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cyan · cool

#23dffc

a balanced, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Sky Blue

Token name suggestion: True Teal

RGB
35, 223, 252
HSL
188°, 97%, 56%
CMYK
86, 12, 0, 1
Luminance
0.6016

#23dffc is a balanced electric cyan, 188° on the wheel and 91/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.03:1). As text it scores 1.61:1 on white — use #028093 instead. Nearest name is Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(188 97% 56%)rgb(35 223 252)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #23dffc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#23dffc
Hue
188°
cyan
Saturation
97%
electric
Lightness
56%
balanced
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6016
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
91/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
13.03:1
Closest name
Sky Blue
ΔE2000 8.9
Chroma
42.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.831
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 10.3
Web-safe
#33CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue188° of 360°
Saturation97%
Lightness56%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #23dffc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool91% 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%
Green88%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#23dffc
HEX (8-digit)#23dffcff
RGBrgb(35, 223, 252)
RGBArgba(35, 223, 252, 1)
HSLhsl(188, 97%, 56%)
HSV / HSBhsv(188, 86%, 99%)
HWBhwb(188 14% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(86%, 12%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(81.9 -33.4 -26.4)
LCHlch(81.9 42.6 218.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.831 0.140 211.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(44.64, 60.16, 101.33)
Decimal2351100
Display P3color(display-p3 0.137 0.875 0.988)
Web-safe#33CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #23dffc;
background-color: #23dffc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #23dffc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#23dffc] bg-[#23dffc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #23dffc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.137, green: 0.875, blue: 0.988)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.137, green: 0.875, blue: 0.988, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#23DFFC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF23DFFC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF23DFFC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(252, 223, 35)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(35, 223, 252)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(35, 223, 252)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 35, 223, 252)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1373f, 0.8745f, 0.9882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{35,223,252}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #23dffc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #23dffc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#026D7E, #D3EAEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #23dffc 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: #F1FCFD;
  --brand-100: #E4F9FC;
  --brand-200: #C1F3FB;
  --brand-300: #90EFFD;
  --brand-400: #59E7FD;
  --brand-500: #23dffc;
  --brand-600: #03D2F1;
  --brand-700: #03AFC9;
  --brand-800: #028CA1;
  --brand-900: #066574;
  --brand-950: #043F48;
  --brand: #23dffc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0E7ED;
  --brand-hover: #03D7F8;
  --brand-pressed: #03B9D5;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142224;
    --brand-ink: #D3EAEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1FCFD',
        100: '#E4F9FC',
        200: '#C1F3FB',
        300: '#90EFFD',
        400: '#59E7FD',
        500: '#23dffc',
        600: '#03D2F1',
        700: '#03AFC9',
        800: '#028CA1',
        900: '#066574',
        950: '#043F48',
        DEFAULT: '#23dffc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1FCFD,
  '100': #E4F9FC,
  '200': #C1F3FB,
  '300': #90EFFD,
  '400': #59E7FD,
  '500': #23dffc,
  '600': #03D2F1,
  '700': #03AFC9,
  '800': #028CA1,
  '900': #066574,
  '950': #043F48,
);
$brand-base: #23dffc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1FCFD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4F9FC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C1F3FB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#90EFFD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#59E7FD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#23dffc", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#03D2F1", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#03AFC9", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#028CA1", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#066574", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#043F48", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #23dffc · 13.03:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.61:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.03:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #23dffc as text scores 1.61:1 on white and 13.03:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #026D7E at 3.73:1.

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
#028093 · 4.65:1
AA on white−27% L
#028093
The quick fox
#026170 · 7.13:1
AAA on white−34% L
#026170
The quick fox
#23dffc · 13.03:1
AA on blackalready passes
#23dffc
The quick fox
#23dffc · 13.03:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#23dffc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #03A3BC 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
#23dffc on white: 1.61:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#23dffc on black: 13.03:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #23dffc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #23dffc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.61:1AaAa
Slate 501.54:1AaAa
Slate 1001.47:1AaAa
Slate 2001.31:1AaAa
Slate 3001.09:1AaAa
Slate 4001.59:1AaAa
Slate 5002.95:1AaAa
Slate 6004.70:1AaAa
Slate 7006.43:1AaAa
Slate 8009.08:1AaAa
Slate 90011.08:1AaAa
Black13.03:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C8D7FE
deuteranopia · #ADC3FC
tritanopia · #00EBE8

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. #23dffc 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.

#F1FCFD
#E4F9FC
#C1F3FB
#90EFFD
#59E7FD
#23dffc
#03D2F1
#03AFC9
#028CA1
#066574
#043F48
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F1FCFDDarkest = 950 · #043F48Text 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 0.035 211.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.056 211.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.084 211.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.109 211.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.129 211.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.140 211.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.140 211.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.132 211.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.118 211.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.098 211.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.077 211.8);
}

Colors that work with #23dffc

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#4B909B
Captions on the surface
Accent#FF203A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#026D7E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6FBFF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142224
Dark-mode background
Hover#03D7F8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#03B9D5
Two steps down
Disabled#BBD1D4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#35E4FF
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 #23dffc

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 #026D7E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #03A3BC

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
  • Weight44/100
  • 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#FC4023
Analogous left#23FCAC
Analogous right#2373FC
Split-complement 1#FC2373
Split-complement 2#FCAC23
Triadic 1#FC23DF
Triadic 2#DFFC23
Tetradic#AC23FC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°188°

#23dffc sits at 188°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red13.7%
Green87.5%
Blue98.8%
R · 0–255
35
0x23
G · 0–255
223
0xdf
B · 0–255
252
0xfc

CMYK percentages

Cyan86.1%
Magenta11.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)1.2%

Total ink coverage is 99%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#23dffc text on a black background

contrast 13.03:1

Card sample

#23dffc text on a white background

contrast 1.61:1

Card sample

#23dffc on grey

1.47:1

#23dffc on its own surface

1.53:1

#23dffc on its dark surface

10.15:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #23dffc;
Background color
Panel with #23dffc background
background-color: #23dffc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #23dffc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(35, 223, 252, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(35, 223, 252, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #23dffc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #23dffc, #234FFC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #23dffc, #2E23FC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #23dffc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #23dffc;
caret-color: #23dffc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #23dffc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6FBFF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #23dffc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#23dffc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #23dffc 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, 223, 252, 0.5)
rgb(35 223 252 / 50%)
#23dffc80
hsl(188 97% 56% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #23dffc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#23dffc1a#E9FCFF
20%#23dffc33#D3F9FE
40%#23dffc66#A7F2FE
60%#23dffc99#7BECFD
80%#23dffccc#4FE5FD

Gradients from #23dffc

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, #60E8FD, #23dffc 45%, #026D7E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #23dffc, #0522FC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #23dffc, #FC4023);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #7EECFD 0%, #23dffc 45%, #026D7E 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%, #55FDB1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #4176FC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #026D7E 0%, transparent 65%), #23dffc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #23dffc

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.

#23dffc 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 13.03:1.

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.

#23dffc, answered

What color is #23dffc?

#23dffc is a balanced electric cyan, closest to Sky Blue (ΔE2000 8.9). It sits at 188° on the hue wheel with 97% saturation and 56% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #23dffc?

rgb(35, 223, 252) — 35 red, 223 green and 252 blue out of 255, or 13.7% / 87.5% / 98.8% by channel.

What is #23dffc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(188, 97%, 56%) and hsv(188, 86%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #23dffc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6016 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 13.03:1.

Should I use black or white text on #23dffc?

Black. It scores 13.03:1 against #23dffc, versus 1.61:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #23dffc accessible on a white background?

#23dffc on white scores 1.61:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #028093 to reach 4.5:1, or #026170 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #23dffc?

#FC4023 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FC2373 and #FCAC23, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #23dffc?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0E7ED for borders, #4B909B for secondary text, #FF203A as an accent and #026D7E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #23FCAC and #2373FC stays calm, while #FC4023 is the loudest partner.

What is #23dffc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(86%, 12%, 0%, 1%). 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 #23dffc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 91 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #23FCC9; nudged cooler, #21B7FE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #23dffc?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 10.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #23dffc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #23dffc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#23dffc] or text-[#23dffc], 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 #23dffc with 50% opacity?

rgba(35, 223, 252, 0.5), or #23dffc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #91EFFE; over black, #12707E.

Is #23dffc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33CCFF, ΔE2000 8.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #23dffc 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 #23dffc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #60E8FD, #23dffc 45%, #026D7E). For more colour, a short hue run to #0522FC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #23dffc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #23dffc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.