Skip to content
cyan · cool

#5dbacd

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

Token name suggestion: Studio Reef

RGB
93, 186, 205
HSL
190°, 53%, 58%
CMYK
55, 9, 0, 20
Luminance
0.4185

#5dbacd is a balanced vivid cyan, 190° on the wheel and 92/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.37:1). As text it scores 2.24:1 on white — use #2D8192 instead. Nearest name is Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(190 53% 58%)rgb(93 186 205)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#5dbacd
Hue
190°
cyan
Saturation
53%
vivid
Lightness
58%
balanced
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4185
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
92/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
9.37:1
Closest name
Sky Blue
ΔE2000 8
Chroma
28.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.739
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 4.4
Web-safe
#66CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue190° of 360°
Saturation53%
Lightness58%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool92% 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
Red6%
Green84%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#5dbacd
HEX (8-digit)#5dbacdff
RGBrgb(93, 186, 205)
RGBArgba(93, 186, 205, 1)
HSLhsl(190, 53%, 58%)
HSV / HSBhsv(190, 55%, 80%)
HWBhwb(190 36% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(55%, 9%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(70.8 -22.3 -18.0)
LCHlch(70.8 28.6 219.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.739 0.092 212.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(33.09, 41.85, 64.08)
Decimal6142669
Display P3color(display-p3 0.365 0.729 0.804)
Web-safe#66CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #5dbacd;
background-color: #5dbacd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #5dbacd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#5dbacd] bg-[#5dbacd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #5dbacd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.365, green: 0.729, blue: 0.804)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.365, green: 0.729, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#5DBACD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF5DBACD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF5DBACD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 186, 93)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(93, 186, 205)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(93, 186, 205)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 93, 186, 205)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3647f, 0.7294f, 0.8039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{93,186,205}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #5dbacd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #5dbacd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1E5661, #D3E9EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #5dbacd 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: #F4F9FB;
  --brand-100: #E9F4F6;
  --brand-200: #CEE8ED;
  --brand-300: #A9DAE5;
  --brand-400: #7EC8D7;
  --brand-500: #5dbacd;
  --brand-600: #3AA5BB;
  --brand-700: #308A9C;
  --brand-800: #276E7D;
  --brand-900: #1F515B;
  --brand-950: #143339;
  --brand: #5dbacd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F9FA;
  --brand-border: #C1E4EC;
  --brand-hover: #42AEC5;
  --brand-pressed: #3599AD;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142224;
    --brand-ink: #D3E9EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4F9FB',
        100: '#E9F4F6',
        200: '#CEE8ED',
        300: '#A9DAE5',
        400: '#7EC8D7',
        500: '#5dbacd',
        600: '#3AA5BB',
        700: '#308A9C',
        800: '#276E7D',
        900: '#1F515B',
        950: '#143339',
        DEFAULT: '#5dbacd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4F9FB,
  '100': #E9F4F6,
  '200': #CEE8ED,
  '300': #A9DAE5,
  '400': #7EC8D7,
  '500': #5dbacd,
  '600': #3AA5BB,
  '700': #308A9C,
  '800': #276E7D,
  '900': #1F515B,
  '950': #143339,
);
$brand-base: #5dbacd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4F9FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9F4F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CEE8ED", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A9DAE5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#7EC8D7", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5dbacd", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#3AA5BB", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#308A9C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#276E7D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1F515B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#143339", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #5dbacd · 9.37:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.24:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.37:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #5dbacd as text scores 2.24:1 on white and 9.37:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1E5661 at 3.66:1.

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
#2D8192 · 4.50:1
AA on white−21% L
#2D8192
The quick fox
#215E6B · 7.30:1
AAA on white−31% L
#215E6B
The quick fox
#5dbacd · 9.37:1
AA on blackalready passes
#5dbacd
The quick fox
#5dbacd · 9.37:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#5dbacd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #38A0B5 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
#5dbacd on white: 2.24:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#5dbacd on black: 9.37:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.24:1AaAa
Slate 502.14:1AaAa
Slate 1002.05:1AaAa
Slate 2001.82:1AaAa
Slate 3001.51:1AaAa
Slate 4001.14:1AaAa
Slate 5002.12:1AaAa
Slate 6003.38:1AaAa
Slate 7004.62:1AaAa
Slate 8006.53:1AaAa
Slate 9007.97:1AaAa
Black9.37:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ABB4CE
deuteranopia · #9AA8CD
tritanopia · #00C2C0

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. #5dbacd 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.

#F4F9FB
#E9F4F6
#CEE8ED
#A9DAE5
#7EC8D7
#5dbacd
#3AA5BB
#308A9C
#276E7D
#1F515B
#143339
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F4F9FBDarkest = 950 · #143339Text 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 0.023 212.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.037 212.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.055 212.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.072 212.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.085 212.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.092 212.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.092 212.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.087 212.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.077 212.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.064 212.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.051 212.8);
}

Colors that work with #5dbacd

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#C1E4EC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B8D9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#D15962
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1E5661
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF7F9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142224
Dark-mode background
Hover#42AEC5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#3599AD
Two steps down
Disabled#C2D4D8
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#63C7DB
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 #5dbacd

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 #1E5661
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #38A0B5

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
  • Weight42/100
  • 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#CD705D
Analogous left#5DCDA8
Analogous right#5D82CD
Split-complement 1#CD5D82
Split-complement 2#CDA85D
Triadic 1#CD5DBA
Triadic 2#BACD5D
Tetradic#A85DCD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°190°

#5dbacd sits at 190°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red36.5%
Green72.9%
Blue80.4%
R · 0–255
93
0x5d
G · 0–255
186
0xba
B · 0–255
205
0xcd

CMYK percentages

Cyan54.6%
Magenta9.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)19.6%

Total ink coverage is 84%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#5dbacd text on a black background

contrast 9.37:1

Card sample

#5dbacd text on a white background

contrast 2.24:1

Card sample

#5dbacd on grey

2.05:1

#5dbacd on its own surface

2.11:1

#5dbacd on its dark surface

7.30:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(93, 186, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(93, 186, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #5dbacd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #5dbacd, #5D6FCD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5dbacd, #675DCD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #5dbacd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #5dbacd;
caret-color: #5dbacd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #5dbacd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF7F9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #5dbacd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#5dbacd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #5dbacd 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, 186, 205, 0.5)
rgb(93 186 205 / 50%)
#5dbacd80
hsl(190 53% 58% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #5dbacd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#5dbacd1a#EFF8FA
20%#5dbacd33#DFF1F5
40%#5dbacd66#BEE3EB
60%#5dbacd99#9ED6E1
80%#5dbacdcc#7DC8D7

Gradients from #5dbacd

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, #8CCEDB, #5dbacd 45%, #1E5661);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #5dbacd, #4650C6);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5dbacd, #CD705D);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #A3D8E3 0%, #5dbacd 45%, #1E5661 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%, #84D9B6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #748CD4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1E5661 0%, transparent 65%), #5dbacd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #5dbacd

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.

#5dbacd 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 9.37:1.

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.

#5dbacd, answered

What color is #5dbacd?

#5dbacd is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Sky Blue (ΔE2000 8). It sits at 190° on the hue wheel with 53% saturation and 58% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #5dbacd?

rgb(93, 186, 205) — 93 red, 186 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 36.5% / 72.9% / 80.4% by channel.

What is #5dbacd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(190, 53%, 58%) and hsv(190, 55%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #5dbacd a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4185 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 9.37:1.

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

Black. It scores 9.37:1 against #5dbacd, versus 2.24:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #5dbacd accessible on a white background?

#5dbacd on white scores 2.24:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #2D8192 to reach 4.5:1, or #215E6B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #5dbacd?

#CD705D sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CD5D82 and #CDA85D, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #5dbacd?

For interface work: #F4F9FA as the surface, #C1E4EC for borders, #4B8D9B for secondary text, #D15962 as an accent and #1E5661 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #5DCDA8 and #5D82CD stays calm, while #CD705D is the loudest partner.

What is #5dbacd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(55%, 9%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #5dbacd warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 92 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #5DCDB7; nudged cooler, #5BA1CF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #5dbacd?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 4.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #5dbacd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #5dbacd in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(93, 186, 205, 0.5), or #5dbacd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #AEDDE6; over black, #2F5D67.

Is #5dbacd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCCC, ΔE2000 8.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #5dbacd 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 #5dbacd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #8CCEDB, #5dbacd 45%, #1E5661). For more colour, a short hue run to #4650C6 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #5dbacd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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