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cyan · cool

#249bbc

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

Token name suggestion: Dusk Teal

RGB
36, 155, 188
HSL
193°, 68%, 44%
CMYK
81, 18, 0, 26
Luminance
0.2745

#249bbc 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 68% 44%)rgb(36 155 188)Base step 700AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #249bbc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#249bbc
Hue
193°
cyan
Saturation
68%
vivid
Lightness
44%
dark
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
53%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2745
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
0.642
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 8.2
Web-safe
#3399CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue193° of 360°
Saturation68%
Lightness44%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #249bbc.

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#249bbc
HEX (8-digit)#249bbcff
RGBrgb(36, 155, 188)
RGBArgba(36, 155, 188, 1)
HSLhsl(193, 68%, 44%)
HSV / HSBhsv(193, 81%, 74%)
HWBhwb(193 14% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(81%, 18%, 0%, 26%)
LABlab(59.4 -20.2 -26.1)
LCHlch(59.4 33.0 232.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.642 0.110 221.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(21.52, 27.45, 51.73)
Decimal2399164
Display P3color(display-p3 0.141 0.608 0.737)
Web-safe#3399CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #249bbc;
background-color: #249bbc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #249bbc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#249bbc] bg-[#249bbc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #249bbc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.141, green: 0.608, blue: 0.737)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.141, green: 0.608, blue: 0.737, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#249BBC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF249BBC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF249BBC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(188, 155, 36)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(36, 155, 188)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(36, 155, 188)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 36, 155, 188)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1412f, 0.6078f, 0.7373f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{36,155,188}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #249bbc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #249bbc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#14586B, #D3E8EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #249bbc 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: #A1DCED;
  --brand-400: #72CBE4;
  --brand-500: #43BADB;
  --brand-600: #27A9CE;
  --brand-700: #249bbc;
  --brand-800: #1A7189;
  --brand-900: #175363;
  --brand-950: #0E343E;
  --brand: #249bbc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0E3ED;
  --brand-hover: #1E829E;
  --brand-pressed: #186A80;
}
@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: '#A1DCED',
        400: '#72CBE4',
        500: '#43BADB',
        600: '#27A9CE',
        700: '#249bbc',
        800: '#1A7189',
        900: '#175363',
        950: '#0E343E',
        DEFAULT: '#249bbc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FAFB,
  '100': #E8F4F8,
  '200': #CAE9F2,
  '300': #A1DCED,
  '400': #72CBE4,
  '500': #43BADB,
  '600': #27A9CE,
  '700': #249bbc,
  '800': #1A7189,
  '900': #175363,
  '950': #0E343E,
);
$brand-base: #249bbc;
$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": "#A1DCED", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#72CBE4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#43BADB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#27A9CE", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#249bbc", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1A7189", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#175363", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$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 #249bbc · 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: #249bbc 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: #14586B at 2.46:1.

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
#1D7F9A · 4.61:1
AA on white−8% L
#1D7F9A
The quick fox
#165F73 · 7.20:1
AAA on white−17% L
#165F73
The quick fox
#249bbc · 6.49:1
AA on blackalready passes
#249bbc
The quick fox
#26A2C5 · 7.06:1
AAA on black+2% L
#26A2C5

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #249BBC 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
#249bbc on white: 3.24:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#249bbc on black: 6.49:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #249bbc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #249bbc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.24:1AaAa
Slate 503.09:1AaAa
Slate 1002.95:1AaAa
Slate 2002.62:1AaAa
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 9005.52:1AaAa
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. #249bbc 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
#A1DCED
#72CBE4
#43BADB
#27A9CE
#249bbc
#1A7189
#175363
#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 0.027 221.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.044 221.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.066 221.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.086 221.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.101 221.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.110 221.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.110 221.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.103 221.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.092 221.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.077 221.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.060 221.8);
}

Colors that work with #249bbc

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#C01F25
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#14586B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAF7FB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142124
Dark-mode background
Hover#1E829E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#186A80
Two steps down
Disabled#95B3BB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#1BB0D9
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 #249bbc

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 #14586B
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#BC4524
Analogous left#24BC91
Analogous right#244FBC
Split-complement 1#BC244F
Split-complement 2#BC9124
Triadic 1#BC249B
Triadic 2#9BBC24
Tetradic#9124BC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°193°

#249bbc sits at 193°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red14.1%
Green60.8%
Blue73.7%
R · 0–255
36
0x24
G · 0–255
155
0x9b
B · 0–255
188
0xbc

CMYK percentages

Cyan80.9%
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

#249bbc text on a black background

contrast 6.49:1

Card sample

#249bbc text on a white background

contrast 3.24:1

Card sample

#249bbc on grey

2.95:1

#249bbc on its own surface

3.05:1

#249bbc on its dark surface

5.10:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #249bbc;
Background color
Panel with #249bbc background
background-color: #249bbc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #249bbc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(36, 155, 188, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(36, 155, 188, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #249bbc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #249bbc, #2436BC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #249bbc, #3824BC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #249bbc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #249bbc;
caret-color: #249bbc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #249bbc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAF7FB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #249bbc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#249bbc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #249bbc 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(36, 155, 188, 0.5)
rgb(36 155 188 / 50%)
#249bbc80
hsl(193 68% 44% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #249bbc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#249bbc1a#E9F5F8
20%#249bbc33#D3EBF2
40%#249bbc66#A7D7E4
60%#249bbc99#7CC3D7
80%#249bbccc#50AFC9

Gradients from #249bbc

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, #42BADB, #249bbc 45%, #14586B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #249bbc, #1F23A2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #249bbc, #BC4524);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #5CC3E0 0%, #249bbc 45%, #14586B 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%, #3AD99F 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #294BD6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #14586B 0%, transparent 65%), #249bbc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #249bbc

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.

#249bbc 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.

#249bbc, answered

What color is #249bbc?

#249bbc is a dark vivid cyan, closest to Cadet Blue (ΔE2000 10.8). It sits at 193° on the hue wheel with 68% saturation and 44% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #249bbc?

rgb(36, 155, 188) — 36 red, 155 green and 188 blue out of 255, or 14.1% / 60.8% / 73.7% by channel.

What is #249bbc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(193, 68%, 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 #249bbc a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2745 and perceived brightness is 53%, so black text on it reaches 6.49:1.

Should I use black or white text on #249bbc?

Black. It scores 6.49:1 against #249bbc, versus 3.24:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #249bbc accessible on a white background?

#249bbc on white scores 3.24:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #1D7F9A to reach 4.5:1, or #165F73 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #249bbc?

#BC4524 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BC244F and #BC9124, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #249bbc?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E3ED for borders, #4B8A9B for secondary text, #C01F25 as an accent and #14586B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #24BC91 and #244FBC stays calm, while #BC4524 is the loudest partner.

What is #249bbc 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 #249bbc 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 #24BCA5; nudged cooler, #2281BE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #249bbc?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 8.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #249bbc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #249bbc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#249bbc] or text-[#249bbc], 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 #249bbc with 50% opacity?

rgba(36, 155, 188, 0.5), or #249bbc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #92CDDE; over black, #124E5E.

Is #249bbc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #3399CC, ΔE2000 6.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #249bbc 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 #249bbc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #42BADB, #249bbc 45%, #14586B). For more colour, a short hue run to #1F23A2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #249bbc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #249bbc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.