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cyan · cool

#5fbdbb

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

Token name suggestion: Atlas Glacier

RGB
95, 189, 187
HSL
179°, 42%, 56%
CMYK
50, 0, 1, 26
Luminance
0.4242

#5fbdbb is a balanced soft cyan, 179° on the wheel and 87/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.48:1). As text it scores 2.21:1 on white — use #35817F instead. Nearest name is Medium Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(179 42% 56%)rgb(95 189 187)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#5fbdbb
Hue
179°
cyan
Saturation
42%
soft
Lightness
56%
balanced
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4242
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
87/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.48:1
Closest name
Medium Turquoise
ΔE2000 5.7
Chroma
29.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.741
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 7.7
Web-safe
#66CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue179° of 360°
Saturation42%
Lightness56%
Saturation × lightness field

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

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
Red6%
Green86%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#5fbdbb
HEX (8-digit)#5fbdbbff
RGBrgb(95, 189, 187)
RGBArgba(95, 189, 187, 1)
HSLhsl(179, 42%, 56%)
HSV / HSBhsv(179, 50%, 74%)
HWBhwb(179 37% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(50%, 0%, 1%, 26%)
LABlab(71.2 -28.3 -7.6)
LCHlch(71.2 29.3 195.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.741 0.089 193.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(31.88, 42.41, 53.51)
Decimal6274491
Display P3color(display-p3 0.373 0.741 0.733)
Web-safe#66CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #5fbdbb;
background-color: #5fbdbb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #5fbdbb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#5fbdbb] bg-[#5fbdbb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #5fbdbb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.373, green: 0.741, blue: 0.733)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.373, green: 0.741, blue: 0.733, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#5FBDBB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF5FBDBB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF5FBDBB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(187, 189, 95)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(95, 189, 187)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(95, 189, 187)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 95, 189, 187)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3725f, 0.7412f, 0.7333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{95,189,187}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #5fbdbb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #5fbdbb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#255A59, #D4EDED);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #5fbdbb 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: #EBF5F4;
  --brand-200: #D2EAE9;
  --brand-300: #B0DEDD;
  --brand-400: #88CECC;
  --brand-500: #5fbdbb;
  --brand-600: #47ADAB;
  --brand-700: #3C908F;
  --brand-800: #307472;
  --brand-900: #265554;
  --brand-950: #183534;
  --brand: #5fbdbb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C5E7E6;
  --brand-hover: #49B0AE;
  --brand-pressed: #3E9795;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D4EDED;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAFA',
        100: '#EBF5F4',
        200: '#D2EAE9',
        300: '#B0DEDD',
        400: '#88CECC',
        500: '#5fbdbb',
        600: '#47ADAB',
        700: '#3C908F',
        800: '#307472',
        900: '#265554',
        950: '#183534',
        DEFAULT: '#5fbdbb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAFA,
  '100': #EBF5F4,
  '200': #D2EAE9,
  '300': #B0DEDD,
  '400': #88CECC,
  '500': #5fbdbb,
  '600': #47ADAB,
  '700': #3C908F,
  '800': #307472,
  '900': #265554,
  '950': #183534,
);
$brand-base: #5fbdbb;
$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": "#EBF5F4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D2EAE9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B0DEDD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#88CECC", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5fbdbb", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#47ADAB", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#3C908F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#307472", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#265554", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#183534", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #5fbdbb · 9.48:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.21:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.48:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #5fbdbb as text scores 2.21:1 on white and 9.48:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #255A59 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
#35817F · 4.57:1
AA on white−20% L
#35817F
The quick fox
#28605F · 7.17:1
AAA on white−29% L
#28605F
The quick fox
#5fbdbb · 9.48:1
AA on blackalready passes
#5fbdbb
The quick fox
#5fbdbb · 9.48:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#5fbdbb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #43A19F 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
#5fbdbb on white: 2.21:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#5fbdbb on black: 9.48:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.21:1AaAa
Slate 502.12:1AaAa
Slate 1002.02:1AaAa
Slate 2001.80:1AaAa
Slate 3001.49:1AaAa
Slate 4001.16:1AaAa
Slate 5002.15:1AaAa
Slate 6003.42:1AaAa
Slate 7004.68:1AaAa
Slate 8006.61:1AaAa
Slate 9008.06:1AaAa
Black9.48:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B3B5BB
deuteranopia · #A3A9BC
tritanopia · #22C2BC

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. #5fbdbb 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
#EBF5F4
#D2EAE9
#B0DEDD
#88CECC
#5fbdbb
#47ADAB
#3C908F
#307472
#265554
#183534
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F5FAFADarkest = 950 · #183534Text 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 0.022 193.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.036 193.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.054 193.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.070 193.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.082 193.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.089 193.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.089 193.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.084 193.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.075 193.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.063 193.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.049 193.6);
}

Colors that work with #5fbdbb

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#C5E7E6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B99
Captions on the surface
Accent#C25B77
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#255A59
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDF8F7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#49B0AE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#3E9795
Two steps down
Disabled#BAD3D2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#63CDCB
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 #5fbdbb

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 #255A59
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #43A19F

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#BD5F61
Analogous left#5FBD8C
Analogous right#5F90BD
Split-complement 1#BD5F90
Split-complement 2#BD8C5F
Triadic 1#BB5FBD
Triadic 2#BDBB5F
Tetradic#8C5FBD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°179°

#5fbdbb sits at 179°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red37.3%
Green74.1%
Blue73.3%
R · 0–255
95
0x5f
G · 0–255
189
0xbd
B · 0–255
187
0xbb

CMYK percentages

Cyan49.7%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow1.1%
Key (black)25.9%

Total ink coverage is 77%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#5fbdbb text on a black background

contrast 9.48:1

Card sample

#5fbdbb text on a white background

contrast 2.21:1

Card sample

#5fbdbb on grey

2.02:1

#5fbdbb on its own surface

2.10:1

#5fbdbb on its dark surface

7.25:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(95, 189, 187, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(95, 189, 187, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #5fbdbb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #5fbdbb, #5F80BD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5fbdbb, #5F69BD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #5fbdbb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #5fbdbb;
caret-color: #5fbdbb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #5fbdbb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDF8F7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #5fbdbb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#5fbdbb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #5fbdbb 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, 189, 187, 0.5)
rgb(95 189 187 / 50%)
#5fbdbb80
hsl(179 42% 56% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #5fbdbb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#5fbdbb1a#EFF8F8
20%#5fbdbb33#DFF2F1
40%#5fbdbb66#BFE5E4
60%#5fbdbb99#9FD7D6
80%#5fbdbbcc#7FCAC9

Gradients from #5fbdbb

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, #8ACFCD, #5fbdbb 45%, #255A59);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #5fbdbb, #4A67B3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5fbdbb, #BD5F61);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #A0D8D7 0%, #5fbdbb 45%, #255A59 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%, #83CCA0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #7598C6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #255A59 0%, transparent 65%), #5fbdbb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #5fbdbb

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.

#5fbdbb 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 9.48:1.

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.

#5fbdbb, answered

What color is #5fbdbb?

#5fbdbb is a balanced soft cyan, closest to Medium Turquoise (ΔE2000 5.7). It sits at 179° on the hue wheel with 42% saturation and 56% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #5fbdbb?

rgb(95, 189, 187) — 95 red, 189 green and 187 blue out of 255, or 37.3% / 74.1% / 73.3% by channel.

What is #5fbdbb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(179, 42%, 56%) and hsv(179, 50%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #5fbdbb a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4242 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 9.48:1.

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

Black. It scores 9.48:1 against #5fbdbb, versus 2.21:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #5fbdbb accessible on a white background?

#5fbdbb on white scores 2.21:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #35817F to reach 4.5:1, or #28605F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #5fbdbb?

#BD5F61 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BD5F90 and #BD8C5F, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #5fbdbb?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C5E7E6 for borders, #4B9B99 for secondary text, #C25B77 as an accent and #255A59 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #5FBD8C and #5F90BD stays calm, while #BD5F61 is the loudest partner.

What is #5fbdbb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(50%, 0%, 1%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #5fbdbb 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 #5FBD99; nudged cooler, #5D9DBF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #5fbdbb?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 7.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #5fbdbb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #5fbdbb in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(95, 189, 187, 0.5), or #5fbdbb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #AFDEDD; over black, #305F5E.

Is #5fbdbb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCCC, ΔE2000 4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #5fbdbb 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 #5fbdbb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #8ACFCD, #5fbdbb 45%, #255A59). For more colour, a short hue run to #4A67B3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #5fbdbb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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