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cyan · cool

#5fbabf

a balanced, soft cyan · cool · closest name: Dark Turquoise

Token name suggestion: Atlas Reef

RGB
95, 186, 191
HSL
183°, 43%, 56%
CMYK
50, 3, 0, 25
Luminance
0.4131

#5fbabf is a balanced soft cyan, 183° on the wheel and 89/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.26:1). As text it scores 2.27:1 on white — use #357F84 instead. Nearest name is Dark Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(183 43% 56%)rgb(95 186 191)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#5fbabf
Hue
183°
cyan
Saturation
43%
soft
Lightness
56%
balanced
Brightness
75%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4131
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
89/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.26:1
Closest name
Dark Turquoise
ΔE2000 6.9
Chroma
27.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.735
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 8.2
Web-safe
#66CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue183° of 360°
Saturation43%
Lightness56%
Saturation × lightness field

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

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool89% 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%
Green85%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#5fbabf
HEX (8-digit)#5fbabfff
RGBrgb(95, 186, 191)
RGBArgba(95, 186, 191, 1)
HSLhsl(183, 43%, 56%)
HSV / HSBhsv(183, 50%, 75%)
HWBhwb(183 37% 25%)
CMYKcmyk(50%, 3%, 0%, 25%)
LABlab(70.4 -25.7 -10.9)
LCHlch(70.4 27.9 203.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.735 0.087 200.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.68, 41.31, 55.58)
Decimal6273727
Display P3color(display-p3 0.373 0.729 0.749)
Web-safe#66CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #5fbabf;
background-color: #5fbabf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #5fbabf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#5fbabf] bg-[#5fbabf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #5fbabf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.373, green: 0.729, blue: 0.749)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.373, green: 0.729, blue: 0.749, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#5FBABF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF5FBABF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF5FBABF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(191, 186, 95)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(95, 186, 191)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(95, 186, 191)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 95, 186, 191)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3725f, 0.7294f, 0.7490f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{95,186,191}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #5fbabf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #5fbabf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#24585B, #D3ECEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #5fbabf 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: #F5FAFA;
  --brand-100: #EBF4F5;
  --brand-200: #D1E9EA;
  --brand-300: #AFDCDF;
  --brand-400: #87CBCF;
  --brand-500: #5fbabf;
  --brand-600: #46A9AF;
  --brand-700: #3A8D92;
  --brand-800: #2F7175;
  --brand-900: #255355;
  --brand-950: #173435;
  --brand: #5fbabf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C5E6E8;
  --brand-hover: #47ADB3;
  --brand-pressed: #3D9599;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3ECEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAFA',
        100: '#EBF4F5',
        200: '#D1E9EA',
        300: '#AFDCDF',
        400: '#87CBCF',
        500: '#5fbabf',
        600: '#46A9AF',
        700: '#3A8D92',
        800: '#2F7175',
        900: '#255355',
        950: '#173435',
        DEFAULT: '#5fbabf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAFA,
  '100': #EBF4F5,
  '200': #D1E9EA,
  '300': #AFDCDF,
  '400': #87CBCF,
  '500': #5fbabf,
  '600': #46A9AF,
  '700': #3A8D92,
  '800': #2F7175,
  '900': #255355,
  '950': #173435,
);
$brand-base: #5fbabf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5FAFA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBF4F5", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D1E9EA", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AFDCDF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#87CBCF", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5fbabf", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#46A9AF", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3A8D92", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2F7175", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#255355", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#173435", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #5fbabf · 9.26:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.27:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.26:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #5fbabf as text scores 2.27:1 on white and 9.26:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #24585B at 3.53:1.

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
#357F84 · 4.65:1
AA on white−20% L
#357F84
The quick fox
#276063 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−29% L
#276063
The quick fox
#5fbabf · 9.26:1
AA on blackalready passes
#5fbabf
The quick fox
#5fbabf · 9.26:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#5fbabf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #429FA4 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
#5fbabf on white: 2.27:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#5fbabf on black: 9.26:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.27:1AaAa
Slate 502.17:1AaAa
Slate 1002.07:1AaAa
Slate 2001.84:1AaAa
Slate 3001.53:1AaAa
Slate 4001.13:1AaAa
Slate 5002.10:1AaAa
Slate 6003.34:1AaAa
Slate 7004.57:1AaAa
Slate 8006.45:1AaAa
Slate 9007.87:1AaAa
Black9.26:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AFB3BF
deuteranopia · #9FA7C0
tritanopia · #1EC0BB

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. #5fbabf 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.

#F5FAFA
#EBF4F5
#D1E9EA
#AFDCDF
#87CBCF
#5fbabf
#46A9AF
#3A8D92
#2F7175
#255355
#173435
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F5FAFADarkest = 950 · #173435Text 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 0.022 200.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.035 200.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.052 200.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.068 200.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.080 200.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.087 200.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.087 200.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.082 200.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.073 200.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.061 200.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.048 200.2);
}

Colors that work with #5fbabf

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#C5E6E8
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B979B
Captions on the surface
Accent#C45B6F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#24585B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF7F8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#47ADB3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#3D9599
Two steps down
Disabled#BBD2D3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#63CACF
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 #5fbabf

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 #24585B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #429FA4

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
  • Weight44/100
  • 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#BF645F
Analogous left#5FBF94
Analogous right#5F8ABF
Split-complement 1#BF5F8A
Split-complement 2#BF945F
Triadic 1#BF5FBA
Triadic 2#BABF5F
Tetradic#945FBF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°183°

#5fbabf sits at 183°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red37.3%
Green72.9%
Blue74.9%
R · 0–255
95
0x5f
G · 0–255
186
0xba
B · 0–255
191
0xbf

CMYK percentages

Cyan50.3%
Magenta2.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)25.1%

Total ink coverage is 78%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#5fbabf text on a black background

contrast 9.26:1

Card sample

#5fbabf text on a white background

contrast 2.27:1

Card sample

#5fbabf on grey

2.07:1

#5fbabf on its own surface

2.15:1

#5fbabf on its dark surface

7.08:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(95, 186, 191, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(95, 186, 191, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #5fbabf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #5fbabf, #5F7ABF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5fbabf, #5F62BF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #5fbabf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #5fbabf;
caret-color: #5fbabf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #5fbabf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF7F8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #5fbabf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#5fbabf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #5fbabf 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(95, 186, 191, 0.5)
rgb(95 186 191 / 50%)
#5fbabf80
hsl(183 43% 56% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #5fbabf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#5fbabf1a#EFF8F9
20%#5fbabf33#DFF1F2
40%#5fbabf66#BFE3E5
60%#5fbabf99#9FD6D9
80%#5fbabfcc#7FC8CC

Gradients from #5fbabf

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, #8BCDD1, #5fbabf 45%, #24585B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #5fbabf, #495FB6);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5fbabf, #BF645F);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #A1D6D9 0%, #5fbabf 45%, #24585B 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%, #83CEA6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #7593C8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #24585B 0%, transparent 65%), #5fbabf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #5fbabf

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.

#5fbabf 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 9.26:1.

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.

#5fbabf, answered

What color is #5fbabf?

#5fbabf is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Dark Turquoise (ΔE2000 6.9). It sits at 183° on the hue wheel with 43% saturation and 56% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #5fbabf?

rgb(95, 186, 191) — 95 red, 186 green and 191 blue out of 255, or 37.3% / 72.9% / 74.9% by channel.

What is #5fbabf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(183, 43%, 56%) and hsv(183, 50%, 75%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #5fbabf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4131 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 9.26:1.

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

Black. It scores 9.26:1 against #5fbabf, versus 2.27:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #5fbabf accessible on a white background?

#5fbabf on white scores 2.27:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #357F84 to reach 4.5:1, or #276063 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #5fbabf?

#BF645F sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BF5F8A and #BF945F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #5fbabf?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C5E6E8 for borders, #4B979B for secondary text, #C45B6F as an accent and #24585B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #5FBF94 and #5F8ABF stays calm, while #BF645F is the loudest partner.

What is #5fbabf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(50%, 3%, 0%, 25%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #5fbabf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 89 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #5FBFA1; nudged cooler, #5D9CC1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #5fbabf?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 8.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #5fbabf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #5fbabf in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(95, 186, 191, 0.5), or #5fbabf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #AFDDDF; over black, #305D60.

Is #5fbabf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCCC, ΔE2000 5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #5fbabf 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 #5fbabf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #8BCDD1, #5fbabf 45%, #24585B). For more colour, a short hue run to #495FB6 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #5fbabf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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