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cyan · cool

#5da7ad

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Teal

RGB
93, 167, 173
HSL
185°, 33%, 52%
CMYK
46, 4, 0, 32
Luminance
0.3298

#5da7ad is a balanced soft cyan, 185° on the wheel and 87/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (7.60:1). As text it scores 2.76:1 on white — use #438085 instead. Nearest name is Cadet Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(185 33% 52%)rgb(93 167 173)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #5da7ad is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#5da7ad
Hue
185°
cyan
Saturation
33%
soft
Lightness
52%
balanced
Brightness
68%
HSV value
Perceived
59%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3298
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
87/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
7.60:1
Closest name
Cadet Blue
ΔE2000 3.2
Chroma
23.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.683
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 8.8
Web-safe
#669999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue185° of 360°
Saturation33%
Lightness52%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #5da7ad.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool87% 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
Red7%
Green84%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#5da7ad
HEX (8-digit)#5da7adff
RGBrgb(93, 167, 173)
RGBArgba(93, 167, 173, 1)
HSLhsl(185, 33%, 52%)
HSV / HSBhsv(185, 46%, 68%)
HWBhwb(185 36% 32%)
CMYKcmyk(46%, 4%, 0%, 32%)
LABlab(64.1 -21.4 -10.3)
LCHlch(64.1 23.8 205.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.683 0.074 202.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(25.87, 32.98, 44.53)
Decimal6137773
Display P3color(display-p3 0.365 0.655 0.678)
Web-safe#669999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #5da7ad;
background-color: #5da7ad;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #5da7ad;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#5da7ad] bg-[#5da7ad]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #5da7ad;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.365, green: 0.655, blue: 0.678)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.365, green: 0.655, blue: 0.678, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#5DA7AD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF5DA7AD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF5DA7AD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(173, 167, 93)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(93, 167, 173)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(93, 167, 173)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 93, 167, 173)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3647f, 0.6549f, 0.6784f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{93,167,173}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #5da7ad 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #5da7ad 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2B5255, #D6E9EA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #5da7ad 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: #F5F9F9;
  --brand-100: #ECF3F4;
  --brand-200: #D4E6E7;
  --brand-300: #B4D7D9;
  --brand-400: #8FC2C6;
  --brand-500: #5da7ad;
  --brand-600: #529DA3;
  --brand-700: #458287;
  --brand-800: #37686C;
  --brand-900: #2B4D50;
  --brand-950: #1B3032;
  --brand: #5da7ad;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C9E2E4;
  --brand-hover: #4D9399;
  --brand-pressed: #417D81;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142324;
    --brand-ink: #D6E9EA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F9F9',
        100: '#ECF3F4',
        200: '#D4E6E7',
        300: '#B4D7D9',
        400: '#8FC2C6',
        500: '#5da7ad',
        600: '#529DA3',
        700: '#458287',
        800: '#37686C',
        900: '#2B4D50',
        950: '#1B3032',
        DEFAULT: '#5da7ad',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F9F9,
  '100': #ECF3F4,
  '200': #D4E6E7,
  '300': #B4D7D9,
  '400': #8FC2C6,
  '500': #5da7ad,
  '600': #529DA3,
  '700': #458287,
  '800': #37686C,
  '900': #2B4D50,
  '950': #1B3032,
);
$brand-base: #5da7ad;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F9F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECF3F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4E6E7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B4D7D9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8FC2C6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5da7ad", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#529DA3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#458287", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#37686C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2B4D50", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1B3032", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #5da7ad · 7.60:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.76:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 7.60:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #5da7ad as text scores 2.76:1 on white and 7.60:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2B5255 at 3.11:1.

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
#438085 · 4.50:1
AA on white−13% L
#438085
The quick fox
#325F63 · 7.11:1
AAA on white−23% L
#325F63
The quick fox
#5da7ad · 7.60:1
AA on blackalready passes
#5da7ad
The quick fox
#5da7ad · 7.60:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#5da7ad

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #54A0A7 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
#5da7ad on white: 2.76:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#5da7ad on black: 7.60:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #5da7ad as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #5da7ad.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.76:1AaAa
Slate 502.64:1AaAa
Slate 1002.52:1AaAa
Slate 2002.24:1AaAa
Slate 3001.86:1AaAa
Slate 4001.08:1AaAa
Slate 5001.72:1AaAa
Slate 6002.74:1AaAa
Slate 7003.75:1AaAa
Slate 8005.29:1AaAa
Slate 9006.46:1AaAa
Black7.60:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9DA1AE
deuteranopia · #9097AD
tritanopia · #33ACA9

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. #5da7ad 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.

#F5F9F9
#ECF3F4
#D4E6E7
#B4D7D9
#8FC2C6
#5da7ad
#529DA3
#458287
#37686C
#2B4D50
#1B3032
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F5F9F9Darkest = 950 · #1B3032Text 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 0.019 202.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.030 202.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.045 202.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.058 202.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.068 202.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.074 202.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.074 202.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.070 202.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.062 202.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.052 202.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.041 202.4);
}

Colors that work with #5da7ad

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#F5F9FA
Tinted page background
Border#C9E2E4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4D9398
Captions on the surface
Accent#B25868
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2B5255
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF6F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142324
Dark-mode background
Hover#4D9399
One step down in lightness
Pressed#417D81
Two steps down
Disabled#AFCACC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#60B8BF
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 #5da7ad

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • 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 #2B5255
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #54A0A7

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.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. 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
  • Weight48/100
  • 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#AD635D
Analogous left#5DAD8B
Analogous right#5D7FAD
Split-complement 1#AD5D7F
Split-complement 2#AD8B5D
Triadic 1#AD5DA7
Triadic 2#A7AD5D
Tetradic#8B5DAD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°185°

#5da7ad sits at 185°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red36.5%
Green65.5%
Blue67.8%
R · 0–255
93
0x5d
G · 0–255
167
0xa7
B · 0–255
173
0xad

CMYK percentages

Cyan46.2%
Magenta3.5%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)32.2%

Total ink coverage is 82%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#5da7ad text on a black background

contrast 7.60:1

Card sample

#5da7ad text on a white background

contrast 2.76:1

Card sample

#5da7ad on grey

2.52:1

#5da7ad on its own surface

2.61:1

#5da7ad on its dark surface

5.86:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #5da7ad;
Background color
Panel with #5da7ad background
background-color: #5da7ad;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #5da7ad;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(93, 167, 173, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(93, 167, 173, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #5da7ad;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #5da7ad, #5D72AD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5da7ad, #5D5EAD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #5da7ad;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #5da7ad;
caret-color: #5da7ad;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #5da7ad;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF6F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #5da7ad;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#5da7ad 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #5da7ad 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(93, 167, 173, 0.5)
rgb(93 167 173 / 50%)
#5da7ad80
hsl(185 33% 52% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #5da7ad 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#5da7ad1a#EFF6F7
20%#5da7ad33#DFEDEF
40%#5da7ad66#BEDCDE
60%#5da7ad99#9ECACE
80%#5da7adcc#7DB9BD

Gradients from #5da7ad

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, #86BDC2, #5da7ad 45%, #2B5255);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #5da7ad, #4F5D9C);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5da7ad, #AD635D);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #9AC8CC 0%, #5da7ad 45%, #2B5255 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F9FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #7FBE9E 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #7189B7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2B5255 0%, transparent 65%), #5da7ad;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #5da7ad

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.

#5da7ad 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 7.60:1.

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.

#5da7ad, answered

What color is #5da7ad?

#5da7ad is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Cadet Blue (ΔE2000 3.2). It sits at 185° on the hue wheel with 33% saturation and 52% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #5da7ad?

rgb(93, 167, 173) — 93 red, 167 green and 173 blue out of 255, or 36.5% / 65.5% / 67.8% by channel.

What is #5da7ad in HSL and HSV?

hsl(185, 33%, 52%) and hsv(185, 46%, 68%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #5da7ad a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3298 and perceived brightness is 59%, so black text on it reaches 7.60:1.

Should I use black or white text on #5da7ad?

Black. It scores 7.60:1 against #5da7ad, versus 2.76:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #5da7ad accessible on a white background?

#5da7ad on white scores 2.76:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #438085 to reach 4.5:1, or #325F63 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #5da7ad?

#AD635D sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AD5D7F and #AD8B5D, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #5da7ad?

For interface work: #F5F9FA as the surface, #C9E2E4 for borders, #4D9398 for secondary text, #B25868 as an accent and #2B5255 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #5DAD8B and #5D7FAD stays calm, while #AD635D is the loudest partner.

What is #5da7ad in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(46%, 4%, 0%, 32%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #5da7ad warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 87 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #5DAD96; nudged cooler, #5B8EB0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #5da7ad?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 8.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #5da7ad as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #5da7ad in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#5da7ad] or text-[#5da7ad], 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 #5da7ad with 50% opacity?

rgba(93, 167, 173, 0.5), or #5da7ad80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #AED3D6; over black, #2F5457.

Is #5da7ad a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #669999, ΔE2000 5.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #5da7ad mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #5da7ad?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #86BDC2, #5da7ad 45%, #2B5255). For more colour, a short hue run to #4F5D9C keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #5da7ad in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #5da7ad at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.