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cyan · cool

#3bdaf2

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

Token name suggestion: Signal Reef

RGB
59, 218, 242
HSL
188°, 88%, 59%
CMYK
76, 10, 0, 5
Luminance
0.5748

#3bdaf2 is a balanced electric cyan, 188° on the wheel and 91/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.50:1). As text it scores 1.68:1 on white — use #0A8294 instead. Nearest name is Dark Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(188 88% 59%)rgb(59 218 242)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #3bdaf2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#3bdaf2
Hue
188°
cyan
Saturation
88%
electric
Lightness
59%
balanced
Brightness
95%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5748
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
91/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
12.50:1
Closest name
Dark Turquoise
ΔE2000 8.1
Chroma
39.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.819
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 9.4
Web-safe
#33CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue188° of 360°
Saturation88%
Lightness59%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #3bdaf2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool91% 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%
Green87%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#3bdaf2
HEX (8-digit)#3bdaf2ff
RGBrgb(59, 218, 242)
RGBArgba(59, 218, 242, 1)
HSLhsl(188, 88%, 59%)
HSV / HSBhsv(188, 76%, 95%)
HWBhwb(188 23% 5%)
CMYKcmyk(76%, 10%, 0%, 5%)
LABlab(80.5 -32.2 -23.4)
LCHlch(80.5 39.8 215.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.819 0.130 210.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(42.90, 57.48, 92.82)
Decimal3922674
Display P3color(display-p3 0.231 0.855 0.949)
Web-safe#33CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #3bdaf2;
background-color: #3bdaf2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #3bdaf2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#3bdaf2] bg-[#3bdaf2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #3bdaf2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.231, green: 0.855, blue: 0.949)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.231, green: 0.855, blue: 0.949, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#3BDAF2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF3BDAF2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF3BDAF2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(242, 218, 59)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(59, 218, 242)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(59, 218, 242)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 59, 218, 242)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2314f, 0.8549f, 0.9490f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{59,218,242}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #3bdaf2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #3bdaf2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#086978, #D3EBEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #3bdaf2 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: #F2FBFD;
  --brand-100: #E5F8FA;
  --brand-200: #C4F1F8;
  --brand-300: #96EBF8;
  --brand-400: #61E1F5;
  --brand-500: #3bdaf2;
  --brand-600: #0FC9E6;
  --brand-700: #0DA8BF;
  --brand-800: #0A8699;
  --brand-900: #0C626F;
  --brand-950: #073D45;
  --brand: #3bdaf2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0E7ED;
  --brand-hover: #19D4F0;
  --brand-pressed: #0EBDD7;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142224;
    --brand-ink: #D3EBEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2FBFD',
        100: '#E5F8FA',
        200: '#C4F1F8',
        300: '#96EBF8',
        400: '#61E1F5',
        500: '#3bdaf2',
        600: '#0FC9E6',
        700: '#0DA8BF',
        800: '#0A8699',
        900: '#0C626F',
        950: '#073D45',
        DEFAULT: '#3bdaf2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2FBFD,
  '100': #E5F8FA,
  '200': #C4F1F8,
  '300': #96EBF8,
  '400': #61E1F5,
  '500': #3bdaf2,
  '600': #0FC9E6,
  '700': #0DA8BF,
  '800': #0A8699,
  '900': #0C626F,
  '950': #073D45,
);
$brand-base: #3bdaf2;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2FBFD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E5F8FA", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C4F1F8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#96EBF8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#61E1F5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#3bdaf2", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#0FC9E6", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#0DA8BF", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#0A8699", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#0C626F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#073D45", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #3bdaf2 · 12.50:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.68:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.50:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #3bdaf2 as text scores 1.68:1 on white and 12.50:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #086978 at 3.78:1.

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
#0A8294 · 4.53:1
AA on white−28% L
#0A8294
The quick fox
#07606E · 7.22:1
AAA on white−36% L
#07606E
The quick fox
#3bdaf2 · 12.50:1
AA on blackalready passes
#3bdaf2
The quick fox
#3bdaf2 · 12.50:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#3bdaf2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #0C9FB6 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
#3bdaf2 on white: 1.68:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#3bdaf2 on black: 12.50:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #3bdaf2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #3bdaf2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.68:1AaAa
Slate 501.61:1AaAa
Slate 1001.53:1AaAa
Slate 2001.36:1AaAa
Slate 3001.13:1AaAa
Slate 4001.53:1AaAa
Slate 5002.83:1AaAa
Slate 6004.51:1AaAa
Slate 7006.16:1AaAa
Slate 8008.71:1AaAa
Slate 90010.62:1AaAa
Black12.50:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #C6D2F3
deuteranopia · #ADC0F2
tritanopia · #00E5E1

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. #3bdaf2 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.

#F2FBFD
#E5F8FA
#C4F1F8
#96EBF8
#61E1F5
#3bdaf2
#0FC9E6
#0DA8BF
#0A8699
#0C626F
#073D45
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F2FBFDDarkest = 950 · #073D45Text 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 0.032 210.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.052 210.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.078 210.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.101 210.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.119 210.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.130 210.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.130 210.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.122 210.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.109 210.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.091 210.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.071 210.1);
}

Colors that work with #3bdaf2

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#C0E7ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B909B
Captions on the surface
Accent#F6374D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#086978
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E7FAFD
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142224
Dark-mode background
Hover#19D4F0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#0EBDD7
Two steps down
Disabled#C4D6D9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#45E4FD
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 #3bdaf2

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 #086978
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #0C9FB6

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. 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
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight41/100
  • 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#F2533B
Analogous left#3BF2AF
Analogous right#3B7EF2
Split-complement 1#F23B7E
Split-complement 2#F2AF3B
Triadic 1#F23BDA
Triadic 2#DAF23B
Tetradic#AF3BF2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°188°

#3bdaf2 sits at 188°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red23.1%
Green85.5%
Blue94.9%
R · 0–255
59
0x3b
G · 0–255
218
0xda
B · 0–255
242
0xf2

CMYK percentages

Cyan75.6%
Magenta9.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)5.1%

Total ink coverage is 91%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#3bdaf2 text on a black background

contrast 12.50:1

Card sample

#3bdaf2 text on a white background

contrast 1.68:1

Card sample

#3bdaf2 on grey

1.53:1

#3bdaf2 on its own surface

1.59:1

#3bdaf2 on its dark surface

9.73:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #3bdaf2;
Background color
Panel with #3bdaf2 background
background-color: #3bdaf2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #3bdaf2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(59, 218, 242, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(59, 218, 242, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #3bdaf2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #3bdaf2, #3B60F2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #3bdaf2, #443BF2);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #3bdaf2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #3bdaf2;
caret-color: #3bdaf2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #3bdaf2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E7FAFD;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #3bdaf2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#3bdaf2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #3bdaf2 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, 218, 242, 0.5)
rgb(59 218 242 / 50%)
#3bdaf280
hsl(188 88% 59% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #3bdaf2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#3bdaf21a#EBFBFE
20%#3bdaf233#D8F8FC
40%#3bdaf266#B1F0FA
60%#3bdaf299#89E9F7
80%#3bdaf2cc#62E1F5

Gradients from #3bdaf2

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, #74E5F6, #3bdaf2 45%, #086978);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #3bdaf2, #1E37F0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #3bdaf2, #F2533B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #91EAF8 0%, #3bdaf2 45%, #086978 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%, #6BF5B7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #5884F4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #086978 0%, transparent 65%), #3bdaf2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #3bdaf2

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.

#3bdaf2 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

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 12.50:1.

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.

#3bdaf2, answered

What color is #3bdaf2?

#3bdaf2 is a balanced electric cyan, closest to Dark Turquoise (ΔE2000 8.1). It sits at 188° on the hue wheel with 88% saturation and 59% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #3bdaf2?

rgb(59, 218, 242) — 59 red, 218 green and 242 blue out of 255, or 23.1% / 85.5% / 94.9% by channel.

What is #3bdaf2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(188, 88%, 59%) and hsv(188, 76%, 95%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #3bdaf2 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5748 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 12.50:1.

Should I use black or white text on #3bdaf2?

Black. It scores 12.50:1 against #3bdaf2, versus 1.68:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #3bdaf2 accessible on a white background?

#3bdaf2 on white scores 1.68:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #0A8294 to reach 4.5:1, or #07606E for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #3bdaf2?

#F2533B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F23B7E and #F2AF3B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #3bdaf2?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0E7ED for borders, #4B909B for secondary text, #F6374D as an accent and #086978 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #3BF2AF and #3B7EF2 stays calm, while #F2533B is the loudest partner.

What is #3bdaf2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(76%, 10%, 0%, 5%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #3bdaf2 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 91 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #3BF2C7; nudged cooler, #39B5F4.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #3bdaf2?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 9.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #3bdaf2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #3bdaf2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#3bdaf2] or text-[#3bdaf2], 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 #3bdaf2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(59, 218, 242, 0.5), or #3bdaf280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #9DEDF9; over black, #1E6D79.

Is #3bdaf2 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #33CCFF, ΔE2000 8.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #3bdaf2 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 #3bdaf2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #74E5F6, #3bdaf2 45%, #086978). For more colour, a short hue run to #1E37F0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #3bdaf2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #3bdaf2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.