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cyan · cool

#3baad2

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Reef

RGB
59, 170, 210
HSL
196°, 63%, 53%
CMYK
72, 19, 0, 18
Luminance
0.3433

#3baad2 is a balanced vivid cyan, 196° on the wheel and 94/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.87:1). As text it scores 2.67:1 on white — use #247C9C instead. Nearest name is Deep Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(196 63% 53%)rgb(59 170 210)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #3baad2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#3baad2
Hue
196°
cyan
Saturation
63%
vivid
Lightness
53%
balanced
Brightness
82%
HSV value
Perceived
60%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3433
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
94/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
7.87:1
Closest name
Deep Sky Blue
ΔE2000 7.5
Chroma
34.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.693
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 5.9
Web-safe
#3399CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue196° of 360°
Saturation63%
Lightness53%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #3baad2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool94% 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%
Green84%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#3baad2
HEX (8-digit)#3baad2ff
RGBrgb(59, 170, 210)
RGBArgba(59, 170, 210, 1)
HSLhsl(196, 63%, 53%)
HSV / HSBhsv(196, 72%, 82%)
HWBhwb(196 23% 18%)
CMYKcmyk(72%, 19%, 0%, 18%)
LABlab(65.2 -18.2 -29.3)
LCHlch(65.2 34.5 238.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.693 0.114 226.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(27.81, 34.33, 66.12)
Decimal3910354
Display P3color(display-p3 0.231 0.667 0.824)
Web-safe#3399CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #3baad2;
background-color: #3baad2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #3baad2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#3baad2] bg-[#3baad2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #3baad2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.231, green: 0.667, blue: 0.824)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.231, green: 0.667, blue: 0.824, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#3BAAD2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF3BAAD2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF3BAAD2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(210, 170, 59)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(59, 170, 210)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(59, 170, 210)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 59, 170, 210)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2314f, 0.6667f, 0.8235f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{59,170,210}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #3baad2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #3baad2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#185368, #D3E7EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #3baad2 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: #E8F3F7;
  --brand-200: #CCE6F0;
  --brand-300: #A4D7EA;
  --brand-400: #76C4E0;
  --brand-500: #3baad2;
  --brand-600: #2E9EC7;
  --brand-700: #2684A6;
  --brand-800: #1E6A85;
  --brand-900: #1A4E61;
  --brand-950: #10313C;
  --brand: #3baad2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C0E1ED;
  --brand-hover: #2B97BE;
  --brand-pressed: #2580A1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142024;
    --brand-ink: #D3E7EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F9FB',
        100: '#E8F3F7',
        200: '#CCE6F0',
        300: '#A4D7EA',
        400: '#76C4E0',
        500: '#3baad2',
        600: '#2E9EC7',
        700: '#2684A6',
        800: '#1E6A85',
        900: '#1A4E61',
        950: '#10313C',
        DEFAULT: '#3baad2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F9FB,
  '100': #E8F3F7,
  '200': #CCE6F0,
  '300': #A4D7EA,
  '400': #76C4E0,
  '500': #3baad2,
  '600': #2E9EC7,
  '700': #2684A6,
  '800': #1E6A85,
  '900': #1A4E61,
  '950': #10313C,
);
$brand-base: #3baad2;
$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": "#E8F3F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CCE6F0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A4D7EA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#76C4E0", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3baad2", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2E9EC7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2684A6", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1E6A85", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1A4E61", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#10313C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #3baad2 · 7.87:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.67:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.87:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #3baad2 as text scores 2.67:1 on white and 7.87:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #185368 at 3.18:1.

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
#247C9C · 4.73:1
AA on white−15% L
#247C9C
The quick fox
#1B5F77 · 7.12:1
AAA on white−24% L
#1B5F77
The quick fox
#3baad2 · 7.87:1
AA on blackalready passes
#3baad2
The quick fox
#3baad2 · 7.87:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#3baad2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #2D9DC6 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
#3baad2 on white: 2.67:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#3baad2 on black: 7.87:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #3baad2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #3baad2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.67:1AaAa
Slate 502.55:1AaAa
Slate 1002.44:1AaAa
Slate 2002.17:1AaAa
Slate 3001.80:1AaAa
Slate 4001.04:1AaAa
Slate 5001.78:1AaAa
Slate 6002.84:1AaAa
Slate 7003.88:1AaAa
Slate 8005.48:1AaAa
Slate 9006.69:1AaAa
Black7.87:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #94A7D4
deuteranopia · #8098D2
tritanopia · #00B6B7

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. #3baad2 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.

#F4F9FB
#E8F3F7
#CCE6F0
#A4D7EA
#76C4E0
#3baad2
#2E9EC7
#2684A6
#1E6A85
#1A4E61
#10313C
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F4F9FBDarkest = 950 · #10313CText 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 0.028 226.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.045 226.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.068 226.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.089 226.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.105 226.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.114 226.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.114 226.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.107 226.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.096 226.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.080 226.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.063 226.3);
}

Colors that work with #3baad2

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#C0E1ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B869B
Captions on the surface
Accent#D73836
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#185368
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAF6FA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142024
Dark-mode background
Hover#2B97BE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#2580A1
Two steps down
Disabled#B0C5CD
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#40B6E1
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 #3baad2

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 #185368
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #2D9DC6

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
  • Weight47/100
  • 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#D2633B
Analogous left#3BD2AE
Analogous right#3B5ED2
Split-complement 1#D23B5E
Split-complement 2#D2AE3B
Triadic 1#D23BAA
Triadic 2#AAD23B
Tetradic#AE3BD2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°196°

#3baad2 sits at 196°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red23.1%
Green66.7%
Blue82.4%
R · 0–255
59
0x3b
G · 0–255
170
0xaa
B · 0–255
210
0xd2

CMYK percentages

Cyan71.9%
Magenta19.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)17.6%

Total ink coverage is 109%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#3baad2 text on a black background

contrast 7.87:1

Card sample

#3baad2 text on a white background

contrast 2.67:1

Card sample

#3baad2 on grey

2.44:1

#3baad2 on its own surface

2.51:1

#3baad2 on its dark surface

6.23:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #3baad2;
Background color
Panel with #3baad2 background
background-color: #3baad2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #3baad2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(59, 170, 210, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(59, 170, 210, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #3baad2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #3baad2, #3B45D2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #3baad2, #563BD2);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #3baad2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #3baad2;
caret-color: #3baad2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #3baad2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAF6FA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #3baad2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#3baad2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #3baad2 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(59, 170, 210, 0.5)
rgb(59 170 210 / 50%)
#3baad280
hsl(196 63% 53% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #3baad2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#3baad21a#EBF7FB
20%#3baad233#D8EEF6
40%#3baad266#B1DDED
60%#3baad299#89CCE4
80%#3baad2cc#62BBDB

Gradients from #3baad2

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, #6DC0DD, #3baad2 45%, #185368);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #3baad2, #2F2CC2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #3baad2, #D2633B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #85CAE3 0%, #3baad2 45%, #185368 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%, #64DCB6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #5468D8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #185368 0%, transparent 65%), #3baad2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #3baad2

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.

#3baad2 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 7.87:1.

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.

#3baad2, answered

What color is #3baad2?

#3baad2 is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Deep Sky Blue (ΔE2000 7.5). It sits at 196° on the hue wheel with 63% saturation and 53% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #3baad2?

rgb(59, 170, 210) — 59 red, 170 green and 210 blue out of 255, or 23.1% / 66.7% / 82.4% by channel.

What is #3baad2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(196, 63%, 53%) and hsv(196, 72%, 82%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #3baad2 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3433 and perceived brightness is 60%, so black text on it reaches 7.87:1.

Should I use black or white text on #3baad2?

Black. It scores 7.87:1 against #3baad2, versus 2.67:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #3baad2 accessible on a white background?

#3baad2 on white scores 2.67:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #247C9C to reach 4.5:1, or #1B5F77 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #3baad2?

#D2633B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D23B5E and #D2AE3B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #3baad2?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C0E1ED for borders, #4B869B for secondary text, #D73836 as an accent and #185368 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #3BD2AE and #3B5ED2 stays calm, while #D2633B is the loudest partner.

What is #3baad2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(72%, 19%, 0%, 18%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #3baad2 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 94 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #3BD2C3; nudged cooler, #3894D4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #3baad2?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 5.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #3baad2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #3baad2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#3baad2] or text-[#3baad2], 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 #3baad2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(59, 170, 210, 0.5), or #3baad280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #9DD5E9; over black, #1E5569.

Is #3baad2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #3399CC, ΔE2000 6.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #3baad2 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 #3baad2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #6DC0DD, #3baad2 45%, #185368). For more colour, a short hue run to #2F2CC2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #3baad2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #3baad2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.