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cyan · cool

#2ad2dc

a balanced, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Dark Turquoise

Token name suggestion: True Reef

RGB
42, 210, 220
HSL
183°, 72%, 51%
CMYK
81, 5, 0, 14
Luminance
0.5175

#2ad2dc is a balanced vivid cyan, 183° on the wheel and 89/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.35:1). As text it scores 1.85:1 on white — use #17838A instead. Nearest name is Dark Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(183 72% 51%)rgb(42 210 220)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #2ad2dc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#2ad2dc
Hue
183°
cyan
Saturation
72%
vivid
Lightness
51%
balanced
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
70%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5175
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
89/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
11.35:1
Closest name
Dark Turquoise
ΔE2000 2.9
Chroma
40.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.789
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 9.9
Web-safe
#33CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue183° of 360°
Saturation72%
Lightness51%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #2ad2dc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool89% 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%
Green89%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#2ad2dc
HEX (8-digit)#2ad2dcff
RGBrgb(42, 210, 220)
RGBArgba(42, 210, 220, 1)
HSLhsl(183, 72%, 51%)
HSV / HSBhsv(183, 81%, 86%)
HWBhwb(183 16% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(81%, 5%, 0%, 14%)
LABlab(77.1 -36.6 -16.6)
LCHlch(77.1 40.2 204.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.789 0.127 201.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(36.91, 51.75, 75.74)
Decimal2806492
Display P3color(display-p3 0.165 0.824 0.863)
Web-safe#33CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #2ad2dc;
background-color: #2ad2dc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #2ad2dc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#2ad2dc] bg-[#2ad2dc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #2ad2dc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.165, green: 0.824, blue: 0.863)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.165, green: 0.824, blue: 0.863, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#2AD2DC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF2AD2DC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF2AD2DC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(220, 210, 42)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(42, 210, 220)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(42, 210, 220)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 42, 210, 220)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1647f, 0.8235f, 0.8627f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{42,210,220}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #2ad2dc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #2ad2dc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#12686E, #D3EDEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #2ad2dc 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: #F3FBFC;
  --brand-100: #E7F7F8;
  --brand-200: #C9F0F3;
  --brand-300: #9FEBEF;
  --brand-400: #6EE0E7;
  --brand-500: #3ED6DF;
  --brand-600: #2ad2dc;
  --brand-700: #1DA7AF;
  --brand-800: #17868C;
  --brand-900: #156166;
  --brand-950: #0D3D40;
  --brand: #2ad2dc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EAED;
  --brand-hover: #20B9C3;
  --brand-pressed: #1B9CA4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EDEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FBFC',
        100: '#E7F7F8',
        200: '#C9F0F3',
        300: '#9FEBEF',
        400: '#6EE0E7',
        500: '#3ED6DF',
        600: '#2ad2dc',
        700: '#1DA7AF',
        800: '#17868C',
        900: '#156166',
        950: '#0D3D40',
        DEFAULT: '#2ad2dc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FBFC,
  '100': #E7F7F8,
  '200': #C9F0F3,
  '300': #9FEBEF,
  '400': #6EE0E7,
  '500': #3ED6DF,
  '600': #2ad2dc,
  '700': #1DA7AF,
  '800': #17868C,
  '900': #156166,
  '950': #0D3D40,
);
$brand-base: #2ad2dc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FBFC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C9F0F3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#9FEBEF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#6EE0E7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3ED6DF", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2ad2dc", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#1DA7AF", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#17868C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#156166", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0D3D40", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #2ad2dc · 11.35:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.85:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.35:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #2ad2dc as text scores 1.85:1 on white and 11.35:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #12686E at 3.51:1.

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
#17838A · 4.52:1
AA on white−20% L
#17838A
The quick fox
#116267 · 7.08:1
AAA on white−28% L
#116267
The quick fox
#2ad2dc · 11.35:1
AA on blackalready passes
#2ad2dc
The quick fox
#2ad2dc · 11.35:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#2ad2dc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #1CA4AD 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
#2ad2dc on white: 1.85:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#2ad2dc on black: 11.35:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #2ad2dc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #2ad2dc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.85:1AaAa
Slate 501.77:1AaAa
Slate 1001.69:1AaAa
Slate 2001.50:1AaAa
Slate 3001.25:1AaAa
Slate 4001.39:1AaAa
Slate 5002.57:1AaAa
Slate 6004.10:1AaAa
Slate 7005.60:1AaAa
Slate 8007.91:1AaAa
Slate 9009.65:1AaAa
Black11.35:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C1C8DD
deuteranopia · #AAB7DD
tritanopia · #00DAD5

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. #2ad2dc 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.

#F3FBFC
#E7F7F8
#C9F0F3
#9FEBEF
#6EE0E7
#3ED6DF
#2ad2dc
#1DA7AF
#17868C
#156166
#0D3D40
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F3FBFCDarkest = 950 · #0D3D40Text 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 0.032 201.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.051 201.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.076 201.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.099 201.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.117 201.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.127 201.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.127 201.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.120 201.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.107 201.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.089 201.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.070 201.3);
}

Colors that work with #2ad2dc

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#C0EAED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B969B
Captions on the surface
Accent#E12549
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#12686E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9FAFB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#20B9C3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#1B9CA4
Two steps down
Disabled#ACC8CA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#30E0EA
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 #2ad2dc

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 #12686E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #1CA4AD

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 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight49/100
  • 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#DC342A
Analogous left#2ADC8D
Analogous right#2A79DC
Split-complement 1#DC2A79
Split-complement 2#DC8D2A
Triadic 1#DC2AD2
Triadic 2#D2DC2A
Tetradic#8D2ADC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°183°

#2ad2dc sits at 183°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red16.5%
Green82.4%
Blue86.3%
R · 0–255
42
0x2a
G · 0–255
210
0xd2
B · 0–255
220
0xdc

CMYK percentages

Cyan80.9%
Magenta4.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)13.7%

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

Color previews

#2ad2dc text on a black background

contrast 11.35:1

Card sample

#2ad2dc text on a white background

contrast 1.85:1

Card sample

#2ad2dc on grey

1.69:1

#2ad2dc on its own surface

1.75:1

#2ad2dc on its dark surface

8.68:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #2ad2dc;
Background color
Panel with #2ad2dc background
background-color: #2ad2dc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #2ad2dc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(42, 210, 220, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(42, 210, 220, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #2ad2dc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #2ad2dc, #2A5BDC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2ad2dc, #2A2FDC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #2ad2dc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #2ad2dc;
caret-color: #2ad2dc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #2ad2dc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9FAFB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #2ad2dc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#2ad2dc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #2ad2dc 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(42, 210, 220, 0.5)
rgb(42 210 220 / 50%)
#2ad2dc80
hsl(183 72% 51% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #2ad2dc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#2ad2dc1a#EAFBFC
20%#2ad2dc33#D4F6F8
40%#2ad2dc66#AAEDF1
60%#2ad2dc99#7FE4EA
80%#2ad2dccc#55DBE3

Gradients from #2ad2dc

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, #5FDDE5, #2ad2dc 45%, #12686E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #2ad2dc, #2141C7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2ad2dc, #DC342A);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #79E3E9 0%, #2ad2dc 45%, #12686E 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%, #56E399 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #447DE0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #12686E 0%, transparent 65%), #2ad2dc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #2ad2dc

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.

#2ad2dc 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 11.35:1.

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.

#2ad2dc, answered

What color is #2ad2dc?

#2ad2dc is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Dark Turquoise (ΔE2000 2.9). It sits at 183° on the hue wheel with 72% saturation and 51% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #2ad2dc?

rgb(42, 210, 220) — 42 red, 210 green and 220 blue out of 255, or 16.5% / 82.4% / 86.3% by channel.

What is #2ad2dc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(183, 72%, 51%) and hsv(183, 81%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #2ad2dc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5175 and perceived brightness is 70%, so black text on it reaches 11.35:1.

Should I use black or white text on #2ad2dc?

Black. It scores 11.35:1 against #2ad2dc, versus 1.85:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #2ad2dc accessible on a white background?

#2ad2dc on white scores 1.85:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #17838A to reach 4.5:1, or #116267 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #2ad2dc?

#DC342A sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DC2A79 and #DC8D2A, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #2ad2dc?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EAED for borders, #4B969B for secondary text, #E12549 as an accent and #12686E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #2ADC8D and #2A79DC stays calm, while #DC342A is the loudest partner.

What is #2ad2dc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(81%, 5%, 0%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #2ad2dc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 89 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #2ADCA5; nudged cooler, #28A7DF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #2ad2dc?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 9.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #2ad2dc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #2ad2dc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#2ad2dc] or text-[#2ad2dc], 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 #2ad2dc with 50% opacity?

rgba(42, 210, 220, 0.5), or #2ad2dc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #95E9EE; over black, #15696E.

Is #2ad2dc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33CCCC, ΔE2000 3.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #2ad2dc 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 #2ad2dc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #5FDDE5, #2ad2dc 45%, #12686E). For more colour, a short hue run to #2141C7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #2ad2dc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #2ad2dc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.