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cyan · cool

#5bfdfc

a light, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Cyan

Token name suggestion: Morning Glacier

RGB
91, 253, 252
HSL
180°, 98%, 68%
CMYK
64, 0, 0, 1
Luminance
0.7950

#5bfdfc is a light electric cyan, 180° on the wheel and 87/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (16.90:1). As text it scores 1.24:1 on white — use #028080 instead. Nearest name is Cyan, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(180 98% 68%)rgb(91 253 252)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

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

Hex
#5bfdfc
Hue
180°
cyan
Saturation
98%
electric
Lightness
68%
light
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
85%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7950
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
87/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
16.90:1
Closest name
Cyan
ΔE2000 2.2
Chroma
43.2
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.911
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 17.9
Web-safe
#66FFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue180° of 360°
Saturation98%
Lightness68%
Saturation × lightness field

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

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
Red3%
Green88%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#5bfdfc
HEX (8-digit)#5bfdfcff
RGBrgb(91, 253, 252)
RGBArgba(91, 253, 252, 1)
HSLhsl(180, 98%, 68%)
HSV / HSBhsv(180, 64%, 99%)
HWBhwb(180 36% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(64%, 0%, 0%, 1%)
LABlab(91.5 -41.5 -11.9)
LCHlch(91.5 43.2 196.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.911 0.133 194.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(57.00, 79.50, 104.42)
Decimal6028796
Display P3color(display-p3 0.357 0.992 0.988)
Web-safe#66FFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #5bfdfc;
background-color: #5bfdfc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #5bfdfc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#5bfdfc] bg-[#5bfdfc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #5bfdfc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.357, green: 0.992, blue: 0.988)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.357, green: 0.992, blue: 0.988, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#5BFDFC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF5BFDFC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF5BFDFC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(252, 253, 91)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(91, 253, 252)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(91, 253, 252)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 91, 253, 252)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3569f, 0.9922f, 0.9882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{91,253,252}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #5bfdfc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #5bfdfc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#027E7D, #D3EEEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #5bfdfc 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: #F1FDFD;
  --brand-100: #E4FCFC;
  --brand-200: #C1FBFB;
  --brand-300: #90FEFD;
  --brand-400: #5bfdfc;
  --brand-500: #21FCFB;
  --brand-600: #03F2F0;
  --brand-700: #02CAC8;
  --brand-800: #02A1A0;
  --brand-900: #067473;
  --brand-950: #044948;
  --brand: #5bfdfc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EDEC;
  --brand-hover: #38FDFB;
  --brand-pressed: #15FCFB;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F1FDFD',
        100: '#E4FCFC',
        200: '#C1FBFB',
        300: '#90FEFD',
        400: '#5bfdfc',
        500: '#21FCFB',
        600: '#03F2F0',
        700: '#02CAC8',
        800: '#02A1A0',
        900: '#067473',
        950: '#044948',
        DEFAULT: '#5bfdfc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F1FDFD,
  '100': #E4FCFC,
  '200': #C1FBFB,
  '300': #90FEFD,
  '400': #5bfdfc,
  '500': #21FCFB,
  '600': #03F2F0,
  '700': #02CAC8,
  '800': #02A1A0,
  '900': #067473,
  '950': #044948,
);
$brand-base: #5bfdfc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F1FDFD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4FCFC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C1FBFB", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#90FEFD", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#5bfdfc", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#21FCFB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#03F2F0", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#02CAC8", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#02A1A0", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#067473", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#044948", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #5bfdfc · 16.90:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.24:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 16.90:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #5bfdfc as text scores 1.24:1 on white and 16.90:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #027E7D at 3.95:1.

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
#028080 · 4.77:1
AA on white−42% L
#028080
The quick fox
#016262 · 7.18:1
AAA on white−48% L
#016262
The quick fox
#5bfdfc · 16.90:1
AA on blackalready passes
#5bfdfc
The quick fox
#5bfdfc · 16.90:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#5bfdfc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #02A4A3 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
#5bfdfc on white: 1.24:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#5bfdfc on black: 16.90:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.24:1AaAa
Slate 501.19:1AaAa
Slate 1001.13:1AaAa
Slate 2001.01:1AaAa
Slate 3001.19:1AaAa
Slate 4002.06:1AaAa
Slate 5003.83:1AaAa
Slate 6006.10:1AaAa
Slate 7008.33:1AaAa
Slate 80011.77:1AaAa
Slate 90014.37:1AaAa
Black16.90:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #EDF1FC
deuteranopia · #D5DFFD
tritanopia · #00FFFC

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. #5bfdfc is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F1FDFD
#E4FCFC
#C1FBFB
#90FEFD
#5bfdfc
#21FCFB
#03F2F0
#02CAC8
#02A1A0
#067473
#044948
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F1FDFDDarkest = 950 · #044948Text 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 0.033 194.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.053 194.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.080 194.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.104 194.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.122 194.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.133 194.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.133 194.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.125 194.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.112 194.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.093 194.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.073 194.5);
}

Colors that work with #5bfdfc

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#C0EDEC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B9A
Captions on the surface
Accent#CC0035
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#027E7D
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6FFFF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#38FDFB
One step down in lightness
Pressed#15FCFB
Two steps down
Disabled#DEEAEA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#6EFFFE
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 #5bfdfc

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
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • White text placed on it
  • 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 #027E7D
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #02A4A3

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight33/100
  • 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#FD5B5C
Analogous left#5BFDAB
Analogous right#5BADFD
Split-complement 1#FD5BAD
Split-complement 2#FDAB5B
Triadic 1#FC5BFD
Triadic 2#FDFC5B
Tetradic#AB5BFD
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°180°

#5bfdfc sits at 180°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red35.7%
Green99.2%
Blue98.8%
R · 0–255
91
0x5b
G · 0–255
253
0xfd
B · 0–255
252
0xfc

CMYK percentages

Cyan64.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow0.4%
Key (black)0.8%

Total ink coverage is 65%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#5bfdfc text on a black background

contrast 16.90:1

Card sample

#5bfdfc text on a white background

contrast 1.24:1

Card sample

#5bfdfc on grey

1.13:1

#5bfdfc on its own surface

1.18:1

#5bfdfc on its dark surface

12.93:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(91, 253, 252, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(91, 253, 252, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #5bfdfc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #5bfdfc, #5B92FD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5bfdfc, #5B6AFD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #5bfdfc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #5bfdfc;
caret-color: #5bfdfc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #5bfdfc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6FFFF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #5bfdfc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#5bfdfc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #5bfdfc 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, 253, 252, 0.5)
rgb(91 253 252 / 50%)
#5bfdfc80
hsl(180 98% 68% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #5bfdfc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#5bfdfc1a#EFFFFF
20%#5bfdfc33#DEFFFE
40%#5bfdfc66#BDFEFE
60%#5bfdfc99#9DFEFD
80%#5bfdfccc#7CFDFD

Gradients from #5bfdfc

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, #98FEFD, #5bfdfc 45%, #027E7D);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #5bfdfc, #3D6EFD);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #5bfdfc, #FD5B5C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #B6FEFE 0%, #5bfdfc 45%, #027E7D 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%, #8EFEBC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #79B1FD 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #027E7D 0%, transparent 65%), #5bfdfc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #5bfdfc

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.

#5bfdfc 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
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
Print note

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 16.90:1.

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.

#5bfdfc, answered

What color is #5bfdfc?

#5bfdfc is a light electric cyan, closest to Cyan (ΔE2000 2.2). It sits at 180° on the hue wheel with 98% saturation and 68% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #5bfdfc?

rgb(91, 253, 252) — 91 red, 253 green and 252 blue out of 255, or 35.7% / 99.2% / 98.8% by channel.

What is #5bfdfc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(180, 98%, 68%) and hsv(180, 64%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #5bfdfc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7950 and perceived brightness is 85%, so black text on it reaches 16.90:1.

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

Black. It scores 16.90:1 against #5bfdfc, versus 1.24:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #5bfdfc accessible on a white background?

#5bfdfc on white scores 1.24:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #028080 to reach 4.5:1, or #016262 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #5bfdfc?

#FD5B5C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FD5BAD and #FDAB5B, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #5bfdfc?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EDEC for borders, #4B9B9A for secondary text, #CC0035 as an accent and #027E7D for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #5BFDAB and #5BADFD stays calm, while #FD5B5C is the loudest partner.

What is #5bfdfc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(64%, 0%, 0%, 1%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #5bfdfc 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 #5BFDC1; nudged cooler, #5AD0FF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #5bfdfc?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 17.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #5bfdfc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #5bfdfc in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(91, 253, 252, 0.5), or #5bfdfc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #ADFEFE; over black, #2E7F7E.

Is #5bfdfc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66FFFF, ΔE2000 0.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #5bfdfc 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 #5bfdfc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #98FEFD, #5bfdfc 45%, #027E7D). For more colour, a short hue run to #3D6EFD keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #5bfdfc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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