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cyan · cool

#32adcd

a balanced, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Deep Sky Blue

Token name suggestion: Studio Glacier

RGB
50, 173, 205
HSL
192°, 61%, 50%
CMYK
76, 16, 0, 20
Luminance
0.3497

#32adcd is a balanced vivid cyan, 192° on the wheel and 93/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.99:1). As text it scores 2.63:1 on white — use #258098 instead. Nearest name is Deep Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(192 61% 50%)rgb(50 173 205)Base step 600AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #32adcd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#32adcd
Hue
192°
cyan
Saturation
61%
vivid
Lightness
50%
balanced
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
60%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3497
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
93/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
7.99:1
Closest name
Deep Sky Blue
ΔE2000 9.1
Chroma
34.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.695
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 3.2
Web-safe
#3399CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue192° of 360°
Saturation61%
Lightness50%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #32adcd.

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
Red2%
Green85%
Blue13%

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

Every format

HEX#32adcd
HEX (8-digit)#32adcdff
RGBrgb(50, 173, 205)
RGBArgba(50, 173, 205, 1)
HSLhsl(192, 61%, 50%)
HSV / HSBhsv(192, 76%, 80%)
HWBhwb(192 20% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(76%, 16%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(65.7 -22.5 -25.8)
LCHlch(65.7 34.2 228.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.695 0.113 219.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(27.27, 34.97, 63.06)
Decimal3321293
Display P3color(display-p3 0.196 0.678 0.804)
Web-safe#3399CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #32adcd;
background-color: #32adcd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #32adcd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#32adcd] bg-[#32adcd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #32adcd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.196, green: 0.678, blue: 0.804)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.196, green: 0.678, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#32ADCD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF32ADCD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF32ADCD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 173, 50)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(50, 173, 205)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(50, 173, 205)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 50, 173, 205)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.1961f, 0.6784f, 0.8039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{50,173,205}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #32adcd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #32adcd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#195667, #D3E8EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #32adcd 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: #E8F4F7;
  --brand-200: #CCE8F0;
  --brand-300: #A5DBE9;
  --brand-400: #78C9DE;
  --brand-500: #4BB7D3;
  --brand-600: #32adcd;
  --brand-700: #288AA4;
  --brand-800: #206F83;
  --brand-900: #1B515F;
  --brand-950: #11333C;
  --brand: #32adcd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0E3ED;
  --brand-hover: #2B95B0;
  --brand-pressed: #247D94;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142124;
    --brand-ink: #D3E8EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F9FB',
        100: '#E8F4F7',
        200: '#CCE8F0',
        300: '#A5DBE9',
        400: '#78C9DE',
        500: '#4BB7D3',
        600: '#32adcd',
        700: '#288AA4',
        800: '#206F83',
        900: '#1B515F',
        950: '#11333C',
        DEFAULT: '#32adcd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F9FB,
  '100': #E8F4F7,
  '200': #CCE8F0,
  '300': #A5DBE9,
  '400': #78C9DE,
  '500': #4BB7D3,
  '600': #32adcd,
  '700': #288AA4,
  '800': #206F83,
  '900': #1B515F,
  '950': #11333C,
);
$brand-base: #32adcd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F9FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E8F4F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CCE8F0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A5DBE9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#78C9DE", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4BB7D3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#32adcd", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#288AA4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#206F83", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1B515F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#11333C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #32adcd · 7.99:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.63:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.99:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #32adcd as text scores 2.63:1 on white and 7.99:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #195667 at 3.11:1.

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
#258098 · 4.55:1
AA on white−13% L
#258098
The quick fox
#1B5D6F · 7.39:1
AAA on white−23% L
#1B5D6F
The quick fox
#32adcd · 7.99:1
AA on blackalready passes
#32adcd
The quick fox
#32adcd · 7.99:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#32adcd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #2E9FBD 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
#32adcd on white: 2.63:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#32adcd on black: 7.99:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #32adcd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #32adcd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.63:1AaAa
Slate 502.51:1AaAa
Slate 1002.40:1AaAa
Slate 2002.13:1AaAa
Slate 3001.77:1AaAa
Slate 4001.02:1AaAa
Slate 5001.81:1AaAa
Slate 6002.88:1AaAa
Slate 7003.94:1AaAa
Slate 8005.57:1AaAa
Slate 9006.80:1AaAa
Black7.99:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #99A8CF
deuteranopia · #8499CD
tritanopia · #00B8B7

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. #32adcd 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.

#F4F9FB
#E8F4F7
#CCE8F0
#A5DBE9
#78C9DE
#4BB7D3
#32adcd
#288AA4
#206F83
#1B515F
#11333C
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F4F9FBDarkest = 950 · #11333CText 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 0.028 219.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.045 219.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.068 219.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.088 219.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.104 219.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.113 219.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.113 219.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.106 219.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.095 219.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.079 219.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.062 219.6);
}

Colors that work with #32adcd

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#D22D34
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#195667
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAF7FA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142124
Dark-mode background
Hover#2B95B0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#247D94
Two steps down
Disabled#A8C1C7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#37BADD
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 #32adcd

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 #195667
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #2E9FBD

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
  • Weight50/100
  • 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#CD5232
Analogous left#32CDA0
Analogous right#325FCD
Split-complement 1#CD325F
Split-complement 2#CDA032
Triadic 1#CD32AD
Triadic 2#ADCD32
Tetradic#A032CD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°192°

#32adcd sits at 192°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red19.6%
Green67.8%
Blue80.4%
R · 0–255
50
0x32
G · 0–255
173
0xad
B · 0–255
205
0xcd

CMYK percentages

Cyan75.6%
Magenta15.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 111%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#32adcd text on a black background

contrast 7.99:1

Card sample

#32adcd text on a white background

contrast 2.63:1

Card sample

#32adcd on grey

2.40:1

#32adcd on its own surface

2.47:1

#32adcd on its dark surface

6.28:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #32adcd;
Background color
Panel with #32adcd background
background-color: #32adcd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #32adcd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(50, 173, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(50, 173, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #32adcd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #32adcd, #3246CD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #32adcd, #4532CD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #32adcd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #32adcd;
caret-color: #32adcd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #32adcd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAF7FA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #32adcd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#32adcd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #32adcd 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(50, 173, 205, 0.5)
rgb(50 173 205 / 50%)
#32adcd80
hsl(192 61% 50% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #32adcd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#32adcd1a#EBF7FA
20%#32adcd33#D6EFF5
40%#32adcd66#ADDEEB
60%#32adcd99#84CEE1
80%#32adcdcc#5BBDD7

Gradients from #32adcd

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, #63C1D9, #32adcd 45%, #195667);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #32adcd, #2C32B4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #32adcd, #CD5232);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #7CCBDF 0%, #32adcd 45%, #195667 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%, #5BD7A8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #4B67D3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #195667 0%, transparent 65%), #32adcd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #32adcd

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.

#32adcd 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 7.99:1.

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.

#32adcd, answered

What color is #32adcd?

#32adcd is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Deep Sky Blue (ΔE2000 9.1). It sits at 192° on the hue wheel with 61% saturation and 50% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #32adcd?

rgb(50, 173, 205) — 50 red, 173 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 19.6% / 67.8% / 80.4% by channel.

What is #32adcd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(192, 61%, 50%) and hsv(192, 76%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #32adcd a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3497 and perceived brightness is 60%, so black text on it reaches 7.99:1.

Should I use black or white text on #32adcd?

Black. It scores 7.99:1 against #32adcd, versus 2.63:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #32adcd accessible on a white background?

#32adcd on white scores 2.63:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #258098 to reach 4.5:1, or #1B5D6F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #32adcd?

#CD5232 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CD325F and #CDA032, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #32adcd?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E3ED for borders, #4B8A9B for secondary text, #D22D34 as an accent and #195667 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #32CDA0 and #325FCD stays calm, while #CD5232 is the loudest partner.

What is #32adcd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(76%, 16%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #32adcd 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 #32CDB4; nudged cooler, #2F92D0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #32adcd?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 3.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #32adcd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #32adcd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#32adcd] or text-[#32adcd], 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 #32adcd with 50% opacity?

rgba(50, 173, 205, 0.5), or #32adcd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #99D6E6; over black, #195767.

Is #32adcd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #3399CC, ΔE2000 9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #32adcd 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 #32adcd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #63C1D9, #32adcd 45%, #195667). For more colour, a short hue run to #2C32B4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #32adcd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #32adcd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.