB;
  --brand-100: #E8F4F8;
  --brand-200: #CAE9F2;
  --brand-300: #A0DDED;
  --brand-400: #71CCE5;
  --brand-500: #42BBDC;
  --brand-600: #26AACE;
  --brand-700: #239bbc;
  --brand-800: #1A728A;
  --brand-900: #175364;
  --brand-950: #0E343E;
  --brand: #239bbc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0E3ED;
  --brand-hover: #1D829E;
  --brand-pressed: #186980;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142124;
    --brand-ink: #D3E8EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FAFB',
        100: '#E8F4F8',
        200: '#CAE9F2',
        300: '#A0DDED',
        400: '#71CCE5',
        500: '#42BBDC',
        600: '#26AACE',
        700: '#239bbc',
        800: '#1A728A',
        900: '#175364',
        950: '#0E343E',
        DEFAULT: '#239bbc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FAFB,
  '100': #E8F4F8,
  '200': #CAE9F2,
  '300': #A0DDED,
  '400': #71CCE5,
  '500': #42BBDC,
  '600': #26AACE,
  '700': #239bbc,
  '800': #1A728A,
  '900': #175364,
  '950': #0E343E,
);
$brand-base: #239bbc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FAFB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E8F4F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CAE9F2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A0DDED", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#71CCE5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#42BBDC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#26AACE", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#239bbc", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1A728A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#175364", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0E343E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #239bbc · 6.49:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.24:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 6.49:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #239bbc as text scores 3.24:1 on white and 6.49:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #14596B at 2.43:1.

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
#1D7F99 · 4.62:1
AA on white−8% L
#1D7F99
The quick fox
#155F73 · 7.20:1
AAA on white−17% L
#155F73
The quick fox
#239bbc · 6.49:1
AA on blackalready passes
#239bbc
The quick fox
#25A2C4 · 7.04:1
AAA on black+2% L
#25A2C4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #239BBC 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
#239bbc on white: 3.24:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#239bbc on black: 6.49:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #239bbc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #239bbc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.24:1AaAa
Slate 503.09:1AaAa
Slate 1002.96:1AaAa
Slate 2002.63:1AaAa
Slate 3002.18:1AaAa
Slate 4001.26:1AaAa
Slate 5001.47:1AaAa
Slate 6002.34:1AaAa
Slate 7003.20:1AaAa
Slate 8004.52:1AaAa
Slate 9005.51:1AaAa
Black6.49:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #8897BE
deuteranopia · #7489BC
tritanopia · #00A5A6

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. #239bbc is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F3FAFB
#E8F4F8
#CAE9F2
#A0DDED
#71CCE5
#42BBDC
#26AACE
#239bbc
#1A728A
#175364
#0E343E
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F3FAFBDarkest = 950 · #0E343EText 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 0.028 221.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.044 221.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.066 221.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.086 221.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.101 221.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.110 221.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.110 221.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.103 221.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.092 221.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.077 221.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.061 221.7);
}

Colors that work with #239bbc

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#C0E3ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B8A9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#C01F24
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#14596B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAF7FB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142124
Dark-mode background
Hover#1D829E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#186980
Two steps down
Disabled#94B3BB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#1AB0D9
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 #239bbc

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • 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
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • 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
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #14596B
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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • 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#BC4423
Analogous left#23BC90
Analogous right#234FBC
Split-complement 1#BC234F
Split-complement 2#BC9023
Triadic 1#BC239B
Triadic 2#9BBC23
Tetradic#9023BC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°193°

#239bbc sits at 193°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red13.7%
Green60.8%
Blue73.7%
R · 0–255
35
0x23
G · 0–255
155
0x9b
B · 0–255
188
0xbc

CMYK percentages

Cyan81.4%
Magenta17.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 125%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#239bbc text on a black background

contrast 6.49:1

Card sample

#239bbc text on a white background

contrast 3.24:1

Card sample

#239bbc on grey

2.96:1

#239bbc on its own surface

3.05:1

#239bbc on its dark surface

5.10:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #239bbc;
Background color
Panel with #239bbc background
background-color: #239bbc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #239bbc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(35, 155, 188, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(35, 155, 188, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #239bbc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #239bbc, #2335BC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #239bbc, #3723BC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #239bbc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #239bbc;
caret-color: #239bbc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #239bbc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAF7FB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #239bbc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#239bbc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #239bbc 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(35, 155, 188, 0.5)
rgb(35 155 188 / 50%)
#239bbc80
hsl(193 69% 44% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #239bbc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#239bbc1a#E9F5F8
20%#239bbc33#D3EBF2
40%#239bbc66#A7D7E4
60%#239bbc99#7BC3D7
80%#239bbccc#4FAFC9

Gradients from #239bbc

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, #41BADC, #239bbc 45%, #14596B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #239bbc, #1E23A2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #239bbc, #BC4423);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #5AC4E0 0%, #239bbc 45%, #14596B 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%, #38DA9E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #284BD6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #14596B 0%, transparent 65%), #239bbc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #239bbc

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.

#239bbc 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

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

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 6.49:1.

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.

#239bbc, answered

What color is #239bbc?

#239bbc is a dark vivid cyan, closest to Cadet Blue (ΔE2000 10.8). It sits at 193° on the hue wheel with 69% saturation and 44% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #239bbc?

rgb(35, 155, 188) — 35 red, 155 green and 188 blue out of 255, or 13.7% / 60.8% / 73.7% by channel.

What is #239bbc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(193, 69%, 44%) and hsv(193, 81%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #239bbc a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2743 and perceived brightness is 53%, so black text on it reaches 6.49:1.

Should I use black or white text on #239bbc?

Black. It scores 6.49:1 against #239bbc, versus 3.24:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #239bbc accessible on a white background?

#239bbc on white scores 3.24:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #1D7F99 to reach 4.5:1, or #155F73 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #239bbc?

#BC4423 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BC234F and #BC9023, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #239bbc?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E3ED for borders, #4B8A9B for secondary text, #C01F24 as an accent and #14596B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #23BC90 and #234FBC stays calm, while #BC4423 is the loudest partner.

What is #239bbc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(81%, 18%, 0%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #239bbc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 93 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #23BCA5; nudged cooler, #2181BE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #239bbc?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 8.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #239bbc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #239bbc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#239bbc] or text-[#239bbc], 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 #239bbc with 50% opacity?

rgba(35, 155, 188, 0.5), or #239bbc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #91CDDE; over black, #124E5E.

Is #239bbc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #3399CC, ΔE2000 6.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #239bbc 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 #239bbc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #41BADC, #239bbc 45%, #14596B). For more colour, a short hue run to #1E23A2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #239bbc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #239bbc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.