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cyan · cool

#449fba

a balanced, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Cadet Blue

Token name suggestion: Signal Teal

RGB
68, 159, 186
HSL
194°, 47%, 50%
CMYK
63, 15, 0, 27
Luminance
0.2957

#449fba is a balanced vivid cyan, 194° on the wheel and 93/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (6.91:1). As text it scores 3.04:1 on white — large text only. Nearest name is Cadet Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(194 47% 50%)rgb(68 159 186)Base step 600AA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #449fba is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#449fba
Hue
194°
cyan
Saturation
47%
vivid
Lightness
50%
balanced
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
56%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.2957
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
93/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
6.91:1
Closest name
Cadet Blue
ΔE2000 9.1
Chroma
28.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.659
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 7.1
Web-safe
#3399CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue194° of 360°
Saturation47%
Lightness50%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #449fba.

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
Red4%
Green84%
Blue12%

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

Every format

HEX#449fba
HEX (8-digit)#449fbaff
RGBrgb(68, 159, 186)
RGBArgba(68, 159, 186, 1)
HSLhsl(194, 47%, 50%)
HSV / HSBhsv(194, 63%, 73%)
HWBhwb(194 27% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(63%, 15%, 0%, 27%)
LABlab(61.3 -18.6 -22.0)
LCHlch(61.3 28.8 229.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.659 0.094 220.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(23.64, 29.57, 50.91)
Decimal4497338
Display P3color(display-p3 0.267 0.624 0.729)
Web-safe#3399CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #449fba;
background-color: #449fba;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #449fba;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#449fba] bg-[#449fba]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #449fba;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.267, green: 0.624, blue: 0.729)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.267, green: 0.624, blue: 0.729, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#449FBA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF449FBA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF449FBA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(186, 159, 68)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(68, 159, 186)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(68, 159, 186)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 68, 159, 186)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.2667f, 0.6235f, 0.7294f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{68,159,186}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #449fba 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #449fba 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#22505D, #D3E8EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #449fba 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: #F5F9FA;
  --brand-100: #EAF3F5;
  --brand-200: #D0E5EB;
  --brand-300: #ADD5E1;
  --brand-400: #84C0D2;
  --brand-500: #5BABC3;
  --brand-600: #449fba;
  --brand-700: #378095;
  --brand-800: #2C6678;
  --brand-900: #234B57;
  --brand-950: #162F37;
  --brand: #449fba;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C3E1E9;
  --brand-hover: #3A89A0;
  --brand-pressed: #317286;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142124;
    --brand-ink: #D3E8EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F9FA',
        100: '#EAF3F5',
        200: '#D0E5EB',
        300: '#ADD5E1',
        400: '#84C0D2',
        500: '#5BABC3',
        600: '#449fba',
        700: '#378095',
        800: '#2C6678',
        900: '#234B57',
        950: '#162F37',
        DEFAULT: '#449fba',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F9FA,
  '100': #EAF3F5,
  '200': #D0E5EB,
  '300': #ADD5E1,
  '400': #84C0D2,
  '500': #5BABC3,
  '600': #449fba,
  '700': #378095,
  '800': #2C6678,
  '900': #234B57,
  '950': #162F37,
);
$brand-base: #449fba;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F9FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF3F5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D0E5EB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ADD5E1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#84C0D2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5BABC3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#449fba", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#378095", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2C6678", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#234B57", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#162F37", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #449fba · 6.91:1
Use #000000AA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 3.04:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 6.91:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #449fba as text scores 3.04:1 on white and 6.91:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #22505D at 2.91:1.

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
#367F95 · 4.54:1
AA on white−10% L
#367F95
The quick fox
#295F6F · 7.09:1
AAA on white−20% L
#295F6F
The quick fox
#449fba · 6.91:1
AA on blackalready passes
#449fba
The quick fox
#47A1BC · 7.09:1
AAA on black+1% L
#47A1BC

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #449FBA 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
#449fba on white: 3.04:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#449fba on black: 6.91:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #449fba as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #449fba.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White3.04:1AaAa
Slate 502.90:1AaAa
Slate 1002.77:1AaAa
Slate 2002.46:1AaAa
Slate 3002.05:1AaAa
Slate 4001.18:1AaAa
Slate 5001.57:1AaAa
Slate 6002.49:1AaAa
Slate 7003.41:1AaAa
Slate 8004.82:1AaAa
Slate 9005.88:1AaAa
Black6.91:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #8F9BBB
deuteranopia · #7E8FBA
tritanopia · #00A8A8

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. #449fba 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.

#F5F9FA
#EAF3F5
#D0E5EB
#ADD5E1
#84C0D2
#5BABC3
#449fba
#378095
#2C6678
#234B57
#162F37
Base = 600Lightest = 50 · #F5F9FADarkest = 950 · #162F37Text 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 0.024 220.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.038 220.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.057 220.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.073 220.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.087 220.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.094 220.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.094 220.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.089 220.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.079 220.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.066 220.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.052 220.6);
}

Colors that work with #449fba

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#C3E1E9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B899B
Captions on the surface
Accent#BF3F42
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#22505D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF5F8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142124
Dark-mode background
Hover#3A89A0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#317286
Two steps down
Disabled#A7C0C7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#47ADCC
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 #449fba

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

Works well for
  • Headings from 24px up on white
  • 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
  • Small text on white — under 4.5:1
  • 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
24px / 18.66px bold
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #22505D
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 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#BA5F44
Analogous left#44BA9A
Analogous right#4464BA
Split-complement 1#BA4464
Split-complement 2#BA9A44
Triadic 1#BA449F
Triadic 2#9FBA44
Tetradic#9A44BA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°194°

#449fba sits at 194°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red26.7%
Green62.4%
Blue72.9%
R · 0–255
68
0x44
G · 0–255
159
0x9f
B · 0–255
186
0xba

CMYK percentages

Cyan63.4%
Magenta14.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)27.1%

Total ink coverage is 105%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#449fba text on a black background

contrast 6.91:1

Card sample

#449fba text on a white background

contrast 3.04:1

Card sample

#449fba on grey

2.77:1

#449fba on its own surface

2.86:1

#449fba on its dark surface

5.43:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #449fba;
Background color
Panel with #449fba background
background-color: #449fba;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #449fba;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(68, 159, 186, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(68, 159, 186, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #449fba;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #449fba, #4450BA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #449fba, #5544BA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #449fba;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #449fba;
caret-color: #449fba;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #449fba;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF5F8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #449fba;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#449fba 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #449fba 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(68, 159, 186, 0.5)
rgb(68 159 186 / 50%)
#449fba80
hsl(194 47% 50% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #449fba 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#449fba1a#ECF5F8
20%#449fba33#DAECF1
40%#449fba66#B4D9E3
60%#449fba99#8FC5D6
80%#449fbacc#69B2C8

Gradients from #449fba

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, #70B6CB, #449fba 45%, #22505D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #449fba, #3C3EA4);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #449fba, #BA5F44);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #87C2D3 0%, #449fba 45%, #22505D 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%, #69C8A6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #5A6EC3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #22505D 0%, transparent 65%), #449fba;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #449fba

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.

#449fba 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 6.91:1.

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.

#449fba, answered

What color is #449fba?

#449fba is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Cadet Blue (ΔE2000 9.1). It sits at 194° on the hue wheel with 47% saturation and 50% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #449fba?

rgb(68, 159, 186) — 68 red, 159 green and 186 blue out of 255, or 26.7% / 62.4% / 72.9% by channel.

What is #449fba in HSL and HSV?

hsl(194, 47%, 50%) and hsv(194, 63%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #449fba a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.2957 and perceived brightness is 56%, so black text on it reaches 6.91:1.

Should I use black or white text on #449fba?

Black. It scores 6.91:1 against #449fba, versus 3.04:1 for white — AA at any size.

Is #449fba accessible on a white background?

#449fba on white scores 3.04:1, which only clears AA for large text — 18.66px bold or 24px regular and up. Darken it to #367F95 to reach 4.5:1, or #295F6F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #449fba?

#BA5F44 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BA4464 and #BA9A44, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #449fba?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C3E1E9 for borders, #4B899B for secondary text, #BF3F42 as an accent and #22505D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #44BA9A and #4464BA stays calm, while #BA5F44 is the loudest partner.

What is #449fba in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(63%, 15%, 0%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #449fba 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 #44BAAA; nudged cooler, #4189BD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #449fba?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 7.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #449fba as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #449fba in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#449fba] or text-[#449fba], 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 #449fba with 50% opacity?

rgba(68, 159, 186, 0.5), or #449fba80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A2CFDD; over black, #22505D.

Is #449fba a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #3399CC, ΔE2000 7.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #449fba 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 #449fba?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #70B6CB, #449fba 45%, #22505D). For more colour, a short hue run to #3C3EA4 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #449fba in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #449fba at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.