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cyan · cool

#2c7697

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

Token name suggestion: Slate Reef

RGB
44, 118, 151
HSL
199°, 55%, 38%
CMYK
71, 22, 0, 41
Luminance
0.1573

#2c7697 is a dark vivid cyan, 199° on the wheel and 95/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.07:1). As text it scores 5.07:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is slate.

hsl(199 55% 38%)rgb(44 118 151)Base step 700AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #2c7697 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#2c7697
Hue
199°
cyan
Saturation
55%
vivid
Lightness
38%
dark
Brightness
59%
HSV value
Perceived
42%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1573
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
95/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
White
5.07:1
Closest name
Steel Blue
ΔE2000 8.2
Chroma
27.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.535
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
slate
500 · ΔE 11.5
Web-safe
#336699
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue199° of 360°
Saturation55%
Lightness38%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #2c7697.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool95% 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
Red3%
Green82%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#2c7697
HEX (8-digit)#2c7697ff
RGBrgb(44, 118, 151)
RGBArgba(44, 118, 151, 1)
HSLhsl(199, 55%, 38%)
HSV / HSBhsv(199, 71%, 59%)
HWBhwb(199 17% 41%)
CMYKcmyk(71%, 22%, 0%, 41%)
LABlab(46.6 -11.6 -24.5)
LCHlch(46.6 27.1 244.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.535 0.088 231.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(13.10, 15.73, 31.62)
Decimal2913943
Display P3color(display-p3 0.173 0.463 0.592)
Web-safe#336699

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #2c7697;
background-color: #2c7697;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #2c7697;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#2c7697] bg-[#2c7697]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #2c7697;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.173, green: 0.463, blue: 0.592)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.173, green: 0.463, blue: 0.592, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#2C7697</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF2C7697)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF2C7697)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(151, 118, 44)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(44, 118, 151)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(44, 118, 151)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 44, 118, 151)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1725f, 0.4627f, 0.5922f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{44,118,151}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #2c7697 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #2c7697 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1D4D63, #D3E6EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #2c7697 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: #F4F9FB;
  --brand-100: #E9F2F6;
  --brand-200: #CEE4EE;
  --brand-300: #A8D3E6;
  --brand-400: #7DBDD9;
  --brand-500: #51A6CC;
  --brand-600: #3794BE;
  --brand-700: #2c7697;
  --brand-800: #25637E;
  --brand-900: #1E495C;
  --brand-950: #132E3A;
  --brand: #2c7697;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DFED;
  --brand-hover: #24607B;
  --brand-pressed: #1C4B60;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141F24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E6EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F9FB',
        100: '#E9F2F6',
        200: '#CEE4EE',
        300: '#A8D3E6',
        400: '#7DBDD9',
        500: '#51A6CC',
        600: '#3794BE',
        700: '#2c7697',
        800: '#25637E',
        900: '#1E495C',
        950: '#132E3A',
        DEFAULT: '#2c7697',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F9FB,
  '100': #E9F2F6,
  '200': #CEE4EE,
  '300': #A8D3E6,
  '400': #7DBDD9,
  '500': #51A6CC,
  '600': #3794BE,
  '700': #2c7697,
  '800': #25637E,
  '900': #1E495C,
  '950': #132E3A,
);
$brand-base: #2c7697;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F9FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9F2F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CEE4EE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A8D3E6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7DBDD9", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#51A6CC", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3794BE", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2c7697", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#25637E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1E495C", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#132E3A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#ffffff", "$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#ffffff on #2c7697 · 5.07:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.07:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 4.15:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #2c7697 as text scores 5.07:1 on white and 4.15:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #EBF5F9 at 4.57:1.

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
#2c7697 · 5.07:1
AA on whitealready passes
#2c7697
The quick fox
#235D77 · 7.23:1
AAA on white−8% L
#235D77
The quick fox
#2E7C9F · 4.50:1
AA on black+2% L
#2E7C9F
The quick fox
#429FC8 · 7.02:1
AAA on black+14% L
#429FC8

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #2C7697 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
#2c7697 on white: 5.07:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#2c7697 on black: 4.15:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #2c7697 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #2c7697.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.07:1AaAa
Slate 504.84:1AaAa
Slate 1004.62:1AaAa
Slate 2004.11:1AaAa
Slate 3003.41:1AaAa
Slate 4001.98:1AaAa
Slate 5001.06:1AaAa
Slate 6001.50:1AaAa
Slate 7002.04:1AaAa
Slate 8002.89:1AaAa
Slate 9003.52:1AaAa
Black4.15:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #657499
deuteranopia · #576A97
tritanopia · #007F81

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. #2c7697 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.

#F4F9FB
#E9F2F6
#CEE4EE
#A8D3E6
#7DBDD9
#51A6CC
#3794BE
#2c7697
#25637E
#1E495C
#132E3A
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F4F9FBDarkest = 950 · #132E3AText step on white = 700
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 0.022 231.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.035 231.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.053 231.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.069 231.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.081 231.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.088 231.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.088 231.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.083 231.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.074 231.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.062 231.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.049 231.1);
}

Colors that work with #2c7697

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#ffffff
White wins here
Surface#F4F9FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0DFED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B829B
Captions on the surface
Accent#9B2F28
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1D4D63
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBF5F9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141F24
Dark-mode background
Hover#24607B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#1C4B60
Two steps down
Disabled#83A2B0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#2686B1
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 #2c7697

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • 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
  • 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
Any size
Safe as a fill behind white type
Yes
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
  • Weight62/100
  • 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#974D2C
Analogous left#2C9782
Analogous right#2C4097
Split-complement 1#972C40
Split-complement 2#97822C
Triadic 1#972C76
Triadic 2#76972C
Tetradic#822C97
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°199°

#2c7697 sits at 199°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red17.3%
Green46.3%
Blue59.2%
R · 0–255
44
0x2c
G · 0–255
118
0x76
B · 0–255
151
0x97

CMYK percentages

Cyan70.9%
Magenta21.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)40.8%

Total ink coverage is 134%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#2c7697 text on a black background

contrast 4.15:1

Card sample

#2c7697 text on a white background

contrast 5.07:1

Card sample

#2c7697 on grey

4.62:1

#2c7697 on its own surface

4.77:1

#2c7697 on its dark surface

3.31:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #2c7697;
Background color
Panel with #2c7697 background
background-color: #2c7697;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #2c7697;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(44, 118, 151, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(44, 118, 151, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #2c7697;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #2c7697, #2C2F97);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2c7697, #442C97);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #2c7697;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #2c7697;
caret-color: #2c7697;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #2c7697;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBF5F9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #2c7697;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#2c7697 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #2c7697 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(44, 118, 151, 0.5)
rgb(44 118 151 / 50%)
#2c769780
hsl(199 55% 38% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #2c7697 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#2c76971a#EAF1F5
20%#2c769733#D5E4EA
40%#2c769766#ABC8D5
60%#2c769799#80ADC1
80%#2c7697cc#5691AC

Gradients from #2c7697

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, #3A9BC6, #2c7697 45%, #1D4D63);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #2c7697, #2A257F);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #2c7697, #974D2C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #52A7CD 0%, #2c7697 45%, #1D4D63 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%, #37BE99 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #3340AF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1D4D63 0%, transparent 65%), #2c7697;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #2c7697

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.

#2c7697 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

Too dim on dark surfaces at 4.15:1 — lift it to #2E7C9F for body text, or reserve it for fills.

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.

#2c7697, answered

What color is #2c7697?

#2c7697 is a dark vivid cyan, closest to Steel Blue (ΔE2000 8.2). It sits at 199° on the hue wheel with 55% saturation and 38% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #2c7697?

rgb(44, 118, 151) — 44 red, 118 green and 151 blue out of 255, or 17.3% / 46.3% / 59.2% by channel.

What is #2c7697 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(199, 55%, 38%) and hsv(199, 71%, 59%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #2c7697 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1573 and perceived brightness is 42%, so white text on it reaches 5.07:1.

Should I use black or white text on #2c7697?

White. It scores 5.07:1 against #2c7697, versus 4.15:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #2c7697 accessible on a white background?

#2c7697 on white scores 5.07:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #2c7697?

#974D2C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #972C40 and #97822C, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #2c7697?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0DFED for borders, #4B829B for secondary text, #9B2F28 as an accent and #1D4D63 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #2C9782 and #2C4097 stays calm, while #974D2C is the loudest partner.

What is #2c7697 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(71%, 22%, 0%, 41%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #2c7697 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 95 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #2C9791; nudged cooler, #2A6799.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #2c7697?

The slate family — its 500 step is #64748b, ΔE2000 11.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #2c7697 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #2c7697 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#2c7697] or text-[#2c7697], 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 #2c7697 with 50% opacity?

rgba(44, 118, 151, 0.5), or #2c769780 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #96BBCB; over black, #163B4C.

Is #2c7697 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #336699, ΔE2000 9.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #2c7697 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 #2c7697?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #3A9BC6, #2c7697 45%, #1D4D63). For more colour, a short hue run to #2A257F keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #2c7697 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #2c7697 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.