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cyan · cool

#5bdccc

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

Token name suggestion: True Lagoon

RGB
91, 220, 204
HSL
173°, 65%, 61%
CMYK
59, 0, 7, 14
Luminance
0.5777

#5bdccc is a balanced vivid cyan, 173° on the wheel and 84/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.55:1). As text it scores 1.67:1 on white — use #1C8276 instead. Nearest name is Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(173 65% 61%)rgb(91 220 204)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #5bdccc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#5bdccc
Hue
173°
cyan
Saturation
65%
vivid
Lightness
61%
balanced
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
74%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5777
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
84/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.55:1
Closest name
Turquoise
ΔE2000 1.9
Chroma
39.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.818
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 9.8
Web-safe
#66CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue173° of 360°
Saturation65%
Lightness61%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #5bdccc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool84% 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%
Green89%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#5bdccc
HEX (8-digit)#5bdcccff
RGBrgb(91, 220, 204)
RGBArgba(91, 220, 204, 1)
HSLhsl(173, 65%, 61%)
HSV / HSBhsv(173, 59%, 86%)
HWBhwb(173 36% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(59%, 0%, 7%, 14%)
LABlab(80.6 -39.2 -2.8)
LCHlch(80.6 39.3 184.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.818 0.116 184.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(40.80, 57.77, 66.11)
Decimal6020300
Display P3color(display-p3 0.357 0.863 0.800)
Web-safe#66CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #5bdccc;
background-color: #5bdccc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #5bdccc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#5bdccc] bg-[#5bdccc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #5bdccc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.357, green: 0.863, blue: 0.800)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.357, green: 0.863, blue: 0.800, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#5BDCCC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF5BDCCC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF5BDCCC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(204, 220, 91)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(91, 220, 204)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(91, 220, 204)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 91, 220, 204)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3569f, 0.8627f, 0.8000f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{91,220,204}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #5bdccc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #5bdccc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#16695F, #D3EEEB);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #5bdccc 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: #F3FBFA;
  --brand-100: #E8F7F6;
  --brand-200: #CBF1EC;
  --brand-300: #A3EBE2;
  --brand-400: #74E1D4;
  --brand-500: #5bdccc;
  --brand-600: #2BCAB6;
  --brand-700: #24A898;
  --brand-800: #1D8679;
  --brand-900: #196259;
  --brand-950: #0F3D37;
  --brand: #5bdccc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE7;
  --brand-hover: #3ED6C3;
  --brand-pressed: #2AC6B2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142422;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEB;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FBFA',
        100: '#E8F7F6',
        200: '#CBF1EC',
        300: '#A3EBE2',
        400: '#74E1D4',
        500: '#5bdccc',
        600: '#2BCAB6',
        700: '#24A898',
        800: '#1D8679',
        900: '#196259',
        950: '#0F3D37',
        DEFAULT: '#5bdccc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FBFA,
  '100': #E8F7F6,
  '200': #CBF1EC,
  '300': #A3EBE2,
  '400': #74E1D4,
  '500': #5bdccc,
  '600': #2BCAB6,
  '700': #24A898,
  '800': #1D8679,
  '900': #196259,
  '950': #0F3D37,
);
$brand-base: #5bdccc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FBFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E8F7F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CBF1EC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A3EBE2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#74E1D4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5bdccc", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#2BCAB6", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#24A898", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#1D8679", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#196259", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0F3D37", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #5bdccc · 12.55:1
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 · 12.55:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #5bdccc as text scores 1.67:1 on white and 12.55:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #16695F at 3.90:1.

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
#1C8276 · 4.66:1
AA on white−30% L
#1C8276
The quick fox
#156157 · 7.29:1
AAA on white−38% L
#156157
The quick fox
#5bdccc · 12.55:1
AA on blackalready passes
#5bdccc
The quick fox
#5bdccc · 12.55:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#5bdccc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #23A494 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
#5bdccc on white: 1.67:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#5bdccc on black: 12.55:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #5bdccc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #5bdccc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.67:1AaAa
Slate 501.60:1AaAa
Slate 1001.53:1AaAa
Slate 2001.36:1AaAa
Slate 3001.13:1AaAa
Slate 4001.53:1AaAa
Slate 5002.84:1AaAa
Slate 6004.53:1AaAa
Slate 7006.19:1AaAa
Slate 8008.75:1AaAa
Slate 90010.67:1AaAa
Black12.55:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D2D1CB
deuteranopia · #BEC2CE
tritanopia · #00E0D7

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. #5bdccc 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.

#F3FBFA
#E8F7F6
#CBF1EC
#A3EBE2
#74E1D4
#5bdccc
#2BCAB6
#24A898
#1D8679
#196259
#0F3D37
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F3FBFADarkest = 950 · #0F3D37Text 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 0.029 184.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.046 184.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.070 184.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.090 184.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.107 184.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.116 184.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.116 184.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.109 184.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.097 184.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.081 184.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.064 184.0);
}

Colors that work with #5bdccc

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#C0EDE7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B91
Captions on the surface
Accent#E0578A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#16695F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EAFBF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142422
Dark-mode background
Hover#3ED6C3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#2AC6B2
Two steps down
Disabled#CADDDB
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#63E9D8
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 #5bdccc

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 #16695F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #23A494

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
  • Weight39/100
  • 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#DC5B6B
Analogous left#5BDC8C
Analogous right#5BABDC
Split-complement 1#DC5BAB
Split-complement 2#DC8C5B
Triadic 1#CC5BDC
Triadic 2#DCCC5B
Tetradic#8C5BDC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°173°

#5bdccc sits at 173°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red35.7%
Green86.3%
Blue80.0%
R · 0–255
91
0x5b
G · 0–255
220
0xdc
B · 0–255
204
0xcc

CMYK percentages

Cyan58.6%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow7.3%
Key (black)13.7%

Total ink coverage is 80%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#5bdccc text on a black background

contrast 12.55:1

Card sample

#5bdccc text on a white background

contrast 1.67:1

Card sample

#5bdccc on grey

1.53:1

#5bdccc on its own surface

1.59:1

#5bdccc on its dark surface

9.62:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #5bdccc;
Background color
Panel with #5bdccc background
background-color: #5bdccc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #5bdccc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(91, 220, 204, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(91, 220, 204, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #5bdccc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #5bdccc, #5B96DC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5bdccc, #5B76DC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #5bdccc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #5bdccc;
caret-color: #5bdccc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #5bdccc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EAFBF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #5bdccc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#5bdccc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #5bdccc 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(91, 220, 204, 0.5)
rgb(91 220 204 / 50%)
#5bdccc80
hsl(173 65% 61% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #5bdccc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#5bdccc1a#EFFCFA
20%#5bdccc33#DEF8F5
40%#5bdccc66#BDF1EB
60%#5bdccc99#9DEAE0
80%#5bdccccc#7CE3D6

Gradients from #5bdccc

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, #8EE7DC, #5bdccc 45%, #16695F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #5bdccc, #4279D7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5bdccc, #DC5B6B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #A7ECE4 0%, #5bdccc 45%, #16695F 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%, #85E5A1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #74AFE1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #16695F 0%, transparent 65%), #5bdccc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #5bdccc

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.

#5bdccc 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 12.55:1.

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.

#5bdccc, answered

What color is #5bdccc?

#5bdccc is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Turquoise (ΔE2000 1.9). It sits at 173° on the hue wheel with 65% saturation and 61% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #5bdccc?

rgb(91, 220, 204) — 91 red, 220 green and 204 blue out of 255, or 35.7% / 86.3% / 80% by channel.

What is #5bdccc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(173, 65%, 61%) and hsv(173, 59%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #5bdccc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5777 and perceived brightness is 74%, so black text on it reaches 12.55:1.

Should I use black or white text on #5bdccc?

Black. It scores 12.55:1 against #5bdccc, versus 1.67:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #5bdccc accessible on a white background?

#5bdccc on white scores 1.67:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #1C8276 to reach 4.5:1, or #156157 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #5bdccc?

#DC5B6B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DC5BAB and #DC8C5B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #5bdccc?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EDE7 for borders, #4B9B91 for secondary text, #E0578A as an accent and #16695F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #5BDC8C and #5BABDC stays calm, while #DC5B6B is the loudest partner.

What is #5bdccc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(59%, 0%, 7%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #5bdccc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 84 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #5BDC9D; nudged cooler, #59BEDE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #5bdccc?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 9.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #5bdccc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #5bdccc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#5bdccc] or text-[#5bdccc], 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 #5bdccc with 50% opacity?

rgba(91, 220, 204, 0.5), or #5bdccc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #ADEEE6; over black, #2E6E66.

Is #5bdccc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCCC, ΔE2000 6.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #5bdccc 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 #5bdccc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #8EE7DC, #5bdccc 45%, #16695F). For more colour, a short hue run to #4279D7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #5bdccc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #5bdccc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.