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cyan · cool

#56dcd3

a balanced, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Turquoise

Token name suggestion: Atlas Lagoon

RGB
86, 220, 211
HSL
176°, 66%, 60%
CMYK
61, 0, 4, 14
Luminance
0.5787

#56dcd3 is a balanced vivid cyan, 176° on the wheel and 86/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.57:1). As text it scores 1.67:1 on white — use #1B837C instead. Nearest name is Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(176 66% 60%)rgb(86 220 211)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #56dcd3 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#56dcd3
Hue
176°
cyan
Saturation
66%
vivid
Lightness
60%
balanced
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5787
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
86/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.57:1
Closest name
Turquoise
ΔE2000 2.8
Chroma
38.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.819
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 10.4
Web-safe
#66CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue176° of 360°
Saturation66%
Lightness60%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #56dcd3.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool86% 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%
Green88%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#56dcd3
HEX (8-digit)#56dcd3ff
RGBrgb(86, 220, 211)
RGBArgba(86, 220, 211, 1)
HSLhsl(176, 66%, 60%)
HSV / HSBhsv(176, 61%, 86%)
HWBhwb(176 34% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(61%, 0%, 4%, 14%)
LABlab(80.7 -38.3 -6.5)
LCHlch(80.7 38.8 189.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.819 0.117 188.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(41.18, 57.86, 70.61)
Decimal5692627
Display P3color(display-p3 0.337 0.863 0.827)
Web-safe#66CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #56dcd3;
background-color: #56dcd3;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #56dcd3;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#56dcd3] bg-[#56dcd3]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #56dcd3;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.337, green: 0.863, blue: 0.827)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.337, green: 0.863, blue: 0.827, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#56DCD3</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF56DCD3)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF56DCD3)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(211, 220, 86)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(86, 220, 211)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(86, 220, 211)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 86, 220, 211)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3373f, 0.8627f, 0.8275f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{86,220,211}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #56dcd3 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #56dcd3 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#166A64, #D3EEEC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #56dcd3 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: #F3FBFB;
  --brand-100: #E8F8F6;
  --brand-200: #CBF1EE;
  --brand-300: #A2ECE7;
  --brand-400: #74E2DB;
  --brand-500: #56dcd3;
  --brand-600: #2ACBC0;
  --brand-700: #23A9A0;
  --brand-800: #1C8780;
  --brand-900: #18625D;
  --brand-950: #0F3D3A;
  --brand: #56dcd3;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EDEA;
  --brand-hover: #38D6CB;
  --brand-pressed: #28C2B8;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142423;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FBFB',
        100: '#E8F8F6',
        200: '#CBF1EE',
        300: '#A2ECE7',
        400: '#74E2DB',
        500: '#56dcd3',
        600: '#2ACBC0',
        700: '#23A9A0',
        800: '#1C8780',
        900: '#18625D',
        950: '#0F3D3A',
        DEFAULT: '#56dcd3',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FBFB,
  '100': #E8F8F6,
  '200': #CBF1EE,
  '300': #A2ECE7,
  '400': #74E2DB,
  '500': #56dcd3,
  '600': #2ACBC0,
  '700': #23A9A0,
  '800': #1C8780,
  '900': #18625D,
  '950': #0F3D3A,
);
$brand-base: #56dcd3;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FBFB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E8F8F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CBF1EE", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A2ECE7", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#74E2DB", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#56dcd3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2ACBC0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#23A9A0", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1C8780", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#18625D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0F3D3A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #56dcd3 · 12.57:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.67:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.57:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #56dcd3 as text scores 1.67:1 on white and 12.57:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #166A64 at 3.83:1.

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
#1B837C · 4.58:1
AA on white−29% L
#1B837C
The quick fox
#14615C · 7.26:1
AAA on white−37% L
#14615C
The quick fox
#56dcd3 · 12.57:1
AA on blackalready passes
#56dcd3
The quick fox
#56dcd3 · 12.57:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#56dcd3

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #22A59C 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
#56dcd3 on white: 1.67:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#56dcd3 on black: 12.57:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #56dcd3 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #56dcd3.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.67:1AaAa
Slate 501.60:1AaAa
Slate 1001.52:1AaAa
Slate 2001.35:1AaAa
Slate 3001.12:1AaAa
Slate 4001.54:1AaAa
Slate 5002.85:1AaAa
Slate 6004.54:1AaAa
Slate 7006.20:1AaAa
Slate 8008.76:1AaAa
Slate 90010.69:1AaAa
Black12.57:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D0D1D3
deuteranopia · #BCC2D4
tritanopia · #00E1D9

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. #56dcd3 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.

#F3FBFB
#E8F8F6
#CBF1EE
#A2ECE7
#74E2DB
#56dcd3
#2ACBC0
#23A9A0
#1C8780
#18625D
#0F3D3A
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F3FBFBDarkest = 950 · #0F3D3AText 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 0.029 188.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.047 188.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.070 188.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.091 188.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.107 188.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.117 188.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.117 188.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.110 188.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.098 188.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.082 188.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.064 188.9);
}

Colors that work with #56dcd3

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#C0EDEA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B96
Captions on the surface
Accent#E0527F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#166A64
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAFBFA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142423
Dark-mode background
Hover#38D6CB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#28C2B8
Two steps down
Disabled#C7DBDA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#5EE9DF
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 #56dcd3

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 #166A64
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #22A59C

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
  • Weight40/100
  • 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#DC565F
Analogous left#56DC90
Analogous right#56A2DC
Split-complement 1#DC56A2
Split-complement 2#DC9056
Triadic 1#D356DC
Triadic 2#DCD356
Tetradic#9056DC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°176°

#56dcd3 sits at 176°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red33.7%
Green86.3%
Blue82.7%
R · 0–255
86
0x56
G · 0–255
220
0xdc
B · 0–255
211
0xd3

CMYK percentages

Cyan60.9%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow4.1%
Key (black)13.7%

Total ink coverage is 79%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#56dcd3 text on a black background

contrast 12.57:1

Card sample

#56dcd3 text on a white background

contrast 1.67:1

Card sample

#56dcd3 on grey

1.52:1

#56dcd3 on its own surface

1.58:1

#56dcd3 on its dark surface

9.62:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #56dcd3;
Background color
Panel with #56dcd3 background
background-color: #56dcd3;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #56dcd3;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(86, 220, 211, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(86, 220, 211, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #56dcd3;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #56dcd3, #568CDC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #56dcd3, #566ADC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #56dcd3;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #56dcd3;
caret-color: #56dcd3;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #56dcd3;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAFBFA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #56dcd3;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#56dcd3 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #56dcd3 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(86, 220, 211, 0.5)
rgb(86 220 211 / 50%)
#56dcd380
hsl(176 66% 60% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #56dcd3 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#56dcd31a#EEFCFB
20%#56dcd333#DDF8F6
40%#56dcd366#BBF1ED
60%#56dcd399#9AEAE5
80%#56dcd3cc#78E3DC

Gradients from #56dcd3

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, #89E7E0, #56dcd3 45%, #166A64);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #56dcd3, #3D6DD7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #56dcd3, #DC565F);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #A2ECE7 0%, #56dcd3 45%, #166A64 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%, #80E5A3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #6FA6E1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #166A64 0%, transparent 65%), #56dcd3;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #56dcd3

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.

#56dcd3 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 12.57:1.

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.

#56dcd3, answered

What color is #56dcd3?

#56dcd3 is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Turquoise (ΔE2000 2.8). It sits at 176° on the hue wheel with 66% saturation and 60% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #56dcd3?

rgb(86, 220, 211) — 86 red, 220 green and 211 blue out of 255, or 33.7% / 86.3% / 82.7% by channel.

What is #56dcd3 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(176, 66%, 60%) and hsv(176, 61%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #56dcd3 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5787 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 12.57:1.

Should I use black or white text on #56dcd3?

Black. It scores 12.57:1 against #56dcd3, versus 1.67:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #56dcd3 accessible on a white background?

#56dcd3 on white scores 1.67:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #1B837C to reach 4.5:1, or #14615C for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #56dcd3?

#DC565F sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DC56A2 and #DC9056, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #56dcd3?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EDEA for borders, #4B9B96 for secondary text, #E0527F as an accent and #166A64 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #56DC90 and #56A2DC stays calm, while #DC565F is the loudest partner.

What is #56dcd3 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(61%, 0%, 4%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #56dcd3 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 86 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #56DCA2; nudged cooler, #54B6DE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #56dcd3?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 10.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #56dcd3 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #56dcd3 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#56dcd3] or text-[#56dcd3], 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 #56dcd3 with 50% opacity?

rgba(86, 220, 211, 0.5), or #56dcd380 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #ABEEE9; over black, #2B6E6A.

Is #56dcd3 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCCC, ΔE2000 5.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #56dcd3 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 #56dcd3?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #89E7E0, #56dcd3 45%, #166A64). For more colour, a short hue run to #3D6DD7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #56dcd3 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #56dcd3 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.